| 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. 2843 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To establish a process for the Board on Geographic Names to review and |
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| 6 | 6 | | revise offensive place names, to create an advisory committee to rec- |
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| 7 | 7 | | ommend offensive place names to be reviewed by the Board, 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 | | APRIL10, 2025 |
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| 11 | 11 | | Mr. G |
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| 12 | 12 | | REENof Texas (for himself, Ms. ANSARI, Mr. CARSON, Mr. EVANSof |
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| 13 | 13 | | Pennsylvania, Mr. H |
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| 14 | 14 | | UFFMAN, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. JOHNSONof Georgia, |
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| 15 | 15 | | Ms. K |
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| 16 | 16 | | ELLYof Illinois, Mrs. MCIVER, Ms. NORTON, Mr. QUIGLEY, Ms. |
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| 17 | 17 | | S |
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| 18 | 18 | | TANSBURY, Mr. THOMPSONof Mississippi, Ms. TLAIB, Mrs. WATSON |
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| 19 | 19 | | C |
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| 20 | 20 | | OLEMAN, and Ms. WILLIAMSof Georgia) introduced the following bill; |
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| 21 | 21 | | which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources |
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| 22 | 22 | | A BILL |
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| 23 | 23 | | To establish a process for the Board on Geographic Names |
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| 24 | 24 | | to review and revise offensive place names, to create |
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| 25 | 25 | | an advisory committee to recommend offensive place |
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| 26 | 26 | | names to be reviewed by the Board, and for other pur- |
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| 27 | 27 | | poses. |
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| 28 | 28 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 29 | 29 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 30 | 30 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 31 | 31 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Reconciliation in Place 4 |
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| 32 | 32 | | Names Act’’. 5 |
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| 35 | 35 | | •HR 2843 IH |
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| 36 | 36 | | SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1 |
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| 37 | 37 | | Congress finds that— 2 |
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| 38 | 38 | | (1) the United States contains geographic fea-3 |
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| 39 | 39 | | tures named— 4 |
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| 40 | 40 | | (A) with derogatory terms that include ra-5 |
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| 41 | 41 | | cial and sexual slurs and stereotypes targeting 6 |
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| 42 | 42 | | Native Americans, African Americans, and oth-7 |
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| 43 | 43 | | ers; 8 |
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| 44 | 44 | | (B) in honor of individuals who— 9 |
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| 45 | 45 | | (i) held racially repugnant views; 10 |
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| 46 | 46 | | (ii) committed atrocities against Na-11 |
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| 47 | 47 | | tive Americans; or 12 |
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| 48 | 48 | | (iii) supported or effectuated discrimi-13 |
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| 49 | 49 | | natory policies; and 14 |
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| 50 | 50 | | (C) to recognize individuals who carried 15 |
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| 51 | 51 | | out injustices against racial minorities; 16 |
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| 52 | 52 | | (2) place names that include racial or sexual 17 |
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| 53 | 53 | | slurs, or honor individuals who held racially repug-18 |
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| 54 | 54 | | nant views, committed atrocities against Native 19 |
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| 55 | 55 | | Americans, or carried out injustices against racial 20 |
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| 56 | 56 | | minorities— 21 |
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| 57 | 57 | | (A) perpetuate prejudice; 22 |
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| 58 | 58 | | (B) disparage racial minorities; and 23 |
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| 59 | 59 | | (C) honor individuals who committed or 24 |
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| 60 | 60 | | supported atrocities; 25 |
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| 63 | 63 | | •HR 2843 IH |
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| 64 | 64 | | (3) no geographic feature in the United States 1 |
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| 65 | 65 | | should have a name that— 2 |
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| 66 | 66 | | (A) perpetuates prejudice; 3 |
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| 67 | 67 | | (B) disparages racial minorities; or 4 |
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| 68 | 68 | | (C) honors individuals who committed or 5 |
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| 69 | 69 | | supported atrocities against racial minorities; 6 |
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| 70 | 70 | | (4) place names in the United States should— 7 |
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| 71 | 71 | | (A) be equitable and just; 8 |
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| 72 | 72 | | (B) honor the cultural diversity of the 9 |
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| 73 | 73 | | United States; and 10 |
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| 74 | 74 | | (C) advance dignity for all people in the 11 |
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| 75 | 75 | | United States; 12 |
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| 76 | 76 | | (5) the Board on Geographic Names, jointly 13 |
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| 77 | 77 | | with the Secretary, is responsible for naming geo-14 |
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| 78 | 78 | | graphic features in the United States; 15 |
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| 79 | 79 | | (6) the policies of the Board on Geographic 16 |
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| 80 | 80 | | Names— 17 |
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| 81 | 81 | | (A) authorize changing the names of geo-18 |
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| 82 | 82 | | graphic features determined to be offensive; and 19 |
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| 83 | 83 | | (B) prohibit the Federal use of terms de-20 |
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| 84 | 84 | | termined to be derogatory or offensive in geo-21 |
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| 85 | 85 | | graphic place names; 22 |
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| 86 | 86 | | (7) the renaming process of the Board on Geo-23 |
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| 87 | 87 | | graphic Names— 24 |
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| 88 | 88 | | (A) is time consuming; 25 |
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| 91 | 91 | | •HR 2843 IH |
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| 92 | 92 | | (B) lacks transparency and public involve-1 |
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| 93 | 93 | | ment; and 2 |
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| 94 | 94 | | (C) fails to address the scope and breadth 3 |
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| 95 | 95 | | of inappropriate place names; 4 |
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| 96 | 96 | | (8) the extent of inappropriate or offensive 5 |
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| 97 | 97 | | place names in the United States requires a system-6 |
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| 98 | 98 | | atic, public process in which offensive and inappro-7 |
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| 99 | 99 | | priate place names are reviewed and replaced; and 8 |
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| 100 | 100 | | (9) the process described in paragraph (8) of-9 |
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| 101 | 101 | | fers an opportunity for reconciliation for— 10 |
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| 102 | 102 | | (A) people of the United States who suffer 11 |
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| 103 | 103 | | from prejudice and racial violence; and 12 |
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| 104 | 104 | | (B) all people of the United States in 13 |
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| 105 | 105 | | whose name the acts were committed. 14 |
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| 106 | 106 | | SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 15 |
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| 107 | 107 | | In this Act: 16 |
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| 108 | 108 | | (1) B |
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| 109 | 109 | | OARD.—The term ‘‘Board’’ means the 17 |
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| 110 | 110 | | Board on Geographic Names established by section 18 |
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| 111 | 111 | | 2 of the Act of July 25, 1947 (43 U.S.C. 364a). 19 |
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| 112 | 112 | | (2) C |
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| 113 | 113 | | OMMITTEE.—The term ‘‘Committee’’ 20 |
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| 114 | 114 | | means the Advisory Committee on Reconciliation in 21 |
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| 115 | 115 | | Place Names established by section 4(a). 22 |
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| 116 | 116 | | (3) F |
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| 117 | 117 | | EDERAL LAND UNIT .—The term ‘‘Federal 23 |
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| 118 | 118 | | land unit’’ includes— 24 |
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| 119 | 119 | | (A) National Forest System land; 25 |
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| 123 | 123 | | (B) a unit of the National Park System; 1 |
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| 124 | 124 | | (C) a component of the National Wilder-2 |
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| 125 | 125 | | ness Preservation System; 3 |
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| 126 | 126 | | (D) any part of the National Landscape 4 |
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| 127 | 127 | | Conservation System; and 5 |
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| 128 | 128 | | (E) a unit of the National Wildlife Refuge 6 |
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| 129 | 129 | | System. 7 |
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| 130 | 130 | | (4) I |
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| 131 | 131 | | NDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 8 |
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| 132 | 132 | | has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the 9 |
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| 133 | 133 | | Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 10 |
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| 134 | 134 | | Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 11 |
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| 135 | 135 | | (5) O |
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| 136 | 136 | | FFENSIVE PLACE NAME .—The term ‘‘of-12 |
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| 137 | 137 | | fensive place name’’ means a domestic geographic 13 |
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| 138 | 138 | | place name or Federal land unit name that— 14 |
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| 139 | 139 | | (A) recognizes an individual who— 15 |
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| 140 | 140 | | (i)(I) held racially repugnant views; 16 |
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| 141 | 141 | | (II) committed atrocities against Na-17 |
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| 142 | 142 | | tive Americans; or 18 |
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| 143 | 143 | | (III) supported or effectuated dis-19 |
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| 144 | 144 | | criminatory policies; or 20 |
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| 145 | 145 | | (ii) carried out other injustices 21 |
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| 146 | 146 | | against racial minorities; 22 |
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| 147 | 147 | | (B) contains a racial or sexual slur; 23 |
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| 148 | 148 | | (C) perpetuates racial, ethnic, or gender- 24 |
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| 149 | 149 | | based stereotypes; or 25 |
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| 152 | 152 | | •HR 2843 IH |
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| 153 | 153 | | (D) is derogatory or otherwise offensive. 1 |
