119-s839

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 839 Introduced in Senate

    (IS) ]

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119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 S. 839

 To prohibit the use of funds to implement, administer, or enforce 
 measures requiring certain employees to refer to an individual by the 
 preferred pronouns of such individual or a name other than the legal 
 name of such individual, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

 March 4, 2025

 Mr. Cruz (for himself and Mr. Budd) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 
 and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To prohibit the use of funds to implement, administer, or enforce 
 measures requiring certain employees to refer to an individual by the 
 preferred pronouns of such individual or a name other than the legal 
 name of such individual, and for other purposes.

 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 ``Safeguarding Honest Speech Act''.

SEC. 2. NO FEDERAL FUNDS FOR COMPELLED LANGUAGE.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no 
Federal funds may be used for the purpose of implementing, 
administering, or enforcing any rule, policy, guidance, recommendation, 
or memorandum requiring an employee or contractor of any Federal agency 
or Department to use--

    (1) another person's preferred pronouns if they are 
 incompatible with such person's sex; or

    (2) a name other than a person's legal name when referring 
 to such person.

    (b) Enforcement.--

    (1) In general.--All Federal agencies and Departments shall 
 ensure that, not later than 30 days following a written notice 
 from any employee or contractor described in subsection

    (a) regarding an alleged violation of subsection

    (a) , a formal 
 response to the notice is issued to the employee or contractor.

    (2) Private right of action.--In the case that the formal 
 response issued under paragraph

    (1) does not represent a 
 satisfactory outcome for the employee or contractor, any 
 employee or contractor described in subsection

    (a) and 
 aggrieved by a violation of subsection

    (a) may commence a civil 
 action against the Federal agency or Department responsible for 
 the alleged violation.

    (3) Relief.--In any action under this subsection, the court 
 may award appropriate relief, including--
        (A) temporary, preliminary, or permanent injunctive 
 relief;
        (B) compensatory damages;
            (C) punitive or exemplary damages, which may not 
 exceed $100,000; and
            (D) reasonable fees for attorneys.

    (4) Statute of limitations.--An action under this 
 subsection shall be brought not later than 1 year after the 
 date on which the alleged violation of subsection

    (a) occurred.
            (c) === Definitions. ===
-In this section:

    (1) Person.--The term ``person'' means an individual.

    (2) Sex.--The term ``sex'' means sex recognized based 
 solely on a person's reproductive biology and genetics at 
 birth.
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