| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 1609 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To nullify certain regulations and notices of the Department of Housing |
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| 6 | 6 | | and Urban Development, and for other purposes. |
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| 7 | 7 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 8 | 8 | | FEBRUARY26, 2025 |
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| 9 | 9 | | Mr. G |
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| 10 | 10 | | OSARintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee |
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| 11 | 11 | | on the Judiciary |
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| 12 | 12 | | A BILL |
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| 13 | 13 | | To nullify certain regulations and notices of the Department |
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| 14 | 14 | | of Housing and Urban Development, and for other purposes. |
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| 15 | 15 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 16 | 16 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 17 | 17 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 18 | 18 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Local Zoning Decisions 4 |
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| 19 | 19 | | Protection Act of 2025’’. 5 |
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| 20 | 20 | | SEC. 2. NULLIFICATION OF RULES AND NOTICES. 6 |
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| 21 | 21 | | (a) I |
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| 22 | 22 | | NTERIMFINALRULE.—The interim final rule 7 |
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| 23 | 23 | | of the Department of Housing and Urban Development 8 |
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| 24 | 24 | | entitled ‘‘Restoring Affirmatively Furthering Fair Hous-9 |
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| 25 | 25 | | ing Definitions and Certifications’’, published in the Fed-10 |
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| 27 | 27 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 28 | 28 | | •HR 1609 IH |
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| 29 | 29 | | eral Register on June 10, 2021 (86 Fed. Reg. 30779; 1 |
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| 30 | 30 | | Docket No. FR–6249–I–01), and any successor rule that 2 |
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| 31 | 31 | | is substantially similar to such interim final rule shall have 3 |
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| 32 | 32 | | no force or effect. 4 |
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| 33 | 33 | | (b) F |
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| 34 | 34 | | INALRULE.—The final rule of the Department 5 |
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| 35 | 35 | | of Housing and Urban Development entitled ‘‘Affirma-6 |
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| 36 | 36 | | tively Furthering Fair Housing’’, published in the Federal 7 |
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| 37 | 37 | | Register on July 16, 2015 (80 Fed. Reg. 42272; Docket 8 |
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| 38 | 38 | | No. FR–5173–F–04), and any successor rule that is sub-9 |
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| 39 | 39 | | stantially similar to such final rule shall have no force or 10 |
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| 40 | 40 | | effect. 11 |
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| 41 | 41 | | (c) N |
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| 42 | 42 | | OTICE.—The notice of the Department of Hous-12 |
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| 43 | 43 | | ing and Urban Development relating to the Affirmatively 13 |
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| 44 | 44 | | Furthering Fair Housing Assessment Tool, published in 14 |
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| 45 | 45 | | the Federal Register on December 31, 2015 (80 Fed. Reg. 15 |
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| 46 | 46 | | 81840; Docket No. FR–5173–N–07), and any successor 16 |
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| 47 | 47 | | notice or rule substantially similar to such notice shall 17 |
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| 48 | 48 | | have no force or effect. 18 |
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| 49 | 49 | | SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON USE OF FEDERAL FUNDS. 19 |
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| 50 | 50 | | Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no Fed-20 |
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| 51 | 51 | | eral funds may be used to design, build, maintain, utilize, 21 |
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| 52 | 52 | | or provide access to a Federal database of geospatial infor-22 |
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| 53 | 53 | | mation on community racial disparities or disparities in 23 |
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| 54 | 54 | | access to affordable housing. 24 |
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| 57 | 57 | | •HR 1609 IH |
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| 58 | 58 | | SEC. 4. FEDERALISM CONSULTATION AND REPORT. 1 |
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| 59 | 59 | | (a) I |
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| 60 | 60 | | NGENERAL.—The Secretary of Housing and 2 |
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| 61 | 61 | | Urban Development shall jointly consult with State offi-3 |
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| 62 | 62 | | cials, local government officials, and officials of public 4 |
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| 63 | 63 | | housing agencies to develop recommendations, consistent 5 |
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| 64 | 64 | | with applicable rulings of the Supreme Court of the 6 |
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| 65 | 65 | | United States, to further the purposes and policies of the 7 |
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| 66 | 66 | | Fair Housing Act. 8 |
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| 67 | 67 | | (b) C |
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| 68 | 68 | | ONSULTATIONREQUIREMENTS.—In developing 9 |
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| 69 | 69 | | the recommendations required under subsection (a), the 10 |
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| 70 | 70 | | Secretary shall— 11 |
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| 71 | 71 | | (1) provide State officials, local government of-12 |
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| 72 | 72 | | ficials, and officials of public housing agencies with 13 |
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| 73 | 73 | | notice and an opportunity to participate in the con-14 |
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| 74 | 74 | | sultation process required under subsection (a); 15 |
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| 75 | 75 | | (2) seek to consult with State officials, local 16 |
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| 76 | 76 | | government officials, and officials of public housing 17 |
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| 77 | 77 | | agencies that represent a broad cross-section of re-18 |
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| 78 | 78 | | gional, economic, and geographic perspectives in the 19 |
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| 79 | 79 | | United States; 20 |
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| 80 | 80 | | (3) emphasize the importance of collaboration 21 |
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| 81 | 81 | | with and among the State officials, local government 22 |
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| 82 | 82 | | officials, and officials of public housing agencies; 23 |
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| 83 | 83 | | (4) allow for meaningful and timely input by 24 |
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| 84 | 84 | | State officials, local government officials, and offi-25 |
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| 85 | 85 | | cials of public housing agencies; 26 |
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| 88 | 88 | | •HR 1609 IH |
