| 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. 2522 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To designate the area between the intersections of 18th Street Northwest |
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| 6 | 6 | | and Church Street Northwest, and 18th Street Northwest and P Street |
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| 7 | 7 | | Northwest, in the District of Columbia as ‘‘Jimmy Lai Way’’, and for |
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| 8 | 8 | | other purposes. |
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| 9 | 9 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 10 | 10 | | MARCH31, 2025 |
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| 11 | 11 | | Mr. S |
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| 12 | 12 | | MITHof New Jersey (for himself, Mr. M OOLENAAR, Mr. |
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| 13 | 13 | | K |
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| 14 | 14 | | RISHNAMOORTHI, and Mr. SUOZZI) introduced the following bill; which |
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| 15 | 15 | | was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, |
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| 16 | 16 | | and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be |
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| 17 | 17 | | subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration |
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| 18 | 18 | | of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee con- |
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| 19 | 19 | | cerned |
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| 20 | 20 | | A BILL |
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| 21 | 21 | | To designate the area between the intersections of 18th |
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| 22 | 22 | | Street Northwest and Church Street Northwest, and |
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| 23 | 23 | | 18th Street Northwest and P Street Northwest, in the |
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| 24 | 24 | | District of Columbia as ‘‘Jimmy Lai Way’’, and for |
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| 25 | 25 | | other purposes. |
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| 26 | 26 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 27 | 27 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 28 | 28 | | SECTION 1. CONDEMNING THE ARBITARY DETENTION OF 3 |
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| 29 | 29 | | JIMMY LAI IN HONG KONG. 4 |
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| 30 | 30 | | (a) F |
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| 31 | 31 | | INDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 5 |
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| 32 | 32 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:36 Apr 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2522.IH H2522 |
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| 33 | 33 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 34 | 34 | | •HR 2522 IH |
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| 35 | 35 | | (1) Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, a Hong Kong democ-1 |
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| 36 | 36 | | racy advocate, media entrepreneur, and a British 2 |
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| 37 | 37 | | citizen, has been in prison since December 2020 on 3 |
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| 38 | 38 | | multiple fabricated charges, and is serving a sen-4 |
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| 39 | 39 | | tence of almost 6 years in prison under politically 5 |
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| 40 | 40 | | motivated fraud charges, concurrently serving two 6 |
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| 41 | 41 | | other sentences, one for joining a vigil to mark the 7 |
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| 42 | 42 | | 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, and another for 8 |
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| 43 | 43 | | participating in peaceful protests in 2019. 9 |
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| 44 | 44 | | (2) Jimmy Lai is held in solitary confinement 10 |
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| 45 | 45 | | for 23 hours and 10 minutes each day, with only 50 11 |
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| 46 | 46 | | minutes for restricted exercise and limited human 12 |
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| 47 | 47 | | contact or access to daylight. He suffers from diabe-13 |
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| 48 | 48 | | tes and has experienced significant weight loss and 14 |
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| 49 | 49 | | increasing frailty since being imprisoned. He was de-15 |
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| 50 | 50 | | nied access to independent medical care. 16 |
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| 51 | 51 | | (3) The Apple Daily newspaper which Jimmy 17 |
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| 52 | 52 | | Lai founded and published was forced by the au-18 |
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| 53 | 53 | | thorities in Hong Kong to close in June 2021, and 19 |
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| 54 | 54 | | the parent company Next Media was delisted from 20 |
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| 55 | 55 | | the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under government 21 |
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| 56 | 56 | | coercion in January 2023, severely restricting the 22 |
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| 57 | 57 | | free flow of news and information that undergirded 23 |
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| 58 | 58 | | Hong Kong role as a major financial center. 24 |
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| 60 | 60 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 |
