I 
107TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5762
To provide for the expeditious disclosure of records relevant to the life 
and assassination of Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 19, 2002
Ms. MCKINNEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Government Reform 
A BILL 
To provide for the expeditious disclosure of records relevant 
to the life and assassination of Reverend Doctor Martin 
Luther King, Jr.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Martin Luther King, 
Jr., Records Collection Act of 2002’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS, DECLARATIONS, AND PURPOSES. 
(a) FINDINGS AND DECLARATIONS.—The Congress 
finds and declares that—
(1) all Government records related to the life 
and assassination of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr., should be preserved for historical and gov-
ernmental purposes; 
(2) all Government records concerning the life 
and assassination of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther 
King, Jr., should carry a presumption of immediate 
disclosure, and all records should be eventually dis-
closed to enable the public to become fully informed 
about the history surrounding his life and assassina-
tion; 
(3) legislation is necessary to create an enforce-
able, independent, and accountable process for the 
public disclosure of such records; 
(4) legislation is necessary because congres-
sional records related to the life and assassination of 
Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., would not 
otherwise be subject to public disclosure until at 
least the year 2028; 
(5) legislation is necessary because the Freedom 
of Information Act, as implemented by the executive 
branch, has prevented the timely public disclosure of 
records relating to the life and assassination of Rev-
erend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; 
(6) legislation is necessary because Executive 
Order No. 12356, entitled ‘‘National Security Infor-
mation’’ has eliminated the declassification and
downgrading schedules relating to classified informa-
tion across government and has prevented the timely 
public disclosure of records relating to the life and 
assassination of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, 
Jr.; and 
(7) most of the records related to the life and 
assassination of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, 
Jr., are almost 35 years old, and only in the rarest 
cases is there any legitimate need for continued pro-
tection of such records. 
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—
(1) to provide for the creation of the Reverend 
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Records Collection at 
the National Archives and Records Administration; 
and 
(2) to require the expeditious public trans-
mission to the Archivist and public disclosure of 
such records. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act, the following definitions apply: 
(1) The term ‘‘Archivist’’ means the Archivist 
of the United States. 
(2) The term ‘‘related record’’ means a record 
that is related to the life and assassination of Rev-
erend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., that was created
or made available for use by, obtained by, or other-
wise came into the possession of—
(A) the Commission on Central Intelligence 
Agency Activities Within the United States (the 
‘‘Rockefeller Commission’’); 
(B) the Senate Select Committee to Study 
Governmental Operations with Respect to Intel-
ligence Activities (the ‘‘Church Committee’’); 
(C) the Select Committee on Assassina-
tions (the ‘‘House Assassinations Committee’’) 
of the House of Representatives; 
(D) the Library of Congress; 
(E) the National Archives and Records Ad-
ministration; 
(F) any Presidential library; 
(G) any Executive agency; 
(H) any independent agency; 
(I) any other office of the Federal Govern-
ment;
(J) any State or local law enforcement of-
fice that provided support or assistance or per-
formed work in connection with a Federal in-
quiry into the life and assassination of Rev-
erend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; and 
(K) any donated deed or gift.
(3) The term ‘‘collection’’ means the Reverend 
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Records Collection es-
tablished under section 4. 
(4) The term ‘‘Executive agency’’ means an Ex-
ecutive agency as defined in subsection 552(f) of 
title 5, United States Code, and includes any Execu-
tive department, military department, Government 
corporation, Government controlled corporation, or 
other establishment in the executive branch of the 
Government, including the Executive Office of the 
President, or any independent regulatory agency. 
(5) The term ‘‘Government office’’ means any 
office of the Federal Government that has possession 
or control of related records, including—
(A) the House Committee on Administra-
tion with regard to the Select Committee on As-
sassinations of the records of the House of Rep-
resentatives; 
(B) the Select Committee on Intelligence 
of the Senate with regard to records of the Sen-
ate Select Committee to Study Governmental 
Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activi-
ties and other related records; 
(C) the Library of Congress;
sional committee, or other governmental entity that 
created a record or particular information within a 
record. 
