Mike Lee

Immigration Parole Reform Act of 2025

This bill limits the authority of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to grant immigration parole (i.e., give official permission for an individual to enter and temporarily remain in the United States).

Specifically, the bill (1) limits what qualifies as an urgent humanitarian reason or a significant public benefit that would justify granting parole, and (2) prohibits granting parole based on an individual's membership in a defined class of individuals.

An urgent humanitarian reason is limited to medical emergencies, the death of a close family member, and to green card applicants returning to the United States after temporary travel abroad. A significant public benefit is limited to assisting the U.S. government in a law enforcement matter.

Individuals granted parole on the basis of an urgent humanitarian reason or a significant public benefit are not permitted to work while in the United States.

Additionally, the bill provides statutory authority for DHS to grant parole to certain Cuban nationals and to certain family members of active-duty Armed Forces members.

This joint resolution nullifies the Environmental Protection Agency notice titled California State Motor Vehicle and Engine and Nonroad Engine Pollution Control Standards; The ‘Omnibus’ Low NOX Regulation; Waiver of Preemption; Notice of Decision (90 Fed. Reg. 643) and published on January 6, 2025. Among other elements, the notice grants the California Air Resources Board request for a waiver for its Heavy-Duty Vehicle and Engine Omnibus Low NOX regulations. (Under the Clean Air Act, California may seek waivers of the preemption prohibiting states from enacting certain emission standards.)

Protection of Women in Olympic and Amateur Sports Act

This bill requires certified national governing bodies (NGBs) of amateur sports (e.g., USA Gymnastics) to prohibit a person whose sex is male from participating in an amateur athletic competition that is designated for females, women, or girls.

Under the bill, male means an individual who has, had, will have—or would have, but for a developmental or genetic anomaly or historical accident—the reproductive system that at some point produces, transports, and utilizes sperm for fertilization.

This joint resolution nullifies the Environmental Protection Agency notice titled California State Motor Vehicle and Engine Pollution Control Standards; Heavy-Duty Vehicle and Engine Emission Warranty and Maintenance Provisions; Advanced Clean Trucks; Zero Emission Airport Shuttle; Zero-Emission Power Train Certification; Waiver of Preemption; Notice of Decision (88 Fed. Reg. 20688) and published on April 6, 2023. Among other elements, the notice grants the California Air Resources Board request for a waiver several of its regulations, including the Heavy-Duty Vehicle and Engine Emission Warranty Regulations and Maintenance Provisions. (Under the Clean Air Act, California may seek waivers of the preemption prohibiting states from enacting certain emission standards.)

This joint resolution nullifies the Environmental Protection Agency notice titled California State Motor Vehicle and Engine Pollution Control Standards; Advanced Clean Cars II; Waiver of Preemption; Notice of Decision (90 Fed. Reg. 642) and published on January 6, 2025. Among other elements, the notice grants the California Air Resources Board request for a waiver for its Advanced Clean Cars II (ACC II) regulations. (Under the Clean Air Act, California may seek waivers of the preemption prohibiting states from enacting certain emission standards.)

Veterans First Act of 2025

This bill rescinds $2 billion of the unobligated funds that were provided to the U.S. Agency for International Development. It also provides $2 billion in appropriations to the Department of Veterans Affairs for grants to assist states to acquire or construct state nursing home and domiciliary facilities and to remodel, modify, or alter existing hospital, nursing home, and domiciliary facilities in state homes for furnishing care to veterans,

Moab UMTRA Project Transition Act of 2025

This bill allows the Department of Energy (DOE) to convey the Moab site to Grand County, Utah, at no cost when it finishes cleaning up uranium mill tailings (i.e., radioactive waste) at the site. (The Moab site is a uranium milling site located approximately three miles northwest of Moab, Utah.)

DOE must retain certain water rights that are necessary to carry out its responsibilities, such as maintaining access to wells and the associated surface footprint of the wells if the remediation of groundwater is ongoing at the time of the conveyance.

The conveyance of the site must include a provision that prohibits Grand County from reconveying to a private entity or nonprofit organization any portion of the land conveyed to the county.

Livestock Owned by Communities to Advance Local Foods Act of 2025 or the LOCAL Foods Act of 2025

This bill provides statutory authority for expanding the personal use exemption from inspection requirements for livestock that are slaughtered and prepared by the owner or at custom animal slaughter facilities for meat products intended for personal consumption.

Under current law, the personal use exemption from certain Food Safety and Inspection Service meat inspection requirements applies to a person who raises an animal and slaughters the animal exclusively for personal, household, guest, or employee uses.

The bill applies the exemption to any person who meets these requirements and is the owner of an animal, in whole or in part. This allows for an animal to have multiple owners (e.g., a community or a group of people buying shares in livestock).

Further, the owner may designate an agent to assist in the slaughter, preparation, or transportation of the carcasses (or parts thereof) or meat and meat food products. If the owner designates an agent, the owner must maintain custody and specific identification of the carcasses or meat.

Respect State Housing Laws Act

This bill eliminates a provision that requires a 30-day notice period before a landlord may begin eviction proceedings against a tenant in federally assisted or federally backed housing.

Promoting Domestic Energy Production Act

This bill allows corporations to reduce their adjusted financial statement income to account for certain intangible costs related to oil, gas, or geothermal well drilling and development for purposes of calculating the corporate alternative minimum tax.

Under current law, a 15% corporate alternative minimum tax is imposed on a corporation with adjusted financial statement income exceeding an average of $1 billion for a consecutive three-year period (or an average of $100 million for a U.S. corporation that is part of a foreign parent multinational group if the adjusted financial statement income of such group exceeds an average of $1 billion for a consecutive three-year period). Adjusted financial statement income generally is the net income or loss reported on the corporation’s applicable financial statement for a tax year, with adjustments for specific items.

This bill expands the reductions that may be made to a corporation’s adjusted financial statement income to include (1) intangible drilling and development costs incurred by an operator of a domestic oil, gas, or geothermal well that are allowed as a deduction in the current tax year when computing regular taxable income; and (2) any depletion expenses related to the intangible oil, gas, or geothermal well drilling and development costs.

Accountability Through Electronic Verification Act

This bill expands the E-Verify program by requiring all employers to use it and permanently reauthorizes the program. Currently, E-Verify use is voluntary for most employers, although some states mandate its use.

All employers must use E-Verify to confirm the identity and employment eligibility of all recruited, referred, or hired individuals, including current employees who were never verified under the program. Failure to use E-Verify shall create a rebuttable presumption that the employer is violating immigration law.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services must generate weekly reports about individuals who have received a final nonconfirmation of employment eligibility. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) must use the report to enforce immigration laws.

The bill increases civil and criminal penalties for hiring non-U.S. nationals (aliens under federal law) who are not authorized to work. DHS must bar repeat offenders and those criminally convicted from holding federal contracts, grants, or cooperative agreements.

The Social Security Administration, Internal Revenue Service, Department of the Treasury, and DHS must jointly establish a program to share information to help identify non-U.S. nationals who are not authorized to work.

The bill establishes the Employer Compliance Inspection Center within Homeland Security Investigations of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The center's duties include processing I-9 employment eligibility verification forms and ensuring compliance with employment eligibility laws.

DHS must report to Congress on ways to simplify procedures relating to I-9 forms and on whether the I-9 process should be eliminated.