Reconciliation in Place Names Act
Latest action. Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Reconciliation in Place Names Act
This bill directs the Department of the Interior to establish the Advisory Committee on Reconciliation in Place Names to advise the Board on Geographic Names on renaming geographic features with offensive place names. Generally, an offensive place name is a place name or land unit that recognizes an individual who held racially repugnant views, contains a racial or sexist slur, or is derogatory or otherwise offensive.
The board shall accept or reject a recommendation by the committee to rename a geographic feature with an offensive place name within three years of the date on which it receives the recommendation.
The board shall approve a recommendation of the committee unless it determines that (1) there is a compelling reason and substantial public interest in rejecting the recommendation; or (2) approving the recommendation would violate federal law.
The board shall rename a geographic feature if the board accepts a recommendation by the committee to rename it.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on September 30, 2020. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on September 30, 2020: Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 116th Congress (2019-20), 344 of the 14,345 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.4 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Debra Haaland (D-NM) introduced it on September 30, 2020, and 15 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 15 Democrats.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on September 30, 2020, 2171 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 2171 days ago, on September 30, 2020.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 116th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2021 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers