House bill · 119th Congress · Latest step: Introduced

Mel’s Law

H.R. 468Introduced Jan 15, 2025Policy area: Education

Official title: To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require institutions of higher education, as a condition of participation in programs under title IV of such Act, to establish a policy to award posthumous degrees to certain deceased students, and for other purposes.

Sponsor: Rep. Nydia Velázquez D-NY

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Where it went

IntroducedJan 15, 2025
Committee action—
Passed House—
Passed Senate—
To the President—
Became law—

Latest action: Jan 15, 2025 — Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce.

Cost and committee reports

Official records Congress.gov attaches to H.R. 468.

Constitutional authority statementThe sponsor’s statement of where the Constitution gives Congress the power to pass this bill. Statement by Ms. VELAZQUEZ, as printed in the Congressional Record (Vol. 171, No. 8, January 15, 2025, Page H187):
Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 The Congress shall have Power to . . . provide for the . . . general Welfare of the United States; . . .
Source: Congress.gov, Congressional Record January 15, 2025 ↗
Evidence
Field in the Congress.gov record
constitutionalAuthorityStatementText
Statement length
135 characters
Congress.gov bill record
H.R. 468, 119th Congress
Congress.gov API record
https://api.congress.gov/v3/bill/119/hr/468
Record last updated by Congress.gov
September 19, 2026
PORKER copy retrieved
September 24, 2026
Stored copy, SHA-256 of the file
6a084121f15ccb26ca4fcbd6d78077648d1fde0f2ee1b5e9293929cdcc9145b3
PORKER shows the statement exactly as printed, with the page markup removed. It is the sponsor’s claim; it is not a legal finding.

Congress.gov’s record for this bill does not list a CBO cost estimate or a committee report (as of September 19, 2026). Not every bill gets one.

Sent to: Education and Workforce CommitteeBills with a CBO estimate Bills with a committee report See it in the Data Web

From the Congress.gov bill record for H.R. 468, last updated September 19, 2026. PORKER’s copy was retrieved September 24, 2026 and is refreshed nightly. Open “Evidence” on any line for the record, field and file fingerprint.

Vote results

No recorded roll-call votes on this bill in PORKER’s records (voice votes and unanimous consent are not roll calls; roll-call records start in 2011).

Cosponsors

6 cosponsors — 2 Republicans, 4 Democrats

2 of 6 cosponsors (33%) are from the other party.

Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL), Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), LaMonica McIver (D-NJ), Paul Tonko (D-NY).

More from the sponsor

Other 119th Congress bills sponsored by Rep. Nydia Velázquez.

Sponsor’s state and district

New York in Congress · NY-7 district

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Data as of Sep 25, 2026 · bill record checked by PORKER from Congress.gov · votes from Senate.gov and the House Clerk. PORKER is non-partisan.