A bill to amend the Immigration and Nationality Technical Corrections Act of 1994 to eliminate the special transition rule for issuance of a certificate of citizenship for certain children born outside the United States.
Public Law 105-38 · S. 670 · 105th Congress · began in the Senate
Signed by Bill Clinton (D) on Aug 8, 1997 · Immigration
Sponsor: Sen. Spencer Abraham (R-MI)
Cosponsors (4): Sen. Ted Kennedy, Sen. Orrin Hatch,
Passage votes
- HouseUnanimous consent
- SenateUnanimous consent
Data notes
The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.
Summary
The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.
Amends the Immigration and Nationality Technical Corrections Act of 1994, as amended by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, to eliminate the certificate of citizenship transition rule applicable to certain children born outside the United States.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
Judiciary Committee · House · discharged from, referred toSubcommittee: Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee
Judiciary Committee · Senate · markup by, referred to, reported bySubcommittee: Border Security and Immigration Subcommittee
Data notes
A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 17 actions.
- Aug 8, 1997Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 105-38.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- Jul 30, 1997PresidentPresident · Presented to President.
- Jul 28, 1997FloorFloor · A similar measure H.R. 1109 was laid on the table without objection.
- FloorFloor · Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
- FloorFloor · On passage Passed without objection.
- FloorFloor · Mr. McCollum asked unanimous consent to discharge from committee and consider.
- FloorFloor · Considered by unanimous consent.
- CommitteeCommittee · Discharged from House Judiciary Committee
- May 19, 1997CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee
- May 15, 1997CommitteeCommittee · Referred to House Judiciary Committee
- May 14, 1997FloorFloor · Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent.
- May 8, 1997CommitteeCommittee · Reported by Senate Judiciary Committee
- CommitteeCommittee · Markup by Senate Judiciary Committee
- May 5, 1997CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Border Security and Immigration Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee
- Apr 30, 1997CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Senate Judiciary Committee
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in the Senate
Data notes
Shows the introduction, each committee and subcommittee step the source dates (referral, hearings, markup, report, discharge), and the floor, conference, presidential and became-law steps. Calendar placements, messages between the chambers, amendments and committee report numbers are not shown for laws before the 108th Congress. Two entries the source lists twice are shown once.
Official record
The bill’s full text and every action, including introduction and committee steps, are on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.