{"bills":[{"photos":{"featured":"https://assets.countable.us/bill/photo/hr4238-114/featured_to-amend-the-department-of-energy-organization-act-and-the-local-public-works-capital-development-and-investmen-1456782217.jpg","featured_large":"https://assets.countable.us/bill/photo/hr4238-114/featured_large_to-amend-the-department-of-energy-organization-act-and-the-local-public-works-capital-development-and-investmen-1456782217.jpg","shareable":"https://n.countable.us/share-images/bills/hr4238-114.png"},"introduced_on":"2015-12-11","title_override":"Removing \"Oriental\" and Other Dated Terms to Describe Minorities from Federal Laws","summary_override":"

This bill would modernize the language used two federal laws by replacing the derogatory terms used to refer to minority groups with more accurate terms.

Existing portions of the Department of Energy Organization Act and the Local Public Works Capital Development and Investment Act of 1976 referring to minority groups would be amended to now include the following terminology:

“Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islanders, African American, Hispanic, Native American, or Alaska Natives.”

These terms would replace:

\"Negro, Puerto Rican, American Indian, Eskimo, Oriental, or Aleut or is a Spanish speaking individual of Spanish descent\"

","official_title":"To amend the Department of Energy Organization Act and the Local Public Works Capital Development and Investment Act of 1976 to modernize terms relating to minorities.","short_title":null,"popular_title":null,"short_summary":"(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version is repeated here.)\n\nThis bill amends: (1) the Department of Energy Organization Act to revise the definition of \"minority\" to mean any U.S. citizen who is an Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, African American, Hispanic, Puerto Rican, Native American, or Alaska Native; and (2) the Local Public Works Capital Development and Investment Act of 1976 to revise the definition of \"minority group members\" (who own minority group enterprises) to mean U.S. citizens who are Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islanders, African American, Hispanic, Native American, or Alaska Natives.","summarized":true,"cost":null,"cost_commentary":"A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.","impact":"Federal laws that use derogatory terms to describe minority groups.","argument_for":"Derogatory terms have no place anywhere in respectable public discourse, let alone in federal law. Modernizing terms used to describe minorities in federal law should be a continuous effort.","argument_against":"The terms used to describe minority groups in federal laws might be offensive to some — but Congress has more important things to do than spend time trying to correct its past mistakes.","bill_type":"hr","published":true,"type":"FederalBill","id":"hr4238-114","bill_id":"hr4238-114","formal_id":"H.R. 4238","chamber":"house","congress":114,"last_action_at":"2016-05-20T00:00:00.000Z","active":true,"enacted":true,"enacted_at":"2016-05-20","vetoed":false,"last_vote_at":"2016-05-09T00:00:00.000Z","debated_on":"2016-02-29T00:00:00.000Z","congress_url":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th/house-bill/4238","plain_text_url":"https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-114hr4238enr/html/BILLS-114hr4238enr.htm","shareable_image_url":"https://n.countable.us/share-images/bills/hr4238-114.png","congress_full_text_url":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th/house-bill/4238/text","is_current_congress":false,"last_version_on":"2016-05-10","related_bill_ids":["hr8-114"],"progress":"Enacted","house_passage_result":true,"senate_passage_result":true,"position_count":270,"committees":[{"name":"Committee on Energy and