[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 172 (Monday, November 30, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H8429-H8431]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  BILLY FRANK JR. TELL YOUR STORY ACT

  Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 2270) to redesignate the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, 
located in the State of Washington, as the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually 
National Wildlife Refuge, to establish the Medicine

[[Page H8430]]

Creek Treaty National Historic Site within the wildlife refuge, and for 
other purposes, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 2270

       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 ``Billy Frank Jr. Tell Your 
     Story Act''.

     SEC. 2. REDESIGNATION OF THE NISQUALLY NATIONAL WILDLIFE 
                   REFUGE.

       (a) Redesignation.--The Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, 
     located in the State of Washington, is redesignated as the 
     ``Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge''.
       (b) References.--Any reference in any statute, rule, 
     regulation, Executive Order, publication, map, paper, or 
     other document of the United States to the Nisqually National 
     Wildlife Refuge is deemed to refer to the Billy Frank Jr. 
     Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge.

     SEC. 3. MEDICINE CREEK TREATY NATIONAL MEMORIAL, WASHINGTON.

       (a) Establishment.--There is established the Medicine Creek 
     Treaty National Memorial within the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually 
     National Wildlife Refuge to commemorate the location of the 
     signing of the Medicine Creek Treaty of 1854 between the 
     United States Government and leaders of the Muckleshoot, 
     Nisqually, Puyallup, and Squaxin Island Indian Tribes.
       (b) Acreage and Administration.--The Secretary of the 
     Interior shall establish the boundaries of the Medicine Creek 
     Treaty National Memorial and provide for administration and 
     interpretation of the memorial by the United States Fish and 
     Wildlife Service.
       (c) Coordination.--The Secretary of the Interior shall 
     coordinate with representatives of the Muckleshoot, 
     Nisqually, Puyallup, and Squaxin Island Indian Tribes in 
     providing for the interpretation of the Medicine Creek Treaty 
     National Memorial.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. LaMalfa) and the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Grijalva) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.


                             General Leave

  Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous materials on the bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  H.R. 2270, introduced by my friend, Congressman Denny Heck of 
Washington, and cosponsored by the entire Washington delegation would 
redesignate the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, located in the 
State of Washington, as the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife 
Refuge and establish within the refuge the Medicine Creek Treaty 
National Memorial.

                              {time}  1715

  This bill is intended to honor the life and legacy of Billy Frank 
Jr., who dedicated his life to bringing together tribes, government 
officials, and others to improve treaty rights, tribal sovereignty, 
environmental stewardship, and salmon recovery in the Puget Sound area. 
Frank Jr., who passed away in 2014, was awarded the Albert Schweitzer 
Prize for Humanitarianism and the Martin Luther King Jr. Distinguished 
Service Award and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010.
  The bill also establishes a national memorial within the refuge to 
commemorate the signing of the 1854 Medicine Creek Treaty, which 
established reservation land and the right to fish for Puget Sound area 
tribes.
  Congressman Heck has worked tirelessly to honor the treaty and the 
life and work of Billy Frank Jr. I strongly encourage my colleagues to 
vote ``yes'' on H.R. 2270.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  H.R. 2270 designates the national wildlife refuge on the Nisqually 
River Delta as the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. 
Renaming this refuge will honor Billy Frank Jr.'s legacy on the river 
where he spent his life. Billy Frank Jr., who passed away last year, 
has been recognized for his work defending treaty rights, tribal 
sovereignty, and salmon recovery efforts in his home State of 
Washington.
  Aside from the awards that were noted by my colleague that he has 
received, on November 24, President Obama presented his family with the 
Medal of Freedom honor that he so justly deserved.
  The bill also creates a national memorial to commemorate the signing 
of the Medicine Creek Treaty in 1854.
  I want to congratulate and thank my colleague from Washington, 
Representative Heck, for his tireless work and advocacy on behalf of 
this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, I again commend the gentleman from 
Washington (Mr. Heck), my friend, for his quality legislation.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. Heck), the sponsor of the legislation.
  Mr. HECK of Washington. Mr. Speaker, just last week we were home 
celebrating Thanksgiving, and we were giving thanks for everything we 
are blessed with, everything we cherish--frankly, probably a lot of the 
things we take for granted.
  For those of us in the Pacific Northwest, we give thanks for the 
Puget Sound, we give thanks for our salmon, we give thanks for all the 
natural beauty that surrounds us, and we give thanks that Billy Frank 
Jr. was in our lives.
  As was indicated earlier, in addition to the many other awards he 
received in his lifetime, just last week the President conferred upon 
Billy Frank Jr., posthumously, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It is 
literally no exaggeration to suggest that what Martin Luther King meant 
to civil rights and Nelson Mandela meant to South Africa, Billy Frank 
Jr. meant to the entire Pacific Northwest, indeed, to indigenous people 
throughout the globe.
  He is a fitting person for the prestigious honor that we hope to 
bestow on him today. We have an opportunity to do something today--and 
I recommend we seize it--to preserve his legacy in the place he called 
home.
  Billy Frank Jr. was, indeed, the foremost advocate for restoration of 
Native American fishing treaty rights in the Pacific Northwest. He 
cherished clean water and healthy salmon runs. He was a key voice in 
the recovery of the Puget Sound.
  He also, as has not been mentioned, proudly served our Nation in the 
United States Marine Corps. He was an MP, I believe, during the Korean 
war.
  He got along with everyone. He was open and inclusive. His energy 
was, literally, infectious.
  We were deeply stunned in May of 2014 that he passed away even 
though, at the age of 83, we thought Billy would live forever. He is 
gone, but his spirit is not and his story is not. His courage and 
belief in us is here because, you see, Billy wandered the Halls of 
Congress frequently and testified numerous times. He respected this 
institution, and he was a powerful voice within our Chambers.
  His story is in the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge in the 10th 
Congressional District, which I have the privilege to represent, which 
we now protect to give our wildlife a clean and sustainable home.
  Billy grew up at a place called Frank's Landing, which is literally 
just a hop, skip, and a jump from the refuge. He fished in the 
Nisqually River, in and next to the area where the refuge is now. That 
is the location where he was arrested more than 50 times for advocating 
for his treaty fishing rights.
  This bill will rename that refuge after Billy Frank Jr. Also, as has 
been indicated, it calls for the establishment of a national memorial 
at the exact place of the signing of the Medicine Creek Treaty in 1854. 
That was the first treaty in the State of Washington between Indian 
people and the newly established territorial government. In this case, 
it was between the people of the Nisqually, the Puyallup, Squaxin 
Island, and the Muckleshoots.
  Throughout his storied career, people often asked Billy: How is it 
you do this, get up every day and so effectively advocate on behalf of 
clean water and good fish runs? How do you do that decade after decade?
  He would always tell them the same thing: Tell your story.
  So when people go to the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife 
Refuge, they will be able to see why he held fish-ins. They will see 
why he risked