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| 61 | 61 | | •HR 2522 IH |
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| 62 | 62 | | (4) On August 10, 2020, Lai was charged with 1 |
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| 63 | 63 | | ‘‘collusion with a foreign country or with external 2 |
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| 64 | 64 | | elements to endanger national security’’ under Arti-3 |
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| 65 | 65 | | cle 29 of the National Security Law, charges levied 4 |
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| 66 | 66 | | in part because of meetings taken with United 5 |
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| 67 | 67 | | States officials, including those during the first Ad-6 |
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| 68 | 68 | | ministration of President Donald J. Trump (2016– 7 |
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| 69 | 69 | | 2020) and supporting publicly the policies pursued 8 |
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| 70 | 70 | | at that time by the Administration. 9 |
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| 71 | 71 | | (5) Jimmy Lai’s meetings with former United 10 |
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| 72 | 72 | | States Government officials and public figures, in-11 |
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| 73 | 73 | | cluding the Vice President, Secretary of State, 12 |
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| 74 | 74 | | Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Con-13 |
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| 75 | 75 | | sul-General in Hong Kong have been cited by the 14 |
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| 76 | 76 | | prosecution in the court proceedings. 15 |
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| 77 | 77 | | (6) Lai trial under the National Security Law 16 |
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| 78 | 78 | | began in December 2023 and is ongoing. 17 |
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| 79 | 79 | | (7) A group of United Nations experts, being 18 |
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| 80 | 80 | | alarmed by multiple and serious violations of Lai’s 19 |
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| 81 | 81 | | rights, including the right to a fair trial and access 20 |
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| 82 | 82 | | to a lawyer of his own choosing, called for his imme-21 |
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| 83 | 83 | | diate release. 22 |
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| 84 | 84 | | (8) The minimum sentence required under the 23 |
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| 85 | 85 | | National Security Law is 10 years imprisonment, 24 |
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| 87 | 87 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 |
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| 88 | 88 | | •HR 2522 IH |
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| 89 | 89 | | and therefore it is possible that Lai could spend the 1 |
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| 90 | 90 | | rest of his life behind bars. 2 |
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| 91 | 91 | | (9) In 1997, the United Kingdom transferred 3 |
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| 92 | 92 | | sovereignty over Hong Kong to the People’s Repub-4 |
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| 93 | 93 | | lic of China (PRC) with guaranteed that funda-5 |
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| 94 | 94 | | mental rights are protected under both the Sino- 6 |
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| 95 | 95 | | British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law, which 7 |
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| 96 | 96 | | enumerate specific rights and freedoms including 8 |
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| 97 | 97 | | those of speech, of the press, and of assembly. 9 |
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| 98 | 98 | | (10) The Government of the People’s Republic 10 |
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| 99 | 99 | | of China has repeatedly undermined Hong Kong’s 11 |
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| 100 | 100 | | autonomy since, in particular since the Umbrella 12 |
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| 101 | 101 | | Movement protests in 2014, the mass prodemocracy 13 |
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| 102 | 102 | | protests in 2019, and the imposition of the draco-14 |
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| 103 | 103 | | nian National Security Law in 2020. 15 |
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| 104 | 104 | | (11) Since its enactment in June 2020, the Na-16 |
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| 105 | 105 | | tional Security Law, unilaterally passed by the Na-17 |
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| 106 | 106 | | tional People’s Congress Standing Committee and 18 |
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| 107 | 107 | | enforced by officials in Hong Kong as a pretext to 19 |
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| 108 | 108 | | repress legitimate and peaceful speech, assembly, 20 |
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| 109 | 109 | | and expression of political opinions. 21 |
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| 110 | 110 | | (12) Jimmy Lai stands for the values of democ-22 |
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| 111 | 111 | | racy, human rights, respect for the rule of law, reli-23 |
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| 112 | 112 | | gious freedom, freedom of expression, and media 24 |
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| 113 | 113 | | freedom, and is prosecuted and persecuted by the 25 |
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| 115 | 115 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5 |
