H.R. 8931

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8931 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8931

To eliminate the touchback requirement for certain Commonwealth Only 
Workers, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

May 20, 2026

Ms. King-Hinds introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on the 
Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 
in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the 
jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To eliminate the touchback requirement for certain Commonwealth Only 
Workers, and for other purposes.

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 ``Northern Mariana Islands Workforce 
Improvement Act''.

SEC. 2. ELIMINATION OF TOUCHBACK REQUIREMENT.

(a) In General.--Section 6(d)(7) of Public Law 94-241 (48 U.S.C. 
1806(d)(7)) is amended to read as follows:
``(7) Permit validity; long-term workers.--
``(A) In general.--Except as provided in 
subparagraph (B), a permit for a Commonwealth Only 
Worker shall be valid for a period not to exceed 1 
year.
``(B) Renewals.--A permit issued under subparagraph 
(A) may be renewed for additional periods of not more 
than 1 year each, subject to the requirements of this 
subsection.
``(C) Long-term workers.--An alien who was admitted 
to the Commonwealth as a Commonwealth Only Transitional 
Worker--
``(i) during fiscal year 2015; and
``(ii) during two of fiscal years 2016, 
2017, 2018, or 2019,
may be admitted as a Commonwealth Only Transitional 
Worker for a period that may not exceed 3 years and may 
be renewed for additional 3-year periods during the 
transition period. A permit issued pursuant to this 
subparagraph shall be counted toward the numerical cap 
for each fiscal year for which the permit is valid.''.
(b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall take 
effect as if included in the enactment of Public Law 115-218.
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