What Is H.R. 40? The Reparations Study Commission Bill

The H.R. 40 reparations bill would create a federal commission to study slavery, the discrimination that followed it, and the effects both continue to have on Black Americans today, and to recommend to Congress what should be done about it.¹ It does not authorize payments. It authorizes a study. The bill has been introduced in every Congress since 1989 and has never received a full floor vote in either chamber.

What the Bill Would and Would Not Do

The most common misconception is that passing H.R. 40 would send reparations payments to eligible Americans. It would not. If the bill became law tomorrow, no one would receive a check, a tax credit, or a land grant. What the law would do is stand up a commission, give it up to a year to investigate, and require it to hand Congress a set of findings and recommendations. Anything beyond that — actual remedies, apologies enacted into law, funding for programs — would require separate legislation moving through its own hearings, votes, and presidential signature.

That narrower scope is why sponsors describe it as a first step. A vote on H.R. 40 is a vote on whether to study the question, not a vote on any particular remedy.

The Commission Itself

The bill would create a 15-member commission with appointments split into two tiers, each with a 60-day deadline after the bill becomes law.²

Three members appointed by the President.
Three members appointed by the Speaker of the House, in consultation with the relevant House committee.
Three members appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, in consultation with the relevant Senate committee.
Six subject-matter experts appointed by the commission’s staff director and approved by a majority of the nine politically appointed members.

Seven members constitute a quorum for official business, though a smaller number may still hold hearings.² The commission may hire up to 10 staff members, and the chair sets compensation for hires below the staff director level. The bill lets the commission bypass the normal federal pay classification system, which is meant to help it recruit specialized researchers quickly.³

The bill authorizes $20 million in appropriations to cover the commission’s work, including member and staff compensation, research, travel, and any services or supplies needed.⁴

What the Commission Would Study

The mandate covers three periods: slavery itself, the century of legal and informal discrimination that followed, and the effects that persist today.⁴

Slavery From 1619 Through 1865

The commission would investigate how slavery operated in the 13 colonies and later the United States, and how federal and state governments backed it through constitutional provisions, court rulings, and legislation. Part of the assignment is tracing the economic value extracted from enslaved labor and how that wealth shaped American financial institutions and infrastructure. The bill specifically calls for studying the capture and transport of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic and the capital the trade generated for American and European interests.⁵

Post-Civil War Discrimination to the Present

The bill requires an examination of discriminatory laws and practices from the end of the Civil War through the present, covering both discrimination written into statute and informal practices that produced the same results without explicit legal backing.⁴ Jim Crow laws, restrictive housing covenants, redlining, and unequal access to federal programs like FHA-backed loans all fall within scope. The commission is directed to document how those policies compounded across generations, connecting them to outcomes with data rather than argument.

Effects on Living African Americans

The bill frames the third track explicitly around “living African Americans,” directing the commission to quantify ongoing disparities in wealth, education, health, incarceration, and other socioeconomic measures.⁴ This is the piece that separates H.R. 40 from a purely historical study; it is meant to build the factual foundation for present-day remedies.

The Report and Recommendations

The commission must submit a written report to Congress no later than one year after its first official meeting.⁵ That report must contain the commission’s factual findings, its assessment of how documented policies continue to affect Black Americans, and specific recommendations for remedies.

The bill does not prescribe what those remedies should look like. Direct payments, community investment programs, educational initiatives, and changes to existing law are all on the table. The commission decides based on the evidence.

The report must also recommend language for a formal government apology on behalf of the United States for slavery and the discrimination that followed.⁵ No branch of the federal government has ever formally issued such an acknowledgment. Finally, the commission must recommend ways to educate the public about its findings, so that the results reach a broad audience rather than sitting in government archives.

Deadlines and Dissolution

Several deadlines are built in to keep the process moving. All politically appointed members must be named within 60 days of the bill becoming law. The chair must convene the first full meeting no later than 45 days after the last member is appointed. From that first meeting, the commission has one year to deliver its final report.⁵

The commission then formally dissolves 90 days after submitting the report.⁴ That window is meant to handle wind-down: closing contracts, distributing the report, and archiving records. After that, the commission ceases to exist, and any action on its recommendations depends on Congress passing new legislation.

Legislative History and Where It Stands Now

Representative John Conyers Jr. of Michigan first introduced H.R. 40 in 1989 and reintroduced it every session for nearly three decades.⁶ After Conyers retired, Representative Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas took over as lead sponsor. Representative Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts now carries the bill and reintroduced it on January 3, 2025, at the start of the 119th Congress.¹

For most of its history, the bill never received a hearing. That changed in 2021, when the House Judiciary Committee held a markup and voted 25–17 to advance it to the full House. That was the first time any congressional committee had voted on a reparations-related measure. The bill never came to a floor vote, and no further action followed. In the current Congress, it sits in the House Judiciary Committee with no scheduled hearings or markup.

1
GovInfo. H.R. 40 (IH) – Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act
2
Congress.gov. H.R. 40 – 119th Congress – Text
3
Congress.gov. H.R. 40 – 119th Congress (2025-2026)
4
House of Representatives. H.R. 40 – Bill Text
5
National African American Reparations Commission (NAARC). Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act
6
GovInfo. Introduction Statement – H.R. 40 The Commission to Study Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act