S.Amdt. 2758

SA 2758. Mr. WARNOCK submitted an amendment intended to be proposed
by him to the bill S. 4638, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2025 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the appropriate place, insert the following:

SEC. __. ACCESS TO RECORDS RELATING TO MARTIN LUTHER KING,
JR..

(a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
(1) Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the subject of an
egregious and invasive campaign of government surveillance,
undertaken without judicial review;
(2) surveillance recorded the private conversations of Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr and others; and
(3) in light of the extensive historical and congressional
review of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the government
surveillance carried out against him, the historical value of
the records at issue is duplicatable and does not outweigh
the harm to the privacy interests of the recorded
individuals.
(b) Access to Records.--
(1) Definitions.--In this section:
(A) Archivist.--The term ``Archivist'' means the Archivist
of the United States.
(B) Covered records.--The term ``covered records'' means
any tapes or documents in the custody of any Federal agency
relating to the surveillance by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., that were the
subject of the order of the United States District Court for
the District of Columbia filed on January 31, 1977.
(2) Access for the king children.--
(A) In general.--On the day after the last day on which the
covered records are required to be kept under seal under the
order described in paragraph (1)(B), the Archivist shall
grant the surviving children of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
exclusive access to view the covered records, in consultation
with expert historians and archivists.
(B) Prohibition on publication.--The surviving children
described in subparagraph (A) are prohibited from making the
covered records available to the public.
(C) No surviving children.--If there are no surviving
children, as described in subparagraph (A), the Archivist
shall grant the right under such subparagraph to the estates
or heirs of the children of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and
the prohibition under subparagraph (B) shall apply to such
estates or heirs.
(3) Sealing and public release.--
(A) Sealing.--The Archivist shall keep under seal each
covered record for 60 years beginning on the day after the
last day on which the covered records are required to be kept
under seal.
(B) Public release.--After the conclusion of the 60-year
period described in subparagraph (A), the covered records
shall be subject to public release and dissemination by the
Archivist pursuant to the usual protocols used by the
Archivist for the release of records.
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