Reducing Unnecessary Slowdowns in Handling Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5672 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5672

 To establish statutory deadlines for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, 
 Firearms, and Explosives to process permit applications, and require 
quarterly congressional and public reporting on application processing 
                        metrics and compliance.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 30, 2025

Mr. Williams of Texas (for himself and Mr. Moore of Alabama) introduced 
    the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the 
                               Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To establish statutory deadlines for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, 
 Firearms, and Explosives to process permit applications, and require 
quarterly congressional and public reporting on application processing 
                        metrics and compliance.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Reducing Unnecessary Slowdowns in 
Handling Act''.

SEC. 2. STATUTORY PROCESSING DEADLINES.

    (a) Applications to the ATF Generally.--Within 90 calendar days 
after receipt of an application not described in subsection (b), the 
Bureau shall complete processing of the application.
    (b) Applications Relating to Licenses Under Section 923 of Title 
18, United States Code.--Within 60 calendar days after receipt of an 
application relating to a license under section 923 of title 18, United 
States Code, the Bureau shall complete processing of the application.

SEC. 3. QUARTERLY CONGRESSIONAL AND PUBLIC REPORTING REQUIREMENT.

    Within 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and 
every 90 days thereafter, the Bureau shall submit to the Committees on 
Oversight and Accountability and on the Judiciary of the House of 
Representatives and the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate, and 
shall make available to the public on the website of the Bureau, a 
report that contains the following, with respect to each type of 
application processed during the 90-day period ending with the date the 
report is so submitted:
            (1) A specification of the number of applications received, 
        approved, denied, and pending.
            (2) A specification of the length of time taken to process 
        the applications.
            (3) A summary of reasons for delays in the processing of 
        the applications.
            (4) A summary of reasons for denials of the applications.

SEC. 4. INTERNAL OVERSIGHT AND IMPLEMENTATION.

    (a) Appeals Process.--The Bureau shall establish a process for 
applicants to appeal the denial of an application, or to compel the 
completion of the processing of an application the processing of which 
is not in compliance with section 2.
    (b) Internal Oversight.--The Bureau shall establish procedures to 
identify the causes of noncompliance with section 2, and to take 
necessary corrective actions.
    (c) Implementation.--The Bureau shall implement this Act through 
the use of funds otherwise made available to the Bureau for salaries 
and expenses, and not by hiring additional personnel or acquiring 
additional resources, and in doing so shall eliminate repetitive 
reviews and unnecessary administrative steps, and revise any outdated 
or duplicative procedural processes hindering the timely processing of 
permits.

SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Application.--The term ``application'' means an 
        application for a license, permit, authorization, or a form 
        required by Federal law to be submitted to the Bureau.
            (2) Bureau.--The term ``Bureau'' means the Bureau of 
        Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
            (3) Easily accessible format.--The term ``easily accessible 
        format'' means, with respect to a report, a format that is 
        available to the general public and allows users to efficiently 
        locate and read the report.
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