Federal

Confederate Monument Removal Act

Source: Congress.gov · 676 words in original text

What This Bill Does

This bill removes statues of people who voluntarily served the Confederate States of America from display in the U.S. Capitol building. The bill changes the rules about which statues can be displayed there and sets a timeline for removing statues that no longer meet the new rules.

Who It Affects

The Architect of the Capitol (the person in charge of maintaining the Capitol building) is responsible for carrying out the removal. States that provided statues for display may receive them back. The Joint Committee on the Library of Congress must approve the removal process.

Key Provisions

- The Architect of the Capitol must identify all statues in the Capitol that depict people who voluntarily served the Confederate States of America and remove them within 120 days after the bill becomes law (Sec. 2(b)(1)). - If a state originally provided a statue that gets removed, the state can request the statue back and pay for shipping costs to receive it (Sec. 2(b)(2)(A)). - Statues that are not returned to states must be stored by the Architect of the Capitol in a location not open to the public (Sec. 2(b)(2)(B)). - States whose statues are removed can replace them with new statues following existing rules for statue display in the Capitol (Sec. 2(b)(3)). - Two million dollars is provided to pay for removing, moving, protecting, storing and displaying the statues (Sec. 2(b)(4)(A)).

What Changes

The rules for displaying statues in the Capitol building change to exclude anyone who voluntarily served the Confederate States of America. Statues of these individuals must be removed from public display in the Capitol.

Important Definitions

None defined in this bill.

Effective Date

The removal must happen within 120 days after this bill becomes law (Sec. 2(b)(1)(B)).

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1248 To remove all statues of individuals who voluntarily served the Confederate States of America from display in the United States Capitol. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 28, 2023 Ms. LEE of California (for herself, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. HOYER, Ms. NORTON, Mr. BOWMAN, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mrs. CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK, and Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administra- tion A BILL To remove all statues of individuals who voluntarily served the Confederate States of America from display in the United States Capitol. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Confederate Monu- 4 ment Removal Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS AND REMOVAL PROCEDURES. 6 (a) REQUIREMENTS.—Section 1814 of the Revised 7 Statutes (2 U.S.C. 2131) is amended by inserting ‘‘(other 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Mar 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1248.IH H1248 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1248 IH than persons who served voluntarily with the Confederate 1 States of America)’’ after ‘‘military services’’. 2 (b) STATUE REMOVAL PROCEDURES.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Architect of the Capitol 4 shall— 5 (A) identify all statues on display in the 6 United States Capitol that do not meet the re- 7 quirements of section 1814 of the Revised Stat- 8 utes (2 U.S.C. 2131), as amended by subsection 9 (a); and 10 (B) subject to the approval of the Joint 11 Committee on the Library of Congress, arrange 12 for the removal of each such statue from the 13 Capitol by not later than 120 days after the 14 date of enactment of this Act. 15 (2) REMOVAL AND RETURN OF STATUES.— 16 (A) RETURNING STATUES TO STATES.—In 17 the case of a statue that is removed under this 18 subsection which was provided for display by a 19 State, the Architect of the Capitol shall arrange 20 to transfer and deliver the statue and transfer 21 ownership of the statue to the State if the State 22 so requests and agrees to pay any costs related 23 to the transportation of the statue to the State. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Mar 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1248.IH H1248 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1248 IH (B) OTHER SITUATIONS.—Any statue re- 1 moved under this subsection that is not trans- 2 ferred and delivered to a State in accordance 3 with subparagraph (A) shall remain in the cus- 4 tody of the Architect of the Capitol. The Archi- 5 tect of the Capitol shall store the removed stat- 6 ue in a nonpublic location. 7 (3) REPLACEMENT OF STATUES.—A State that 8 has a statue removed under this subsection shall be 9 able to replace such statue in accordance with the 10 requirements and procedures of section 1814 of the 11 Revised Statutes (2 U.S.C. 2131) and section 311 of 12 the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2001 (2 13 U.S.C. 2132). 14 (4) AUTHORIZATION AND APPROPRIATIONS.— 15 (A) IN GENERAL.—There are appropriated 16 for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2023, 17 out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise 18 appropriated, $2,000,000 to the Architect of 19 the Capitol to carry out this section, including 20 the costs related to the removal, transfer, secu- 21 rity, storage, and display of the statues de- 22 scribed in paragraph (1)(A). 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Mar 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1248.IH H1248 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1248 IH (B) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appro- 1 priated under subparagraph (A) shall remain 2 available until expended. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Mar 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1248.IH H1248 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS

Important: This plain English summary was generated by AI and is provided for informational purposes only. It is not legal advice. Always consult the official bill text on Congress.gov or a qualified attorney for legal matters.