Public libraries gain passport fee revenue to fund local services.
H.R. 6997 — Community Passport Services Access Act · Filed by John Joyce (R-PA) · 24 cosponsors · Introduced Jan 9, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill allows public libraries organized as nonprofits or charitable organizations to collect and keep the execution fee (the government's processing charge) when they accept passport applications on behalf of the State Department. Libraries that were already doing this work before the bill passes must be authorized to continue within 30 days, and the Secretary of State must report to Congress on compliance.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a revenue authorization for public libraries—it permits them to retain fees they are already collecting on behalf of the government, converting a pass-through into a library funding stream. This is a straightforward public-sector revenue measure.
What the text implies
- Libraries that adopt passport services may face staffing and training costs not addressed in the bill; the execution fee alone may not fully offset operational burden.
- The bill does not specify how the execution fee is set or whether libraries can adjust it, potentially creating inconsistent pricing across jurisdictions.
- Authorizing libraries to retain fees may reduce federal/state revenue from passport processing, shifting the cost of passport administration to the federal budget or requiring fee increases elsewhere.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Ordinary people gain convenience (passport services at local libraries) and libraries gain a sustainable revenue source to support their operations. The execution fee is a legitimate government charge that libraries are already processing; allowing them to retain it funds public infrastructure without creating new costs for citizens.
Who stands to gain
- public libraries (nonprofit/charitable organizations)
Named in the bill
Secretary of State, public libraries, Passport Act of June 4, 1920, State Department, United States Postal Service
Where it stands
24 cosponsors: 12 Democrats, 12 Republicans.
- Jan 9, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jan 9, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Foreign Affairs · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $71,297 in lobbying spend. A filing names 39 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
John Joyce, the sponsor, reported $1,473,437 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- American Library Association — $71,297 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 24, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,161 characters) on Sep 28, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 24, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Public libraries gain passport fee revenue to fund local services.” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr6997 Report an error
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