[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5340 Introduced in House (IH)]
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116th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5340
To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal to Hazel M. Johnson,
in recognition of her achievements and contributions to the
environmental justice movement.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
December 6, 2019
Mr. Rush introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on
Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal to Hazel M. Johnson,
in recognition of her achievements and contributions to the
environmental justice movement.
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 ``Hazel M. Johnson Congressional Gold
Medal Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) Hazel Johnson fought for environmental justice in
Chicago beginning in the 1970s and continuing through the rest
of her life.
(2) When Johnson discovered that the South Side of Chicago
had the highest cancer rate of any area in Chicago, she was
inspired to investigate the cancer rates, foul odors, and
number of children with respiratory illnesses in her own
neighborhood, the community of Altgeld Gardens on the South
Side of Chicago.
(3) She discovered her community, Altgeld Gardens, which is
a public housing project, was built on a landfill surrounded by
toxicity, which polluted the air, water, and land.
(4) Additionally, the Altgeld Gardens homes had asbestos
and elevated lead levels.
(5) This discovery inspired Johnson to create the People
for Community Recovery, an organization which fights for a
safer environment.
(6) Johnson and the People for Community Recovery fought to
educate and empower the residents of Altgeld Gardens, including
providing workshops and trainings, conducting health surveys,
rallying residents to protest contamination, and working with
youth in the community.
(7) The People for Community Recovery put pressure on the
Chicago Housing Authority to remove asbestos from Altgeld
Gardens.
(8) Johnson's fight for clean water led to the installation
of water and sewer lines by city health officials in the far
South Side neighborhood of Maryland Manor, where the existing
well water was contaminated with cyanide and other toxins.
(9) Johnson used her vigilance and activism to give low-
income minority communities a voice and a stake in the
environmental justice fight by bringing the conversation to
personal, immediate, and urgent concerns which directly impact
communities inhabited by people of color.
(10) Johnson also strove to hold both businesses and the
government responsible for how their actions impact the
environment.
(11) Johnson was given the 1992 President's Environment and
Conservation Challenge Award in recognition of her
environmental justice work.
(12) Notably, Johnson was instrumental in pressuring
President Bill Clinton to sign the Environmental Justice
Executive Order, which holds the Federal Government accountable
for urban communities exposed to pollution.
(13) In 2004, sociologist David Naguib Pellow credited
Johnson and the People for Community Recovery with putting
``the South Side of Chicago on the radar screen for activists
and policy makers around the United States who are concerned
about environmental racism''.
(14) On January 12, 2011, the Illinois General Assembly, by
way of a House Joint Resolution, designated ``the portion of
130th Street from the Bishop Ford Freeway to State Street in
Chicago as the `Hazel Johnson EJ Way'''.
(15) Johnson was a visionary, who was able to foresee the
impacts of failing to address environmental and social justice
conditions.
(16) Johnson's work earned her the title of ``mother of the
environmental justice movement''.
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.
(a) Presentation Authorized.--The Speaker of the House of
Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall make
appropriate arrangements for the posthumous presentation, on behalf of
the Congress, of a gold medal of appropriate design in commemoration to
Hazel M. Johnson, in recognition of her achievements and contributions
to the environmental justice movement.
(b) Design and Striking.--For purposes of the presentation referred
to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (referred to in
this Act as the ``Secretary'') shall strike a gold medal with suitable
emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary.
(c) National Museum of African American History and Culture.--
(1) In general.--Following the award of the gold medal
under subsection (a), the gold medal shall be given to the
National Museum of African American History and Culture of the
Smithsonian Institution, where it shall be available for
display as appropriate and made available for research.
(2) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that
the gold medal received under paragraph (1) should be made
available for display elsewhere, particularly at other
appropriate locations associated with Hazel M. Johnson.
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold
medal struck pursuant to section 3 under such regulations as the
Secretary may prescribe, at a price sufficient to cover the cost
thereof, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and
overhead expenses, and the cost of the gold medal.
SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS.
(a) National Medals.--The medals struck pursuant to this Act are
national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States
Code.
(b) Numismatic Items.--For purposes of section 5134 of title 31,
United States Code, all medals struck under this Act shall be
considered to be numismatic items.
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