Commerce","chamber":"house","committee_id":"HSIF","subcommittee":false},{"name":"Energy","chamber":"house","committee_id":"HSIF03","subcommittee":true},{"name":"Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure","chamber":"house","committee_id":"HSPW","subcommittee":false},{"name":"Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management","chamber":"house","committee_id":"HSPW13","subcommittee":true}],"links":{"rollCalls":"/api/roll_calls?bill_id=hr4238-114","details":"/api/bills/hr4238-114/details","sharingMessage":"/api/sharing_messages/hr4238-114","positionsFor":"/api/bills/hr4238-114/positions/for","positionsAgainst":"/api/bills/hr4238-114/positions/against"},"upcoming":false,"cosponsors_count":76,"slug":"hr4238-114-to-amend-the-department-of-energy-organization-act-and-the-local-public-works-capital-development-and-investment-act-of-1976-to-modernize-terms-relati","latest_chamber_votes_id":"hr4238-114","official_url":null,"target_video":true,"following":false,"vote_count":2980,"yea_vote_count":2413,"nay_vote_count":565,"passed_house":true,"passed_senate":true,"vote_id":null,"my_position_id":null,"topic_ids":["government"],"issue_ids":["government","discrimination"],"sponsor_id":135}],"votes":[],"issues":[{"id":"government","name":"Government","slug":"government","description":"Federal legislation related to the operations of the US Federal Government. Bills can encompass government administration, regulation of political parties, the US postal service, US territories and public contracts.","page_title":"US Government - Federal legislation - Vote on Bills, Stay informed, Hold Your Reps Accountable","icons":{"black":"https://assets.countable.us/issue/icon/government/black_government-1453508811.svg","grey":"https://assets.countable.us/issue/icon/government/grey_government-1453508811.svg","white":"https://assets.countable.us/issue/icon/government/white_government-1453508811.svg"},"cover_image_url":null,"is_following":false},{"id":"discrimination","name":"Discrimination","slug":"discrimination","description":"Vote on the latest federal legislation regarding Discrimination. Make your voice heard about the issues you care about.","page_title":"Discrimination Legislation - Vote on Bills, Stay informed, Hold Your Reps Accountable","icons":{"black":"https://assets.countable.us/issue/icon/discrimination/black_discrimination-1429042065.svg","grey":"https://assets.countable.us/issue/icon/discrimination/grey_discrimination-1429042065.svg","white":"https://assets.countable.us/issue/icon/discrimination/white_discrimination-1429042065.svg"},"cover_image_url":null,"is_following":false}],"users":[{"name":"John","vote_count":117,"photos":{"large":"https://graph.facebook.com/10100958563268331/picture?width=150&height=150","small":"https://graph.facebook.com/10100958563268331/picture?width=75&height=75","tiny":"https://graph.facebook.com/10100958563268331/picture?width=20&height=20","facebook":"https://graph.facebook.com/10100958563268331/picture"},"links":{"following":"/api/users/e9XN4L6Z/following","followers":"/api/users/e9XN4L6Z/followers"},"about_me":null,"twitter_id":null,"facebook_id":null,"youtube_id":null,"google_plus_id":null,"website":null,"slug":null,"issue_count":21,"is_following":null,"influence_score":315,"influence_level":20,"follower_count":1,"following_count":1,"position_count":73,"id":"e9XN4L6Z","partner_id":null}],"bill_position":{"flagged":false,"id":"def7404d-1d02-4658-b3cd-6a0f4fd5ea98","argument_for":"I'm sure we have a bureaucrat or two somewhere who can be torn away from their daily tasks of harassing civilians to comb through the federal register and purge terms that might offend the 12 unwitting historians who will actually read these texts.","argument_against":null,"show_argument_for":true,"show_argument_against":false,"upvote_count":0,"upvotes_for_count":0,"upvotes_against_count":null,"has_upvoted":false,"endorsement_count":0,"links":{"self":"https://www.countable.us/positions/def7404d-1d02-4658-b3cd-6a0f4fd5ea98"},"body":"I'm sure we have a bureaucrat or two somewhere who can be torn away from their daily tasks of harassing civilians to comb through the federal register and purge terms that might offend the 12 unwitting historians who will actually read these texts.","stance":"yea","created_at":"2016-03-01T02:45:22.886Z","shareable_image_url":"https://n.countable.us/share-images/positions/def7404d-1d02-4658-b3cd-6a0f4fd5ea98.png","note_color":null,"note_text":null,"bill_id":"hr4238-114","user_id":"e9XN4L6Z","endorser_ids":[]}}

Like Countable?

John

Removing "Oriental" and Other Dated Terms to Describe Minorities from Federal Laws