overview of a bill

1. October 31, 2021
Stacey Troup
Principles of Regulatory Law (619-702)
Texas A&M School of Law
Subject: Review of H.R.1: For the People Act of 2021
Week 2 Assignment:
This assignment is designed to give a greater understanding of an existing Bill before congress
and the specific aspects of the bill. For this assignment, I chose H.R.1: For the People Act of
2021 which was introduced by John Sarbanes (D-MD3) with co-sponsor Zoe Lofgren (D-CA19)
followed by 222 co-sponsors of the Democratic Party on February 5, 2021, making it a
Democratic Partisan Bill.
The Bill, on its face, was designed as a reform to historical voting guidelines and interferences
following the uprising in states like Georgia where voter suppression came to the forefront. The
bill aimed to provide visibility into election integrity and security while simultaneously
addressing campaign financing and ethics within the three branches of government. In addition,
the bill attempts to provider greater voter access, expanded same-day voter registration while
protecting against removal from voter rolls.
Targeting, at the candidate level, the donations from foreign nationals while lifting the veil of
secrecy around campaign finance and the fundraising habits of candidates with ties to foreign
nationals who may interfere in the electoral process, the bill ends its overview with a catch-all
option of requiring all those serving at the President, Vice President and “certain candidate”
levels to disclose and/or release 10 years of tax returns, which likely was the final straw for
Republicans who might have viewed this as a direct attack against President Trump who refuses
to release such information or who refused to give up his position on a for-profit company during
his tenure, which is also addressed in the overview of the Bill.
Previous version of the Bill includes H.R.1(116th) and S.R.1 is also a related bill. H.R.1 (116th)
was introduced on January 3, 2019 and was killed in a previous Congress. It was passed by the
House on March 8, 2019, but never passed Senate. The bill did not pass but provisions of the bill
were included in the current H.R.1 bill which are currently assigned to several committees
including House Armed Services; House Education and Labor; House Ethics; House Financial
Services; House Homeland Security; House House Administration; House Oversight and
Reform; House Science, Space, and Technology (R&T); House Judiciary; House Ways and
Means; and House Permanent Select Intelligence where House Committee Chairs decide if the
bill will move past the Committee stage in its current draft form. The Bill was voted on by
House on March 3, 2021, where it passed in a 220/210 victory. The current prognosis for
passing into Law are only 3% likely due to the republican control in Congress and their lack of
support for the Bill. S.1 was sponsored by Jeff Merkley and is reported as same title as our
reviewed bill. It was Ordered Reported on August 11, 2021. This bill and its Order Reported

2. status give it a greater chance of making it out of Committee. The S.1 bill is with the United
States Congress as of today’s date.
Civil penalties including fines of $100,000.00 and a prison term of up to five years are included
in the documentation for violating H.R.1 should it pass into law and are broken down based on
the degree of guilt or attachment to civil penalty that may be determined and applied. The bill is
geared at reporting and giving clarity to financial contributions for elections or re-election
campaigns while promoting ethics. No implication of financial burden is found within the bill at
present. The Bill is currently in its amended state and in appropriations/Committees for
consideration of passing. No further information is available regarding the status of this Bill
currently.