[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 211 (Monday, December 15, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Page S8708]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CIVIL RIGHTS COLD CASE RECORDS COLLECTION REAUTHORIZATION ACT
Mr. OSSOFF. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee
on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be discharged from
further consideration of S. 1510 and the Senate proceed to its
immediate consideration.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A bill (S. 1510) 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.
There being no objection, the committee was discharged, and the
Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
Mr. OSSOFF. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be
considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to
reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The bill (S. 1510) was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading,
was read the third time, and was passed, as follows:
S. 1510
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 ``Civil Rights Cold Case
Records Collection Reauthorization Act''.
SEC. 2. CLARIFYING THE AUTHORITIES OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS COLD
CASE REVIEW BOARD.
(a) Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board Presumption
of Release.--It is the sense of Congress that all records of
the Federal Government and State and local governments
concerning civil rights cold cases should--
(1) carry a presumption of immediate disclosure; and
(2) eventually be disclosed to enable the public to become
fully informed about the history surrounding the cases.
(b) Reimbursement for Expenses Incurred by State or Local
Governments.--Section 3 of the Civil Rights Cold Case Records
Collection Act of 2018 (44 U.S.C. 2107 note; Public Law 115-
426) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(i) Reimbursement for Expenses Incurred by State or Local
Governments.--Upon request of a State or local government to
the Review Board, the Review Board may reimburse the State or
local government in full for any expense incurred by the
State or local government for digitizing, photocopying, or
mailing a civil rights cold case record for the purpose of
transmitting such record to the Archivist for inclusion in
the Collection.''.
(c) Transmission to Collection of Civil Rights Cold Case
Records in Possession of State or Local Government.--Section
3(a)(2)(A)(i) of the Civil Rights Cold Case Records
Collection Act of 2018 (44 U.S.C. 2107 note; Public Law 115-
426) is amended by striking ``, except in the case of a State
or local government''.
(d) No Application of Section 552(b)(6) to Civil Rights
Cold Case Records on or Before January 1, 1990.--Section
9(a)(2) of the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act
of 2018 (44 U.S.C. 2107 note; Public Law 115-426) is amended
by striking the period at the end and inserting ``, except in
the case of information contained in a civil rights cold case
record created on or before January 1, 1990.''.
SEC. 3. CIVIL RIGHTS COLD CASE RECORDS REVIEW BOARD EXTENSION
OF TENURE.
Section 5(n)(1) of Civil Rights Cold Case Records
Collection Act of 2018 (44 U.S.C. 2107 note; Public Law 115-
426) is amended--
(1) by striking ``7 years'' and inserting ``11 years''; and
(2) by striking ``7-year period'' and inserting ``11-year
period''.
Mr. OSSOFF. Mr. President, in the summer of 1962, in Albany, GA, an
effort was underway to desegregate the city, and a young woman named
Marion King, participating in those efforts, carrying in her arms her
3-year-old daughter and 5 months pregnant at the time, was brutally
beaten for demanding the desegregation of Albany, GA. That was July of
1962.
Just this week, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution announced that the
Cold Case Records Review Board, whose purpose is to investigate civil
rights cold cases--the beatings, the killings and lynchings, the
intimidation; cases that were never investigated and never solved,
especially in the Deep South, especially in the State of Georgia during
the civil rights movement--that review Board will soon release the full
investigative files from the beating of Marion King in Albany, GA, in
July of 1962.
There is no expiration date on justice. And Mrs. King--who was a
Spelman College graduate, married to a prominent Albany civil rights
organizer, Slater King--she still deserves justice, and the work of the
Civil Rights Cold Case Review Board is helping take a step toward
justice in this case.
In 2022, Senator Cruz and I worked together to pass into law a
bipartisan bill that extended the work of the Civil Rights Cold Case
Records Review Board, this vital work pursuing justice in cases that
were swept under the rug, some of the most brutal crimes in our
Nation's history targeting Black Americans in the American South in the
Jim Crow era and during the civil rights movement. We passed that bill
in 2022.
I am grateful for the unanimous, bipartisan support of the Senate
tonight in passing the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection
Reauthorization Act. The Senate has just passed this bill, which
Senator Cruz and I, again, have offered to continue this vital work
pursuing justice in civil rights cold cases.
As divided and bitter and hateful as American politics is today, for
the U.S. Senate--Democrats, Republicans, and Independents--to stand
together with one united voice demanding justice for the victims of
these civil rights crimes is a much needed breath of fresh air.
We must continue working for justice for these victims, for these
survivors, for these families--especially the families of those who
were killed--and continue our work to safeguard civil and human rights
in the United States.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota.
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