[[Page H8431]]

arrest. They will see why he ultimately worked with others to help 
protect his home. Like many young people today, he fought for what he 
believed in, but later worked with lawmakers to build consensus. He 
started out as a civil rights protestor, civilly disobedient and an 
advocate. He ended up being one of the great uniters in the history of 
the Nation and certainly the Pacific Northwest.
  I hope that when people drive by the sign that directs them to the 
refuge, maybe they will feel a little of that Billy magic, too. Maybe 
they will wonder: Well, who was this Billy Frank Jr.? What did he do? 
For those of us who knew him, it will be a frequent reminder of this 
hero.
  They say you die twice: the first time, and the second time when they 
stop speaking about you. It is our goal that they never stop speaking 
about Billy Frank Jr. and the lessons he taught us all. The refuge will 
be a constant reminder.
  I knew Billy for almost 40 years. I loved him like a beloved uncle. 
In fact, I called him Uncle Billy. But I was absolutely not special in 
that regard. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people did the same thing. 
Indeed, at his memorial service, the official estimate of the number in 
attendance was 10,000. That is how beloved this man was.
  I would like to thank the members of the House Committee on Natural 
Resources who unanimously approved this bill and all the members of the 
House delegation from Washington State. I would also like to especially 
recognize Chairman Bishop, Ranking Member Grijalva, and the hardworking 
committee staff, both for the majority and the minority, for their help 
on this legislation.

  In conclusion, Billy once famously said: ``I don't believe in magic. 
I believe in the sun and the stars, the water, the tides, the floods, 
the owls, the hawks flying, the river running, the wind talking. 
They're measurements. They tell us how healthy things are. How healthy 
we are. Because we and they are the same.''
  Let's remind visitors that we and they are the same at the Billy 
Frank Jr. Nisqually Wildlife Refuge.
  Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, again, Mr. Heck is to be commended for 
bringing forward such a worthy piece of legislation to honor a man who 
has done so much in that area. Indeed, this legislation will make sure 
that his story continues to be told and that he will always be 
commemorated and memorialized in that region because of that. 
Congratulations to you on this.
  I am proud to support the bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. Kilmer).
  Mr. KILMER. Mr. Speaker, I join my colleagues in standing up today 
for a true American hero, Billy Frank Jr.
  For Billy, protecting our natural world and everything that depends 
on it wasn't a political issue; rather, it was an innate calling. Folks 
responded to that.
  They followed his fearless protests by standing up for civil rights. 
They followed his example by becoming fishermen themselves in places 
like South Puget Sound. They followed his lead in championing clean 
water and fish runs and protecting Puget Sound. They listened to his 
ideas about keeping communities vibrant by building tribal youth 
centers.
  In the marble Halls of Congress, he convinced so many that tribal 
treaty rights could not be held back and that we can't keep damaging 
our environment, that we have got to stand up for extraordinary bodies 
of water like Puget Sound. He left tracks all across our State and our 
Nation, and his advocacy will live on.
  To help honor this legacy, I encourage my colleagues to vote for this 
bill sponsored by Congressman Heck that I was proud to cosponsor, 
renaming the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge the Billy Frank Jr. 
National Wildlife Refuge. It is the right thing to do to honor all the 
work that Billy did for all of us. It should serve as a reminder that 
we need to keep fighting for all of those things he fought for.
  Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, before I yield back the balance of my 
time, let me thank the chair of the Subcommittee on Federal Lands, Mr. 
McClintock, and Ranking Member Tsongas for their work and the staff's 
work on this.
  Again, to Mr. Heck and the delegation from Washington, this is a 
great piece of legislation. I urge its passage.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from California (Mr. LaMalfa) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 2270, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

                          ____________________