I 116th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 5070 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES November 13, 2019 Ms. Ocasio-Cortez (for herself, Ms. Meng , Mr. Clay , Ms. Tlaib , Mr. García of Illinois , and Ms. Lee of California ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform A BILL To provide access to Federal public benefits for individuals with criminal convictions, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the A Just Society: The Mercy In Re-entry Act . 2. Federal public benefit accessibility for individuals with criminal convictions (a) In general Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an individual may not be denied any Federal public benefit solely on the basis that the individual was convicted of a criminal offense (whether under Federal, State, tribal, or foreign law). (b) Definition For purposes of this section, the term Federal public benefit means— (1) any grant, contract, loan, professional license, or commercial license provided by an agency of the United States or by appropriated funds of the United States; and (2) any retirement, welfare, health, disability, public or assisted housing, postsecondary education, food assistance, unemployment benefit, or any other similar benefit for which payments or assistance are provided to an individual, household, or family eligibility unit by an agency of the United States or by appropriated funds of the United States.