To amend the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act of 2018 to strengthen the powers of the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board, and for other purposes.
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill extends and strengthens the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board, originally created by the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act of 2018. The Board investigates unsolved civil rights crimes from the era of racial violence. The bill extends the Board's tenure from 7 to 11 years, allows it to reimburse state and local governments for the costs of digitizing and transmitting cold case records, expands its subpoena authority to cover state and local government records, and limits certain privacy exemptions for records created before January 1, 1990.
Who Benefits and How
- Civil rights researchers and the public gain broader access to historical cold case records as state and local governments are incentivized to participate through reimbursement
- Families of cold case victims benefit from the Board's extended 11-year operational window, giving more time to investigate and disclose records
- State and local governments can receive full federal reimbursement for expenses incurred in digitizing, photocopying, and mailing cold case records to the National Archives
- The National Archives (Archivist) receives a more complete collection of civil rights cold case records
Who Bears the Burden and How
- Federal government bears the cost of reimbursing state and local governments for record transmission expenses and funding an additional 4 years of Board operations
- The Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board takes on expanded operational responsibilities including subpoena authority over state/local records
- State and local governments face expanded subpoena authority requiring them to produce records when requested by the Board
Key Provisions
- Extends the Review Board's tenure from 7 years to 11 years (Sec. 3)
- Authorizes the Board to reimburse state and local governments for digitizing, copying, and mailing records (Sec. 2)
- Removes the exemption that previously shielded state and local governments from the Board's subpoena authority (Sec. 2)
- Creates a limited exemption from privacy-based disclosure restrictions for records created on or before January 1, 1990 (Sec. 2)
- Declares a congressional presumption of immediate disclosure for all civil rights cold case records (Sec. 2)
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Extends and strengthens the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board by lengthening its tenure from 7 to 11 years, allowing reimbursement to state and local governments for record transmission costs, expanding subpoena authority, and limiting privacy exemptions for pre-1990 records.
Key Policy Areas
Civil Rights, Historical Records, Government Administration
Primary Purpose
Extends and strengthens the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board by lengthening its tenure from 7 to 11 years, allowing reimbursement to state and local governments for record transmission costs, expanding subpoena authority, and limiting privacy exemptions for pre-1990 records.
Policy Domains
Whole Bill - Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Reauthorization
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Civil rights researchers and the public
- Families of cold case victims
- State and local governments
- National Archives
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Federal government (reimbursement costs)
- Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board
- State and local governments (subpoena compliance)
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Sponsors
Ted Cruz
R-TX | Primary Sponsor
Legislative Progress
Passed SenateMr. Cruz (for himself and Mr. Ossoff) introduced the following …
Passed Senate (inferred from es version)
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
State and local governments holding civil rights cold case records
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_archivist"
- → Archivist of the United States (National Archives)
- "the_review_board"
- → Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
The collection of civil rights cold case records held by the Archivist of the United States, as established by the 2018 Act
A record of the Federal Government or State and local government concerning a civil rights cold case, as defined in the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act of 2018 (44 U.S.C. 2107 note; Public Law 115-426)
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology