Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB730 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 730
5	5	To direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study to assess the
6	6	suitability and feasibility of establishing the African Burial Ground Inter-
7	7	national Memorial Museum and Educational Center at the African Burial
8	8	Ground National Monument, and for other purposes.
9	9	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
10	10	FEBRUARY25, 2025
11	11	Mrs. G
12	12	ILLIBRANDintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and
13	13	referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study
16	16	to assess the suitability and feasibility of establishing
17	17	the African Burial Ground International Memorial Mu-
18	18	seum and Educational Center at the African Burial
19	19	Ground National Monument, and for other purposes.
20	20	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
21	21	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
22	22	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
23	23	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘African Burial Ground 4
24	24	International Memorial Museum and Educational Center 5
25	25	Study Act’’. 6
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28	28	•S 730 IS
29	29	SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 1
30	30	In this Act: 2
31	31	(1) M
32	32	USEUM.—The term ‘‘Museum’’ means the 3
33	33	African Burial Ground International Memorial Mu-4
34	34	seum and Educational Center. 5
35	35	(2) N
36	36	ATIONAL MONUMENT .—The term ‘‘Na-6
37	37	tional Monument’’ means the African Burial Ground 7
38	38	National Monument in the city of New York, New 8
39	39	York. 9
40	40	(3) S
41	41	ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 10
42	42	the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Di-11
43	43	rector of the National Park Service. 12
44	44	(4) S
45	45	TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the State 13
46	46	of New York. 14
47	47	SEC. 3. AFRICAN BURIAL GROUND INTERNATIONAL MEMO-15
48	48	RIAL MUSEUM AND EDUCATIONAL CENTER 16
49	49	STUDY. 17
50	50	(a) S
51	51	TUDY.— 18
52	52	(1) I
53	53	N GENERAL.—The Secretary, in consulta-19
54	54	tion with State and local historic preservation offi-20
55	55	cers, State and local historical societies, State and 21
56	56	local tourism offices, and other appropriate organi-22
57	57	zations and government agencies, shall conduct a 23
58	58	study to assess the suitability and feasibility of es-24
59	59	tablishing a museum and educational center at the 25
60	60	National Monument, to be known as the ‘‘African 26
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63	63	•S 730 IS
64	64	Burial Ground International Memorial Museum and 1
65	65	Educational Center’’— 2
66	66	(A) to serve as a permanent living memo-3
67	67	rial and special tribute— 4
68	68	(i) to the enslaved who are buried at 5
69	69	the African Burial Ground; and 6
70	70	(ii) to other Africans who were 7
71	71	enslaved in the United States and other 8
72	72	parts of the world; 9
73	73	(B) to reflect on the significance of the Af-10
74	74	rican Burial Ground; 11
75	75	(C) to examine the African cultural tradi-12
76	76	tions brought to the United States by the 13
77	77	enslaved; 14
78	78	(D) to explore in-depth the institution of 15
79	79	slavery in the United States and other parts of 16
80	80	the world; 17
81	81	(E) to provide a space for— 18
82	82	(i) permanent and temporary exhibits; 19
83	83	and 20
84	84	(ii) the collection and study of arti-21
85	85	facts and documents; 22
86	86	(F) to encourage collaboration between the 23
87	87	Museum and the National Museum of African 24
88	88	American History and Culture, other museums, 25
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91	91	•S 730 IS
92	92	historically Black colleges and universities, his-1
93	93	torical societies, educational institutions, and 2
94	94	other appropriate entities and organizations, 3
95	95	such as the African Burial Ground Memorial 4
96	96	Foundation, including collaboration with respect 5
97	97	to— 6
98	98	(i) the development of cooperative pro-7
99	99	grams and exhibitions, including through 8
100	100	digital, electronic, and interactive tech-9
101	101	nologies; 10
102	102	(ii) the identification, management, 11
