# National Statuary Hall Collection Progress Assurance Act

National Statuary Hall is a famous room in the U.S. Capitol building where each state gets to display two statues of important historical figures. When a state wants to replace one of its statues with a different person, the request has to go through the Joint Committee on the Library, which is a group of members from both the House and Senate who oversee the Capitol building and its collections.

The problem this bill addresses is that there's no set timeline for the Joint Committee to make decisions about statue replacement requests. This means states could be waiting indefinitely—weeks, months, or even longer—without knowing whether their request has been approved or denied. This bill fixes that by requiring the Joint Committee to make a decision within 30 days of receiving a replacement request from the Architect of the Capitol (the official who manages the Capitol building). If the request arrives during a time when Congress is between sessions and the Joint Committee hasn't had its first meeting yet, the committee gets 30 days from whichever comes later—either when they receive the request or when they have their first meeting of the new Congress.

For everyday Americans, this is a relatively minor change that mostly affects state governments and the Capitol's operations. It essentially puts a deadline on bureaucratic decision-making so that states aren't left in limbo when they want to update their historical statues. The bill doesn't change which statues can or can't be replaced—it just makes sure decisions happen in a reasonable timeframe rather than dragging on indefinitely.

National Statuary Hall Collection Progress Assurance Act

Davis, Rodney

National Statuary Hall Collection Progress Assurance Act This bill establishes a timeline for the Joint Committee on the Library to approve or disapprove requests for replacing statutes (or any related actions that are subject to Joint Committee approval) in the National Statutory Hall of the U.S. Capitol. The Joint Committee oversees operations of the Library of Congress, as well as management of the National Statuary Hall, the U.S. Botanic Garden, and works of fine art in the Capitol. Generally, the bill requires the Joint Committee to approve or disapprove a request to replace a statue not later than 30 days after the Architect of the Capitol forwards the request to the Joint Committee. If the Architect forwards the request before the Joint Committee's first organizational meeting of a Congress, the Joint Committee must approve or disapprove the request not later than 30 days after the Architect forwards the request to the Joint Committee or the date of the meeting, whichever is later.