Senate · Introduced · 2025-2026 Regular Session

SR 320: National Statuary Hall Collection Replacement Committee; create

Last action March 3, 2025 · Senate Read and Referred

A Senate resolution would replace Georgia's statue of Alexander Hamilton Stephens in the U.S. Capitol's National Statuary Hall with a statue of President Jimmy Carter, and create a committee to carry out the swap.

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In plain language

Georgia currently has two statues on display in the National Statuary Hall Collection at the U.S. Capitol: Dr. Crawford W. Long and Alexander Hamilton Stephens. This resolution states that the General Assembly approves replacing the Stephens statue with one honoring former President Jimmy Carter, a Georgian who served as state senator, governor, and U.S. president. The resolution creates an eight-member National Statuary Hall Collection Replacement Committee, appointed by the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Speaker of the House, to pick a new location for the Stephens statue, select a sculptor, approve statue designs, estimate costs, and raise private funding to cover the replacement. The committee is set to be abolished on December 1, 2025. Once a location is chosen, the Governor must formally request approval from the Architect of the Capitol and the Joint Committee on the Library of Congress under federal law (2 U.S.C. § 2132), and if approved, Georgia would enter an agreement with the Architect of the Capitol to complete the swap.

What the bill does

Formally approves replacing Georgia's Alexander Hamilton Stephens statue in the U.S. Capitol with a statue of President Jimmy Carter.
Creates an eight-member committee appointed by the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Speaker of the House to manage the replacement process.
Directs the committee to pick a new in-state location for the Stephens statue, select a sculptor, and approve the new statue's design.
Requires the committee to estimate all costs of the swap, including sculpting, pedestal fabrication, transport, and the unveiling ceremony, and to raise private funds to cover them.
Sets the committee to be abolished on December 1, 2025.
Directs the Governor to request federal approval from the Architect of the Capitol and the Joint Committee on the Library of Congress once a location for the old statue is chosen.

Who it affects

The Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Speaker of the House, who appoint committee members; the appointed committee members themselves, including legislators, state officials, and private citizens; the sculptor selected for the new statue; and any Georgia locality chosen to receive the relocated Stephens statue.

Why it matters

If carried out, this would change which historic Georgian is represented in the U.S. Capitol, replacing a Confederate-era vice president's statue with one honoring a former U.S. president. It also sets up a state process, funded privately rather than through tax dollars, to relocate the existing statue and commission a new one.

Key provisions

Paragraph (1) creates the National Statuary Hall Collection Replacement Committee to carry out the statue swap.
Paragraph (2) sets committee membership at eight, with four gubernatorial appointees (one as chair), two from the Lieutenant Governor, and two from the Speaker of the House.
Paragraph (3) lists the committee's duties: choosing a new location for the Stephens statue, selecting a sculptor, approving designs, and estimating costs.
Paragraph (4) grants the committee power to enter contracts and collect and spend private funds for the project.
Paragraph (6) specifies that most costs must come from private funds, though legislative members get standard allowances under O.C.G.A. § 28-1-8 paid from legislative funds.
Paragraph (7) abolishes the committee on December 1, 2025.
The final section directs the Governor to seek approval from the Architect of the Capitol and the Joint Committee on the Library of Congress under 2 U.S.C. § 2132 once a new location is chosen.

From the bill

“approve the replacement of the state's statue of Alexander Hamilton Stephens with a statue of President Jimmy Carter in the National Statuary Hall Collection in the United States Capitol.”
The resolution's core action approving the statue swap.

“The committee shall stand abolished on December 1, 2025.”
Sets a firm end date for the committee created by the resolution.

Status timeline

2025-03-03Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
2025-02-28Senate Hopper (Senate)

Topics

National Statuary Hall
Jimmy Carter statue
Alexander Hamilton Stephens
U.S. Capitol
state commemorations

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Machine-readable https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sr320.md · https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md · MCP https://mcp.georgiacommons.org/mcp