Sponsors (233)
The bill secures a National Mall site and stronger design protections for a Women's History Museum and limits near-term agency costs via reimbursements, but also adds administrative requirements and constraints (including a biologically defined scope and mandated viewpoint balance) that could raise costs, provoke legal challenges, and exclude transgender women from representation.
Taxpayers, visitors, schools and universities: establishes a permanent National Mall site for the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum, enabling construction, a clear timeline, and eventual public access and educational use.
Urban communities and taxpayers: requires design and interagency review criteria to protect open space and use durable, climate-compatible materials, helping preserve Mall public use and resilience.
Federal agencies and taxpayers: requires the Smithsonian to reimburse federal agencies within 60 days for implementation costs, reducing short-term financial burden on agencies that support the project.
Taxpayers, federal agencies, and the public: new reporting requirements and expanded consultation and approval steps add administrative work and likely delays, increasing planning and construction costs.
Smithsonian Institution, taxpayers, and project stakeholders: retroactive application to the 2021 enactment could reopen prior decisions and trigger administrative or legal challenges that cause delays and additional costs.
Women and LGBTQ+ individuals (particularly transgender women): limits the Museum’s scope to the history of “biological women” and forbids depicting biological males as female, excluding transgender women from representation in exhibits.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Designates a National Mall site and authorizes planning/construction of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum while defining its mission as documenting "biological women" and banning depiction of biological males as female.
Official title: To permit the Smithsonian American Women's History Museum to be located within the Reserve of the National Mall, and for other purposes.
Introduced February 13, 2025 by Nicole Malliotakis · Last progress May 21, 2026
Designates the South Monument site on the National Mall as the location for the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum (with the President able to choose an alternate site within 180 days). Transfers administrative jurisdiction of that land to the Smithsonian when practicable, authorizes the Smithsonian Board of Regents to plan, design, and construct a museum building subject to interagency reviews, and requires the Smithsonian to reimburse agencies for costs tied to the approval process. Adds a new mission limitation specifying the Museum is dedicated to documenting the history, achievements, and lived experiences of “biological women” and prohibits identifying or depicting any biological male as female; strengthens requirements for advisory council composition and reporting to Congress; and makes these changes effective retroactively as if included in the original 2021 enactment.