[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 995 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

<DOC>
115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 995


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           November 29, 2017

   Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                           Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
    To direct the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the 
          Interior to modernize terms in certain regulations.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``21st Century Respect Act''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO REGULATIONS REQUIRED.

    (a) Secretary of Agriculture.--The Secretary of Agriculture shall 
amend section 1901.202 of title 7, Code of Federal Regulations, for 
purposes of--
            (1) replacing the reference to the term ``Negro or Black'' 
        with ``Black or African American'';
            (2) replacing the reference to the term ``Spanish Surname'' 
        with ``Hispanic''; and
            (3) replacing the reference to the term ``Oriental'' with 
        ``Asian American or Pacific Islander''.
    (b) Secretary of the Interior.--The Secretary of the Interior shall 
amend section 906.2 of title 36, Code of Federal Regulations, for 
purposes of--
            (1) replacing the references to the term ``Negro'' with 
        ``Black or African American'';
            (2) replacing the definition of ``Negro'' with the 
        definition of ``Black or African American'' as ``a person 
        having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa'';
            (3) replacing the references to the term ``Oriental'' with 
        ``Asian American or Pacific Islander''; and
            (4) replacing the references to the terms ``Eskimo'' and 
        ``Aleut'' with ``Alaska Native''.

SEC. 3. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.

    Nothing in this Act, or the amendments required by this Act, shall 
be construed to affect Federal law, except with respect to the use of 
terms by the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the 
Interior, respectively, to the regulations affected by this Act.

            Passed the House of Representatives November 28, 2017.

            Attest:

                                                 KAREN L. HAAS,

                                                                 Clerk.