Sponsors (25)
Introduced February 13, 2025 by Diana Harshbarger · Last progress February 13, 2025
The bill centralizes and prioritizes display of the U.S. flag on federal buildings—strengthening uniform national symbolism and preserving listed operational exceptions—while substantially restricting non‑U.S. expressive flags, which raises legal, civic, and administrative costs for communities and agencies.
Federal employees, visitors, and the general public will see the U.S. flag consistently displayed as the primary flag on public federal buildings, reinforcing uniform national symbolism and flag protocol.
Military personnel and diplomatic staff retain the ability to display Armed Forces, unit, agency, and diplomatic flags at installations and embassies under enumerated exceptions, preserving operational and diplomatic signaling.
State, local, and tribal governments can continue to display their jurisdictional flags on buildings located in their areas, preserving local identity and ceremonial practices.
Visitors, employees, and members of the public will be barred from displaying many non‑U.S. flags (including political or solidarity flags) in public areas of federal buildings, significantly restricting expressive conduct on federal property.
Some historically or culturally meaningful flags (for example tribal, immigrant, or community symbols) could be excluded, generating grievances and increasing the risk of free‑speech or equal‑protection litigation.
Local governments and community groups may lose the ability to display community or advocacy flags in public federal buildings within their jurisdictions except where explicitly exempted, reducing local ceremonial and civic expression.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Prohibits displaying any flag other than the United States flag on the exterior or in publicly accessible interior areas (entryways, hallways, etc.) of covered public buildings, while listing a set of specific exceptions where non‑U.S. flags are allowed. It defines which locations count as covered public buildings (including Capitol buildings, military installations, and U.S. embassies/consulates) and enumerates a dozen narrow exceptions such as certain historic U.S. flags, military unit flags, diplomatic flags, specified memorial flags, Tribal flags, and state/local jurisdiction flags. The text does not create new funding, deadlines, or explicit enforcement mechanisms; it is a prescriptive rule about which flags may be displayed in designated federal/public buildings and which may be exempted.