| 1 | 1 | | II |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION S. 839 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To prohibit the use of funds to implement, administer, or enforce measures |
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| 6 | 6 | | requiring certain employees to refer to an individual by the preferred |
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| 7 | 7 | | pronouns of such individual or a name other than the legal name of |
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| 8 | 8 | | such individual, and for other purposes. |
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| 9 | 9 | | IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES |
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| 10 | 10 | | MARCH4, 2025 |
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| 11 | 11 | | Mr. C |
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| 12 | 12 | | RUZ(for himself and Mr. BUDD) introduced the following bill; which was |
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| 13 | 13 | | read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and |
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| 14 | 14 | | Governmental Affairs |
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| 15 | 15 | | A BILL |
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| 16 | 16 | | To prohibit the use of funds to implement, administer, or |
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| 17 | 17 | | enforce measures requiring certain employees to refer |
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| 18 | 18 | | to an individual by the preferred pronouns of such indi- |
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| 19 | 19 | | vidual or a name other than the legal name of such |
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| 20 | 20 | | individual, and for other purposes. |
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| 21 | 21 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 22 | 22 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 23 | 23 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 24 | 24 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safeguarding Honest 4 |
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| 25 | 25 | | Speech Act’’. 5 |
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| 26 | 26 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:09 Mar 18, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S839.IS S839 |
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| 27 | 27 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 |
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| 28 | 28 | | •S 839 IS |
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| 29 | 29 | | SEC. 2. NO FEDERAL FUNDS FOR COMPELLED LANGUAGE. 1 |
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| 30 | 30 | | (a) I |
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| 31 | 31 | | NGENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi-2 |
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| 32 | 32 | | sion of law, no Federal funds may be used for the purpose 3 |
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| 33 | 33 | | of implementing, administering, or enforcing any rule, pol-4 |
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| 34 | 34 | | icy, guidance, recommendation, or memorandum requiring 5 |
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| 35 | 35 | | an employee or contractor of any Federal agency or De-6 |
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| 36 | 36 | | partment to use— 7 |
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| 37 | 37 | | (1) another person’s preferred pronouns if they 8 |
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| 38 | 38 | | are incompatible with such person’s sex; or 9 |
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| 39 | 39 | | (2) a name other than a person’s legal name 10 |
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| 40 | 40 | | when referring to such person. 11 |
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| 41 | 41 | | (b) E |
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| 42 | 42 | | NFORCEMENT.— 12 |
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| 43 | 43 | | (1) I |
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| 44 | 44 | | N GENERAL.—All Federal agencies and 13 |
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| 45 | 45 | | Departments shall ensure that, not later than 30 14 |
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| 46 | 46 | | days following a written notice from any employee or 15 |
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| 47 | 47 | | contractor described in subsection (a) regarding an 16 |
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| 48 | 48 | | alleged violation of subsection (a), a formal response 17 |
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| 49 | 49 | | to the notice is issued to the employee or contractor. 18 |
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| 50 | 50 | | (2) P |
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| 51 | 51 | | RIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION .—In the case 19 |
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| 52 | 52 | | that the formal response issued under paragraph (1) 20 |
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| 53 | 53 | | does not represent a satisfactory outcome for the 21 |
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| 54 | 54 | | employee or contractor, any employee or contractor 22 |
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| 55 | 55 | | described in subsection (a) and aggrieved by a viola-23 |
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| 56 | 56 | | tion of subsection (a) may commence a civil action 24 |
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| 57 | 57 | | against the Federal agency or Department respon-25 |
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| 58 | 58 | | sible for the alleged violation. 26 |
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| 61 | 61 | | •S 839 IS |
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| 62 | 62 | | (3) RELIEF.—In any action under this sub-1 |
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| 63 | 63 | | section, the court may award appropriate relief, in-2 |
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| 64 | 64 | | cluding— 3 |
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| 65 | 65 | | (A) temporary, preliminary, or permanent 4 |
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| 66 | 66 | | injunctive relief; 5 |
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| 67 | 67 | | (B) compensatory damages; 6 |
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| 68 | 68 | | (C) punitive or exemplary damages, which 7 |
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| 69 | 69 | | may not exceed $100,000; and 8 |
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| 70 | 70 | | (D) reasonable fees for attorneys. 9 |
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| 71 | 71 | | (4) S |
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| 72 | 72 | | TATUTE OF LIMITATIONS .—An action 10 |
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| 73 | 73 | | under this subsection shall be brought not later than 11 |
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| 74 | 74 | | 1 year after the date on which the alleged violation 12 |
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| 75 | 75 | | of subsection (a) occurred. 13 |
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| 76 | 76 | | (c) D |
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| 77 | 77 | | EFINITIONS.—In this section: 14 |
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| 78 | 78 | | (1) P |
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| 79 | 79 | | ERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means an in-15 |
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| 80 | 80 | | dividual. 16 |
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| 81 | 81 | | (2) S |
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| 82 | 82 | | EX.—The term ‘‘sex’’ means sex recog-17 |
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| 83 | 83 | | nized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology 18 |
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| 84 | 84 | | and genetics at birth. 19 |
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| 85 | 85 | | Æ |
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| 87 | 87 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS |
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