A BILL

To provide justice to Ex-Felons

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

Section I. SHORT TITLE

(a) Short Title.—This Act may be cited as the “Ex-Felon Rights Act”

Section II. FINDINGS

Congress finds that—

(a) Recidivism rates are increased when proper guidance back into the world after years of separation from it is not provided.

(b) Racial disparity in sentencing of criminals leads to further racial disparity when attempting to find housing, employment, or credit. Lack of these essential components of modern life further reinforce a cycle of poverty and crime which plagues many minority communities.

(c) The Federal Government does not guarantee enfranchisement of Ex-Felons and many states either explicitly prohibit them from voting or put up barriers which make it effectively impossible for Ex-Felons to vote.

(d) Ex-Felons often have an incredibly difficult time finding employment, which further exacerbate issues in finding housing, credit, or access to voting. This further increases the recidivism rate by effectively denying Ex-Felons an opportunity to feed themselves legally.

(e) Ex-Felons have necessarily served their time in the prison system and deserve an opportunity to re-enter society as an equal and productive member to the rest.

Section III. DEFINITIONS

In this Act:

(1) EX-FELON—The term “Ex-Felon” means any individual convicted of a crime by any court under federal or state jurisdiction who has either served their full sentence, been allowed out on parole, or has had their sentence otherwise ended by executive authority. “Ex-Felon” shall not refer to anyone responsible of a sex crime or mass murder.

(2) SEX CRIME—The term “Sex Crime” means a illegal or coerced sexual act involving another individual, including but not limited to:

(i) Creation of pornography without consent;

(ii) Sexual assault;

(iii) Indecent exposure;

(iv) or Human trafficking.

(3) MASS MURDER—The term “Mass Murder” means a premeditated act of violence which results in the death of at least eight individuals.

(4) OCCUPATIONAL CLASS—Occupational Class shall be determined by the United States Office of Personnel Management with the Position Classification Standards and in this bill the different classes shall be referred to as “Class” followed by a number.

(5) FEDERAL GRANT—The term “Federal Grant” means an agreement in which money is transferred from the federal government to a different organization in exchange for meeting certain conditions.

Section IV. EX-FELON JOB PROGRAMS

(a) The United States Federal Government shall not discriminate or otherwise disadvantage Ex-Felons in hiring processes in any of the following occupational classes:

(i) Class 03

(ii) Class 04

(iii) Class 08

(iv) Class 12

(v) Class 15

(vi) Class 16

(vii) Class 19

(viii) Class 21

(b) A federal grant shall be provided to any state which has at least 2.5% of their total employees as ex-felons of the size of $175 per capita based upon the size of the state.

(i) This shall be overseen by the Secretary of Labor.

(c) A further federal grant of $200 per capita based upon the size of the state shall be rewarded if they pass legislation appropriately prohibiting hiring discrimination on the basis of Ex-Felon status.

(i) The grant and the exact qualification for hiring discrimination laws shall be overseen by the Secretary of Labor.

(d) Ex-Felons shall have a payroll tax rate of 5% less than otherwise, to a minimum of 0%.

(e) Title 42 Chapter 21(VI) § 2000e shall have every instance of “individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin” replaced with “individual’s race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or ex-felon status”

Section V. EX-FELON ENFRANCHISEMENT

(a) A federal grant shall be given to a municipality if they provide adequate busing to reasonably allow all Ex-Felons to vote the size of which shall be $50 per capita, based upon the size of the municipality.

(i) This shall be overseen by the Department of Health & Human Services.

(b) No state shall make a law prohibiting or otherwise indirectly infringing upon the right of an Ex-Felon to vote.

(i) Upon violating this statute, a state is subject to a fine of up to $50,000,000.

(ii) A grace period of three months from the enactment of this bill shall be provided to states before any fines can be distributed.

(c) US Code Title 52 § 10101(1) shall be amended from

All citizens of the United States who are otherwise qualified by law to vote at any election by the people in any State, Territory, district, county, city, parish, township, school district, municipality, or other territorial subdivision, shall be entitled and allowed to vote at all such elections, without distinction of race, color, or previous condition of servitude; any constitution, law, custom, usage, or regulation of any State or Territory, or by or under its authority, to the contrary notwithstanding.

to

All citizens of the United States who are otherwise qualified by law to vote at any election by the people in any State, Territory, district, county, city, parish, township, school district, municipality, or other territorial subdivision, shall be entitled and allowed to vote at all such elections, without distinction of race, color, or previous condition of servitude or ex-felon; any constitution, law, custom, usage, or regulation of any State or Territory, or by or under its authority, to the contrary notwithstanding.”

Section VI. EX-FELON HOUSING

(a) A grant shall be provided to any state, the value of which shall be equal to $100 per ex-felon housed in public housing, administered by the Secretary of Housing & Urban Development, if that state meets the following requirements:

(i) The state provides affordable, livable, and accessible public housing to ex-felons;

(1) The Secretary of Housing & Urban Development shall be responsible for establishing precisely what qualifies as “affordable”, “livable”, and “accessible”, based on the principle of what is needed for a dignified life.

(ii) The state passes and adequately enforces a law which prevents private landlords from discriminating against tenants on the basis of ex-felon status.

(iii) De-regulate the housing market by decreasing zoning restrictions such that single-family zoning is disincentivized at the municipal level.

(b) US Code Title 42 § 3544(b)(1) shall be given a subsection which shall read:

This eligibility must not exclude ex-felon applicants on the basis of their status as ex-felons.

Section VII. GRANT MAINTENANCE

(a) All grants provided for in sections IV, V, and VI shall be re-examined on a yearly basis with a decision as to the renewal on the first of every March.

(i) If an initial claim for the grant has been made in the period of the first of January to the last day of February, they shall have a grace period to not have their grant re-examined until the following year.

(b) Congress shall be responsible, every five years, to re-evaluate the quantities of the grant compensation based on the following factors:

(i) Changes in population;

(ii) Inflation;

(iii) Success or failure of the individual programs.

Section VIII. FUNDING

(a) The Secretaries of Housing & Urban Development and of Labor shall be responsible for presenting a yearly report to Congress detailing the cost of the program in the year past as well as the anticipated cost of the program in the upcoming year.

(b) After being reconciled with the CBC estimated costs, Congress shall provide appropriations accordingly.

(c) $500,000 shall be reserved for both the Department of Labor and Department of Housing and Urban Development to fund necessary labor costs to operate these programs.

Section IX. ENACTMENT

(a) This bill shall go into effect on March 1st after being signed by the President.

Written by /u/Parado-I (G), Sponsored by /u/KingSw1fty (G-CH-3)