Text of US HB 4373 (2025)

I 119TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4373 To direct the Law Revision Counsel of the House of Representatives to replace gender-specific pronouns and nouns in the United States Code with gender-neutral language, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 14, 2025 Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania (for herself, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. GARCIA of Cali- fornia, and Ms. NORTON) introduced the following bill; which was re- ferred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To direct the Law Revision Counsel of the House of Rep- resentatives to replace gender-specific pronouns and nouns in the United States Code with gender-neutral language, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Equality in Laws Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. GENDER-NEUTRAL LANGUAGE IN THE UNITED 5 STATES CODE. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Law Revision Counsel of the 7 House of Representatives shall make such changes to the 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:04 Jul 22, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4373.IH H4373 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 4373 IH titles of the United States Code as are necessary to replace 1 masculine and feminine pronouns and nouns in such titles 2 with gender-neutral language in each case in which such 3 revisions and amendments would not affect the substance 4 or meaning of the relevant titles, including— 5 (1) by striking ‘‘his’’ or ‘‘hers’’ each place it ap- 6 pears and, as required by the relevant context, in- 7 serting— 8 (A) ‘‘the individual’s’’; 9 (B) the appropriate possessive form of the 10 noun to which the pronoun refers; 11 (C) ‘‘their’’ or ‘‘theirs’’; or 12 (D) the appropriate possessive form of the 13 title of the position to which the pronoun refers; 14 and 15 (2) by striking ‘‘he’’, ‘‘him’’, ‘‘she’’, and ‘‘her’’ 16 each place such words appear and, as required by 17 the relevant context, inserting— 18 (A) ‘‘the individual’’; 19 (B) the noun to which the pronoun refers; 20 (C) ‘‘they’’ or ‘‘them’’; or 21 (D) the appropriate title of the position to 22 which the pronoun refers. 23 (b) REVISION OF POSITIVE LAW TITLES.—The Law 24 Revision Counsel of the House of Representatives shall, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:04 Jul 22, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4373.IH H4373 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 4373 IH pursuant to subsection (a), prepare and submit to the 1 Committee on the Judiciary such revisions in the titles of 2 the United States Code which have been enacted into posi- 3 tive law as may be necessary to strike gender-specific pro- 4 nouns and nouns and insert gender-neutral language in 5 each case in which such revisions conform to the under- 6 stood policy, intent, and purpose of the Congress in the 7 original enactments. 8 (c) AMENDMENT OF NONPOSITIVE LAW TITLES.— 9 The Law Revision Counsel of the House of Representa- 10 tives shall, pursuant to subsection (a), draft a bill to 11 amend the titles of the United States Code that have not 12 yet been enacted into positive law for the purpose of strik- 13 ing gender-specific pronouns and nouns and inserting gen- 14 der-neutral language in each case in which such amend- 15 ments conform to the understood policy, intent, and pur- 16 pose of the Congress in the original enactments. 17 (d) GENDER-NEUTRAL LANGUAGE DEFINED.—The 18 term ‘‘gender-neutral language’’ means language that ex- 19 pressly or implicitly refers to all genders without distinc- 20 tion between such genders and does not expressly or im- 21 plicitly refer to a gender to the real or apparent exclusion 22 of any other gender. 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:04 Jul 22, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4373.IH H4373 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS