REFUSE Confederate Principles Act

Rejecting and Eliminating the Foul Use of Symbols Exulting Confederate Principles Act or the REFUSE Confederate Principles Act

This bill directs the Department of the Interior to establish, within the National Park Service (NPS), a program to be known as the Emancipation Historic Preservation Program to award grants to states and other eligible entities to

• remove a Confederate symbol;
• remove and replace a Confederate symbol with an alternative monument, memorial, statue, commemorative structure, symbol, or signage;
• remove and replace a Confederate symbol with an alternative monument, memorial, statue, commemorative structure, symbol, or signage to commemorate or depict the freedom of enslaved African Americans; and
• remove and transfer a Confederate symbol to a state historic preservation program.

Interior shall also provide technical assistance to eligible entities related to these activities.

None of the funds made available by this bill may be used by Interior, the NPS, or an eligible entity for the preservation, rehabilitation, restoration, reconstruction, or new construction of a Confederate symbol.