103	103	and care of Museum collections; and 12
104	104	(iii) the training of Museum and Na-13
105	105	tional Park Service professionals and other 14
106	106	persons concerned with heritage preserva-15
107	107	tion; and 16
108	108	(G) in addition to any collaboration en-17
109	109	couraged under subparagraph (F), to be associ-18
110	110	ated with the National Museum of African 19
111	111	American History and Culture, in a manner to 20
112	112	be determined by the Secretary, in consultation 21
113	113	with the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian 22
114	114	Institution. 23
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118	118	(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The study conducted 1
119	119	under paragraph (1) shall include analysis, docu-2
120	120	mentation, and determinations regarding whether— 3
121	121	(A) there is an assemblage of collections to 4
122	122	be acquired and housed in the Museum that— 5
123	123	(i) represent distinctive aspects of Af-6
124	124	rican cultural traditions brought to the 7
125	125	United States by the enslaved; 8
126	126	(ii) are worthy of recognition, con-9
127	127	servation, and interpretation; 10
128	128	(iii) are important to any identified 11
129	129	themes of the Museum; 12
130	130	(iv) include DNA samples of well-pre-13
131	131	served human remains that would enable 14
132	132	researchers to trace home ‘‘roots’’ in Afri-15
133	133	ca of those individuals buried at the Afri-16
134	134	can Burial Ground; and 17
135	135	(v) are unlike any other anthropo-18
136	136	logical collection in other symbolic sites; 19
137	137	(B) the Museum provides outstanding op-20
138	138	portunities— 21
139	139	(i) to understand how the inter-22
140	140	national slave trade contributed to the Af-23
141	141	rican diaspora; 24
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145	145	(ii) to explore in-depth the institution 1
146	146	of slavery, as practiced in other parts of 2
147	147	the world and in urban, rural, northern, 3
148	148	and southern parts of the United States; 4
149	149	and 5
150	150	(iii) to help the people of the United 6
151	151	States understand the past and honor the 7
152	152	history of all people in the United States; 8
153	153	(C) residents, business interests, State and 9
154	154	local governments, and nonprofit organizations, 10
155	155	such as the African Burial Ground Memorial 11
156	156	Foundation— 12
157	157	(i) are involved in the planning of the 13
158	158	Museum; 14
159	159	(ii) have developed a conceptual finan-15
160	160	cial plan that outlines the roles of all par-16
161	161	ticipants in the Museum, including the 17
162	162	Federal Government; and 18
163	163	(iii) have demonstrated support for 19
164	164	the designation of the Museum; 20
165	165	(D) the Secretary of the Interior, the Ad-21
166	166	ministrator of the General Services Administra-22
167	167	tion, or other potential management entities 23
168	168	would be best suited to operate the Museum; 24
169	169	and 25
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173	173	(E) the public supports the proposed loca-1
174	174	tion for the Museum at— 2
175	175	(i) 22 Reade Street, which is adjacent 3
176	176	to the National Monument; or 4
177	177	(ii) any area within the National 5
178	178	Monument other than the area described 6
179	179	in clause (i). 7
180	180	(b) R
181	181	EPORT.—Not later than 3 years after the date 8
182	182	on which funds are first made available to carry out this 9
183	183	Act, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on En-10
184	184	ergy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the Com-11
185	185	mittee on Natural Resources of the House of Representa-12
186	186	tives a report that describes— 13
187	187	(1) the results of the study under subsection 14
188	188	(a), including a description of— 15
189	189	(A) the availability and cost of collections 16
190	190	to be acquired and housed in the Museum; 17
191	191	(B) criteria for evaluating possible loca-18
192	192	tions for the Museum in the State; and 19
193	193	(C) the costs of acquiring property for, 20
194	194	constructing, operating, and maintaining the 21
195	195	Museum; and 22
196	196	(2) any conclusions and recommendations of the 23
197	197	Secretary. 24
198	198	Æ
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