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| 116 | 116 | | •HR 2522 IH |
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| 117 | 117 | | PRC’s proxies in Hong Kong solely because of his 1 |
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| 118 | 118 | | opinions and activities in pursuit of these values. 2 |
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| 119 | 119 | | (b) S |
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| 120 | 120 | | ENSE OFCONGRESS.—Congress— 3 |
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| 121 | 121 | | (1) condemns the unjust imprisonment, mis-4 |
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| 122 | 122 | | treatment, and the show trial of United Kingdom 5 |
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| 123 | 123 | | citizen Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong; 6 |
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| 124 | 124 | | (2) calls upon the Hong Kong authorities to re-7 |
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| 125 | 125 | | lease Jimmy Lai immediately and unconditionally 8 |
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| 126 | 126 | | and cease prosecuting him and others charged under 9 |
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| 127 | 127 | | the National Security Law; 10 |
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| 128 | 128 | | (3) reaffirms the importance of the freedom of 11 |
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| 129 | 129 | | speech and the right of publishers, journalists, and 12 |
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| 130 | 130 | | media workers in Hong Kong and around the world 13 |
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| 131 | 131 | | to operate free from intimidation, harassment, re-14 |
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| 132 | 132 | | pression, censorship, and fear; 15 |
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| 133 | 133 | | (4) recognizes that the severe restrictions on 16 |
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| 134 | 134 | | the free flow of news and information from Hong 17 |
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| 135 | 135 | | Kong impacts the ability of individuals, corporations, 18 |
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| 136 | 136 | | and diplomats to make decisions about travel, invest-19 |
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| 137 | 137 | | ments, and political conditions in Hong Kong; 20 |
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| 138 | 138 | | (5) urges the Secretary of State and other rel-21 |
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| 139 | 139 | | evant Department of State officials to advocate for 22 |
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| 140 | 140 | | the release of Jimmy Lai by raising his case with of-23 |
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| 141 | 141 | | ficials of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Re-24 |
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| 142 | 142 | | gion and People’s Republic of China; 25 |
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| 145 | 145 | | •HR 2522 IH |
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| 146 | 146 | | (6) urges the Secretary of State to employ the 1 |
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| 147 | 147 | | financial sanctions found in the Hong Kong Human 2 |
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| 148 | 148 | | Rights and Democracy Act and the Hong Kong Au-3 |
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| 149 | 149 | | tonomy Act for Hong Kong officials complicit in the 4 |
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| 150 | 150 | | arrest and prosecution of Jimmy Lai and other po-5 |
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| 151 | 151 | | litical prisoners in Hong Kong; 6 |
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| 152 | 152 | | (7) urges the United Nations High Commis-7 |
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| 153 | 153 | | sioner for Human Rights to hold a special session 8 |
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| 154 | 154 | | and appoint an impartial and independent United 9 |
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| 155 | 155 | | Nations mechanism to evaluate, monitor, and report 10 |
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| 156 | 156 | | on a range of human rights violations in the Peo-11 |
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| 157 | 157 | | ple’s Republic of China, including the impact of the 12 |
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| 158 | 158 | | National Security Law on human rights in Hong 13 |
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| 159 | 159 | | Kong, as requested by over United Nations Special 14 |
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| 160 | 160 | | Experts in 2020; and 15 |
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| 161 | 161 | | (8) urges the Government of the United King-16 |
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| 162 | 162 | | dom and all governments that view extension of 17 |
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| 163 | 163 | | human rights, the rule of law, and an end to censor-18 |
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| 164 | 164 | | ship as critical aspect of their national and economic 19 |
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| 165 | 165 | | security to call for all charges against Jimmy Lai to 20 |
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| 166 | 166 | | be dropped, the trial to end, and for the immediate 21 |
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| 167 | 167 | | and unconditional release of Jimmy Lai. 22 |
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| 168 | 168 | | SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF ‘‘JIMMY LAI WAY’’ IN THE DIS-23 |
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| 169 | 169 | | TRICT OF COLUMBIA. 24 |
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| 170 | 170 | | (a) D |
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| 171 | 171 | | ESIGNATION OFSTREETNAME.— 25 |
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| 173 | 173 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 7 |
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| 174 | 174 | | •HR 2522 IH |
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| 175 | 175 | | (1) IN GENERAL.—The area between the inter-1 |
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| 176 | 176 | | sections of 18th Street Northwest and Church Street 2 |
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| 177 | 177 | | Northwest, and 18th Street Northwest and P Street 3 |
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| 178 | 178 | | Northwest in the District of Columbia shall be 4 |
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| 179 | 179 | | known and designated as ‘‘Jimmy Lai Way’’. 5 |
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| 180 | 180 | | (2) R |
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| 181 | 181 | | EFERENCE.—Any reference in a law, map, 6 |
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| 182 | 182 | | regulation, document, paper, or other record of the 7 |
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| 183 | 183 | | United States to the area referred to in paragraph 8 |
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| 184 | 184 | | (1) shall be deemed to include ‘‘Jimmy Lai Way’’. 9 |
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| 185 | 185 | | (b) D |
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| 186 | 186 | | ESIGNATION OFADDRESS.— 10 |
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| 187 | 187 | | (1) D |
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| 188 | 188 | | ESIGNATION.—The address of 1520 18th 11 |
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| 189 | 189 | | Street Northwest in the District of Columbia shall 12 |
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| 190 | 190 | | be redesignated as 1 Jimmy Lai Way Northwest. 13 |
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| 191 | 191 | | (2) R |
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| 192 | 192 | | EFERENCES.—Any reference in a law, 14 |
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| 193 | 193 | | map, regulation, document, paper, or other record of 15 |
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| 194 | 194 | | the United States to the address referred to in para-16 |
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| 195 | 195 | | graph (1) shall be deemed to be a reference to 1 17 |
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| 196 | 196 | | Jimmy Lai Way Northwest. 18 |
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| 197 | 197 | | (c) S |
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| 198 | 198 | | IGNS.—The Administrator of General Services 19 |
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| 199 | 199 | | shall construct street signs that shall— 20 |
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| 200 | 200 | | (1) contain the phrase ‘‘Jimmy Lai Way NW’’; 21 |
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| 201 | 201 | | (2) be similar in design to the signs used by the 22 |
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| 202 | 202 | | District of Columbia to designate the location of 23 |
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| 203 | 203 | | Metro stations; and 24 |
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| 204 | 204 | | (3) be placed on— 25 |
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| 207 | 207 | | •HR 2522 IH |
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| 208 | 208 | | (A) the parcel of Federal property that is 1 |
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| 209 | 209 | | closest to 1 Jimmy Lai Way Northwest (as re-2 |
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| 210 | 210 | | designated by subsection (b)(1)) in the District 3 |
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| 211 | 211 | | of Columbia; and 4 |
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| 212 | 212 | | (B) the street corners of 18th Street 5 |
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| 213 | 213 | | Northwest and Church Street Northwest, and 6 |
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| 214 | 214 | | 18th Street Northwest and P Street Northwest, 7 |
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| 215 | 215 | | in the District of Columbia. 8 |
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| 216 | 216 | | SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING MAIL DELIVERY 9 |
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| 217 | 217 | | BY THE UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE TO 10 |
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| 218 | 218 | | 1 JIMMY LAI WAY. 11 |
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| 219 | 219 | | It is the sense of Congress that the Postmaster Gen-12 |
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| 220 | 220 | | eral should recognize any mail which is addressed to the 13 |
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| 221 | 221 | | Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office at ‘‘1 Jimmy Lai 14 |
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| 222 | 222 | | Way’’ in San Francisco, California, or New York, New 15 |
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| 223 | 223 | | York, with the appropriate postal codes, and should deliver 16 |
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| 224 | 224 | | such mail to— 17 |
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| 225 | 225 | | (1) 130 Montgomery Street, San Francisco, 18 |
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| 226 | 226 | | California 94104; or 19 |
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| 227 | 227 | | (2) 115 East 54th Street, New York, New York 20 |
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| 228 | 228 | | 10022, as the case may be. 21 |
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| 229 | 229 | | Æ |
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