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| 154 | 154 | | (6) T |
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| 155 | 155 | | RIBAL ORGANIZATION.—The term ‘‘Tribal 2 |
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| 156 | 156 | | organization’’ has the meaning given the term in 3 |
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| 157 | 157 | | section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu-4 |
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| 158 | 158 | | cation Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 5 |
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| 159 | 159 | | (7) S |
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| 160 | 160 | | ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 6 |
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| 161 | 161 | | the Secretary of the Interior. 7 |
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| 162 | 162 | | SEC. 4. ADVISORY COMMITTEE. 8 |
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| 163 | 163 | | (a) E |
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| 164 | 164 | | STABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days after 9 |
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| 165 | 165 | | the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall es-10 |
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| 166 | 166 | | tablish an advisory committee, to be known as the ‘‘Advi-11 |
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| 167 | 167 | | sory Committee on Reconciliation in Place Names’’. 12 |
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| 168 | 168 | | (b) P |
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| 169 | 169 | | URPOSE.—The purpose of the Committee is to 13 |
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| 170 | 170 | | advise the Board, the Secretary, and Congress with re-14 |
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| 171 | 171 | | spect to renaming geographic features and Federal land 15 |
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| 172 | 172 | | units with offensive place names. 16 |
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| 173 | 173 | | (c) M |
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| 174 | 174 | | EMBERSHIP.—The Committee shall be com-17 |
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| 175 | 175 | | posed of 17 members, to be appointed by the Secretary, 18 |
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| 176 | 176 | | of whom, to the extent practicable— 19 |
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| 177 | 177 | | (1) 4 members shall be members of an Indian 20 |
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| 178 | 178 | | Tribe; 21 |
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| 179 | 179 | | (2) 1 member shall represent a Tribal organiza-22 |
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| 180 | 180 | | tion; 23 |
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| 181 | 181 | | (3) 1 member shall represent a Native Hawai-24 |
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| 182 | 182 | | ian organization; 25 |
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| 186 | 186 | | (4) 4 members shall have a background in civil 1 |
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| 187 | 187 | | rights or race relations; 2 |
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| 188 | 188 | | (5) 4 members shall have expertise in— 3 |
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| 189 | 189 | | (A) anthropology; 4 |
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| 190 | 190 | | (B) cultural studies, ethnic studies, or in-5 |
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| 191 | 191 | | digenous studies; 6 |
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| 192 | 192 | | (C) geography; or 7 |
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| 193 | 193 | | (D) history; and 8 |
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| 194 | 194 | | (6) 3 members shall represent the general pub-9 |
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| 195 | 195 | | lic. 10 |
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| 196 | 196 | | (d) C |
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| 197 | 197 | | ONSULTATIONWITHINDIANTRIBES.—Before 11 |
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| 198 | 198 | | making an appointment under paragraph (1), (2), or (4) 12 |
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| 199 | 199 | | of subsection (c), the Secretary shall consult with Indian 13 |
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| 200 | 200 | | Tribes regarding the appointment. 14 |
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| 201 | 201 | | (e) D |
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| 202 | 202 | | UTIES.—The Committee shall— 15 |
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| 203 | 203 | | (1) establish a process to solicit and review pro-16 |
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| 204 | 204 | | posals to rename geographic features and Federal 17 |
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| 205 | 205 | | land units with offensive place names; 18 |
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| 206 | 206 | | (2) solicit proposals to rename geographic fea-19 |
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| 207 | 207 | | tures and Federal land units with offensive place 20 |
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| 208 | 208 | | names and derogatory terms from— 21 |
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| 209 | 209 | | (A) Indian Tribes; 22 |
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| 210 | 210 | | (B) appropriate State and local govern-23 |
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| 211 | 211 | | ments; 24 |
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| 215 | 215 | | (C) the affected land management agency; 1 |
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| 216 | 216 | | and 2 |
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| 217 | 217 | | (D) members of the public; 3 |
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| 218 | 218 | | (3) provide an opportunity for public comment 4 |
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| 219 | 219 | | on name change proposals; 5 |
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| 220 | 220 | | (4) make proposals to the Board and the Sec-6 |
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| 221 | 221 | | retary to rename geographic features with offensive 7 |
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| 222 | 222 | | place names, including proposed new names; 8 |
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| 223 | 223 | | (5) make proposals to Congress to rename Fed-9 |
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| 224 | 224 | | eral land units with offensive place names, including 10 |
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| 225 | 225 | | proposed new names; and 11 |
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| 226 | 226 | | (6) make recommendations to the Board on im-12 |
