[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7820 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7820

 To establish the John Lewis Election Day holiday on November 3, 2020, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 29, 2020

 Mrs. Beatty introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                   Committee on Oversight and Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To establish the John Lewis Election Day holiday on November 3, 2020, 
                        and for other purposes.

    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 ``Congressman John R. Lewis Election 
Day Act of 2020''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) John Robert Lewis was born on February 21, 1940, near 
        Troy, Alabama, the son of sharecroppers in the segregated 
        South.
            (2) Lewis was ordained as a Baptist minister after 
        graduating from the American Baptist Theological Seminary in 
        Nashville, Tennessee, and received a bachelor's degree in 
        religion and philosophy from Fisk University.
            (3) As a student, Lewis learned nonviolent civil 
        disobedience from the Reverend James Lawson and participated in 
        the Nashville Student Movement, organizing sit-ins at 
        segregated lunch counters and participating in other civil 
        rights events.
            (4) Lewis was one of the original 13 Freedom Riders, who 
        traveled through southern states in 1961 to pressure the 
        enforcement of the Boynton v. Virginia Supreme Court case that 
        declared segregated interstate bus travel unconstitutional.
            (5) As a Freedom Rider, Lewis was--
                    (A) assaulted while attempting to enter a Whites-
                only waiting room in Rock Hill, South Carolina;
                    (B) on a bus that was fire-bombed by the Ku Klux 
                Klan outside Anniston, Alabama;
                    (C) among the Freedom Riders beaten with bats, 
                pipes, and chains in Birmingham, Alabama;
                    (D) hit in the head and left bleeding and 
                unconscious outside a Greyhound bus station in 
                Montgomery, Alabama; and
                    (E) imprisoned several times and spent a month in 
                the Mississippi State Penitentiary.
            (6) Lewis was a founding member of the Student Nonviolent 
        Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and was elected its chair in 
        1963, serving until 1966.
            (7) Lewis was the youngest of the ``Big Six'' leaders to 
        organize the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and 
        spoke to the crowd of over 200,000 from the steps of the 
        Lincoln Memorial.
            (8) During Lewis's tenure as chair, the SNCC organized the 
        1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer campaign to register Black 
        voters.
            (9) Lewis and fellow activist Hosea Williams led over 600 
        marchers over the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, on 
        March 7, 1965. The marchers were tear gassed and beaten by the 
        Alabama State Police. Lewis had his skull fractured by an 
        Alabama State trooper's nightstick. The day became known as 
        Bloody Sunday and inspired nationwide support leading to the 
        enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
            (10) Between 1960 and 1966, Lewis was arrested 40 times as 
        a nonviolent protestor for equal justice.
            (11) Lewis became the director of the Voter Education 
        Project in 1970, which added millions of minority voters to the 
        rolls during his tenure.
            (12) President Jimmy Carter appointed Lewis to direct 
        ACTION, the Federal agency overseeing more than 250,000 
        volunteers, in 1977.
            (13) Lewis was first elected to the House of 
        Representatives in 1986, representing Georgia's 5th 
        Congressional District.
            (14) During his 17 terms in the House of Representatives, 
        Lewis became known as the ``Conscience of the Congress,'' and 
        was a stalwart champion for equality and justice.
            (15) Among the numerous honors and awards bestowed on him, 
        Lewis received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President 
        Obama in 2010.
            (16) Lewis passed away on July 17, 2020, at the age of 80 
        and lay in state in the United States Capitol Rotunda.
            (17) Lewis advised: ``Do not get lost in a sea of despair. 
        Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of 
        a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a 
        lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in 
        good trouble, necessary trouble.''.

SEC. 3. JOHN LEWIS ELECTION DAY HOLIDAY.

    For purposes of any law relating to Federal employment, November 3, 
2020, shall be a legal public holiday, to be known and designated as 
``John Lewis Election Day'', described in section 6103 of title 5, 
United States Code.

SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING TREATMENT OF DAY BY PRIVATE 
              EMPLOYERS.

    It is the sense of Congress that private employers in the United 
States should give their employees the day off on November 3, 2020, to 
enable the employees to cast votes in the elections held on that day 
and to honor the life and legacy of John Lewis.
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