Sponsors (7)
The bill principally honors Sarah Keys Evans and promotes public education about a civil-rights precedent through a Congressional Gold Medal and purchasable duplicates while trading off modest administrative and fiscal risks, some potential legal confusion, and limited practical policy benefit.
Millions of Americans—especially Black Americans and women—gain formal recognition of Sarah Keys Evans and the Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Co. precedent, raising public awareness of interstate desegregation and reinforcing federal protection against racial discrimination in travel.
The Congressional Gold Medal and its publicly displayed duplicates create tangible artifacts for museums and schools, supporting public education and commemoration of civil-rights history.
Members of the public and collectors can purchase bronze duplicates, providing broader public access to the commemoration while the sales structure is intended to cover production costs so the government avoids a net subsidy.
Producing and managing the medals creates administrative and fiscal risk for Treasury/Mint: inventory, sales management, and program overhead could impose burdens on federal employees and, depending on how programs are run, expose taxpayers to indirect costs if sales fall short.
The bill's historical findings and references to statutes and cases could be misread as altering law, creating potential legal confusion for courts, lawyers, and the public.
Ceremonial recognition consumes congressional time and attention for a nonbinding commemoration, representing an opportunity cost compared with legislative focus on substantive policy issues.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Awards a Congressional Gold Medal to Sarah Keys Evans, authorizes the Treasury to strike the gold medal, produce and sell bronze duplicates, and classifies the medals as national numismatic items.
Introduced February 14, 2025 by Don Davis · Last progress February 14, 2025
Awards a Congressional Gold Medal to Sarah Keys Evans in recognition of her 1952 refusal to give up her seat on an interstate bus and the resulting legal case that helped end segregation on interstate carriers. The Treasury is authorized to strike an appropriately designed gold medal, produce and sell bronze duplicates to cover production costs, and the medals are designated as national numismatic items. The measure recounts Evans’s arrest, the subsequent ICC case that found segregation on interstate buses unlawful, and directs congressional leaders to arrange a formal presentation of the medal while authorizing the Treasury to manage production, sale, and classification of the medals.