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| 227 | 227 | | provements to the process of reviewing and revising 13 |
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| 228 | 228 | | offensive place names. 14 |
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| 229 | 229 | | (f) C |
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| 230 | 230 | | OMPENSATION.— 15 |
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| 231 | 231 | | (1) I |
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| 232 | 232 | | N GENERAL.—Members of the Committee 16 |
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| 233 | 233 | | shall serve without compensation. 17 |
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| 234 | 234 | | (2) T |
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| 235 | 235 | | RAVEL EXPENSES.—Members of the Com-18 |
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| 236 | 236 | | mittee shall be allowed travel expenses, including per 19 |
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| 237 | 237 | | diem in lieu of subsistence, at rates authorized for 20 |
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| 238 | 238 | | an employee of an agency under subchapter I of 21 |
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| 239 | 239 | | chapter 57 of title 5, United States Code, while 22 |
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| 240 | 240 | | away from the home or regular place of business of 23 |
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| 241 | 241 | | the member in the performance of the duties of the 24 |
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| 242 | 242 | | Committee. 25 |
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| 246 | 246 | | (g) STAFF.—The Secretary shall provide the Com-1 |
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| 247 | 247 | | mittee with any staff members and technical assistance 2 |
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| 248 | 248 | | that the Secretary, after consultation with the Committee, 3 |
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| 249 | 249 | | determines to be appropriate to enable the Committee to 4 |
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| 250 | 250 | | carry out the duties of the Committee. 5 |
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| 251 | 251 | | (h) R |
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| 252 | 252 | | ULES.—The Committee may adopt such rules 6 |
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| 253 | 253 | | as may be necessary. 7 |
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| 254 | 254 | | (i) A |
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| 255 | 255 | | PPLICABLELAW.—The Committee shall be sub-8 |
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| 256 | 256 | | ject to chapter 10 of title 5, United States Code (com-9 |
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| 257 | 257 | | monly referred to as the ‘‘Federal Advisory Committee 10 |
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| 258 | 258 | | Act’’), 11 |
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| 259 | 259 | | (j) D |
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| 260 | 260 | | URATION.— 12 |
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| 261 | 261 | | (1) T |
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| 262 | 262 | | IMELINE.—To the extent practicable, not 13 |
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| 263 | 263 | | later than 5 years after the date on which the Com-14 |
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| 264 | 264 | | mittee is established, the Committee shall fulfill the 15 |
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| 265 | 265 | | duties of the Committee, including the completion of 16 |
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| 266 | 266 | | the proposals required under paragraphs (4) and (5) 17 |
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| 267 | 267 | | of subsection (e). 18 |
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| 268 | 268 | | (2) T |
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| 269 | 269 | | ERMINATION.—The Committee shall ter-19 |
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| 270 | 270 | | minate on the date that is 1 year after the date on 20 |
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| 271 | 271 | | which the Board has approved or rejected each Com-21 |
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| 272 | 272 | | mittee proposal submitted to the Board under sub-22 |
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| 273 | 273 | | section (e)(4). 23 |
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| 277 | 277 | | SEC. 5. BOARD REVIEW. 1 |
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| 278 | 278 | | (a) I |
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| 279 | 279 | | NGENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after the 2 |
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| 280 | 280 | | date on which the Board receives a proposal under section 3 |
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| 281 | 281 | | 4(e)(4), the Board shall accept or reject the proposal. 4 |
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| 282 | 282 | | (b) P |
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| 283 | 283 | | ROCESS.—The Board shall approve a proposal 5 |
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| 284 | 284 | | of the Committee submitted under section 4(e)(4) unless 6 |
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| 285 | 285 | | the Board determines that— 7 |
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| 286 | 286 | | (1) there is a compelling reason and substantial 8 |
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| 287 | 287 | | public interest in rejecting the proposal; or 9 |
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| 288 | 288 | | (2) approving the proposal would violate Fed-10 |
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| 289 | 289 | | eral law. 11 |
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| 290 | 290 | | (c) R |
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| 291 | 291 | | ENAMING.—If the Board accepts a proposal by 12 |
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| 292 | 292 | | the Committee to rename a geographic feature, the Board 13 |
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| 293 | 293 | | shall rename the geographic feature. 14 |
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| 294 | 294 | | (d) E |
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| 295 | 295 | | FFECT.—A Board policy that prevents the 15 |
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| 296 | 296 | | Board from considering a name change due to pending 16 |
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| 297 | 297 | | legislation shall not apply to Board action on Committee 17 |
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| 298 | 298 | | proposals. 18 |
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| 299 | 299 | | Æ |
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