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| 89 | 89 | | (5) promote transparency in the consultation 1 |
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| 90 | 90 | | process required under subsection (a); and 2 |
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| 91 | 91 | | (6) explore with State officials, local govern-3 |
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| 92 | 92 | | ment officials, and officials of public housing agen-4 |
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| 93 | 93 | | cies whether Federal objectives under the Fair 5 |
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| 94 | 94 | | Housing Act can be attained by means other than 6 |
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| 95 | 95 | | through new regulations. 7 |
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| 96 | 96 | | (c) R |
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| 97 | 97 | | EPORTS.— 8 |
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| 98 | 98 | | (1) I |
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| 99 | 99 | | N GENERAL.—Not later than 12 months 9 |
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| 100 | 100 | | after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-10 |
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| 101 | 101 | | retary shall publish in the Federal Register a draft 11 |
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| 102 | 102 | | report describing the recommendations developed 12 |
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| 103 | 103 | | pursuant to subsection (a). 13 |
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| 104 | 104 | | (2) C |
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| 105 | 105 | | ONSENSUS REQUIREMENT .—The Secretary 14 |
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| 106 | 106 | | may include a recommendation in the draft report 15 |
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| 107 | 107 | | only if consensus has been reached with regard to 16 |
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| 108 | 108 | | the recommendation among the Secretary, the State 17 |
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| 109 | 109 | | officials, local government officials, and officials of 18 |
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| 110 | 110 | | public housing agencies consulted pursuant to sub-19 |
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| 111 | 111 | | section (a). 20 |
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| 112 | 112 | | (3) F |
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| 113 | 113 | | AILURE TO REACH CONSENSUS .—If the 21 |
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| 114 | 114 | | Secretary, State officials, local government officials, 22 |
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| 115 | 115 | | and officials of public housing agencies consulted 23 |
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| 116 | 116 | | under subsection (a) fail to reach consensus on a 24 |
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| 119 | 119 | | •HR 1609 IH |
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| 120 | 120 | | regulatory proposal, the draft report shall identify 1 |
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| 121 | 121 | | that consensus was not reached and shall describe— 2 |
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| 122 | 122 | | (A) the areas and issues with regard to 3 |
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| 123 | 123 | | which consensus was reached; 4 |
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| 124 | 124 | | (B) the areas and issues of continuing dis-5 |
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| 125 | 125 | | agreement that resulted in the failure to reach 6 |
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| 126 | 126 | | consensus; and 7 |
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| 127 | 127 | | (C) the reasons for the continuing dis-8 |
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| 128 | 128 | | agreements. 9 |
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| 129 | 129 | | (4) P |
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| 130 | 130 | | UBLIC REVIEW AND COMMENT PERIOD .— 10 |
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| 131 | 131 | | The Secretary shall make the draft report available 11 |
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| 132 | 132 | | for public review and comment for a period of not 12 |
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| 133 | 133 | | fewer than 180 days. 13 |
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| 134 | 134 | | (5) F |
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| 135 | 135 | | INAL REPORT.—The Secretary shall, in 14 |
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| 136 | 136 | | consultation with the State officials, local govern-15 |
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| 137 | 137 | | ment officials, and officials of public housing agen-16 |
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| 138 | 138 | | cies, address any comments received pursuant to 17 |
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| 139 | 139 | | paragraph (4) and shall prepare a final report de-18 |
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| 140 | 140 | | scribing the final results of the consultation process 19 |
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| 141 | 141 | | under subsection (a). 20 |
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| 142 | 142 | | (d) S |
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| 143 | 143 | | UBMISSION OFFINALREPORT.—Not later than 21 |
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| 144 | 144 | | 12 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the 22 |
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| 145 | 145 | | Secretary shall make publicly available online the final re-23 |
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| 146 | 146 | | port prepared pursuant to subsection (c)(5). 24 |
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| 149 | 149 | | •HR 1609 IH |
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| 150 | 150 | | (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act, the following defini-1 |
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| 151 | 151 | | tions apply: 2 |
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| 152 | 152 | | (1) S |
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| 153 | 153 | | ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 3 |
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| 154 | 154 | | the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. 4 |
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| 155 | 155 | | (2) L |
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| 156 | 156 | | OCAL GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL .—The term 5 |
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| 157 | 157 | | ‘‘local government official’’ means an elected or pro-6 |
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| 158 | 158 | | fessional official of a local government or an official 7 |
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| 159 | 159 | | of a regional or national organization representing 8 |
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| 160 | 160 | | local governments or officials. 9 |
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| 161 | 161 | | (3) S |
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| 162 | 162 | | TATE OFFICIAL.—The term ‘‘State offi-10 |
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| 163 | 163 | | cial’’ means an elected or professional official of a 11 |
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| 164 | 164 | | State government or an official of a regional or na-12 |
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| 165 | 165 | | tional organization representing State governments 13 |
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| 166 | 166 | | or officials. 14 |
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| 167 | 167 | | (4) P |
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| 168 | 168 | | UBLIC HOUSING AGENCY .—The term 15 |
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| 169 | 169 | | ‘‘public housing agency’’ has the meaning given such 16 |
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| 170 | 170 | | term in section 3(b) of the United States Housing 17 |
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| 171 | 171 | | Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)). 18 |
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| 172 | 172 | | Æ |
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