(10) The term ‘‘public interest’’ means the 
compelling interest in the prompt public disclosure 
of related records for historical and governmental 
purposes and for the purpose of fully informing the 
American people about the history surrounding the 
life and assassination of Reverend Dr. Martin Lu-
ther King, Jr. 
(11) The term ‘‘record’’ includes a book, paper, 
map, photograph, sound or video recording, machine 
readable material, computerized, digitized, or elec-
tronic information, regardless of the medium on 
which it is stored, or other documentary material or 
physical evidence, regardless of its physical form or 
characteristics. 
(12) The term ‘‘Review Board’’ means the 
Records Review Board established by section 7. 
(13) The term ‘‘third agency’’ means a Govern-
ment agency that originated a related record that is 
in the possession of another agency.
SEC. 4. REVEREND DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., 
RECORDS COLLECTION AT THE NATIONAL 
ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—(1) Not later than 60 days after 
the date of enactment of this Act, the National Archives 
and Records Administration shall commence establish-
ment of a collection of records to be known as the Rev-
erend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., records collection. In 
so doing, the Archivist shall ensure the physical integrity 
and original provenance of all records. The collection shall 
consist of record copies of all Government records relating 
to the life and assassination of Reverend Dr. Martin Lu-
ther King, Jr., which shall be transmitted to the national 
archives in accordance with section 2107 of title 44, 
United States Code. The archivist shall prepare and pub-
lish a subject guidebook and index to the collection which 
will be available to the public for inspection and searchable 
electronically—
(2) The Collection shall include—
(A) all related records—
(i) that have been transmitted to the Na-
tional Archives or disclosed to the public in an 
unredacted form prior to the date of enactment 
of this Act; 
(ii) that are required to be transmitted to 
the National Archives;
(iii) the disclosure of which is postponed 
under this Act; or 
(iv) that meets the definition of a related 
record discovered after termination of the exist-
ence of the Records Review Board; 
(B) a central directory comprised of identifica-
tion aids created for each record transmitted to the 
Archivist under section 5; and 
(C) all Review Board records as required by 
this Act. 
(b) USE OF SECONDARY LOCATION FOR PORTION OF 
COLLECTION.—
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Archivist shall enter 
into an agreement with an entity outside the Na-
tional Archives for the establishment of a secondary 
location for such portion of the Collection as the Ar-
chivist considers appropriate. 
(2) PROCESS
FOR
ENTERING
INTO
AGREE-
MENT.—The Archivist shall enter into an agreement 
under this subsection through the solicitation of pro-
posals from public and private institutions of higher
education, research institutions, museums, and other 
archival institutions.
(3) CRITERIA
FOR
SELECTION.—In selecting 
from the proposals submitted under paragraph (2), 
the Archivist shall give preference to an entity—
(A) with a proven record of archival col-
lecting; 
(B) which will provide a maximum level of 
public access to the portion of the Collection in-
volved; and 
(C) which will encourage continuing study 
and education regarding the life and assassina-
tion of Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. 
(4) TREATMENT
OF
COLLECTION
AT
SEC-
ONDARY LOCATION.—The portion of the Collection 
maintained at the secondary location pursuant to 
this subsection, and the entity responsible for main-
taining such portion of the collection under the 
agreement under this subsection, shall be subject to 
the same terms, conditions, and requirements as 
apply under this Act to the portion of the Collection 
maintained at the National Archives and the Archi-
vist. 
(c) DISCLOSURE
OF RECORDS.—All assassination 
records transmitted to the National Archives for disclosure 
to the public shall be included in the Collection and shall 
be available to the public for inspection and copying at
the National Archives and through an electronic format 
within 30 days after their transmission to the National 
Archives. 
(d) FEES FOR COPYING.—The Archivist shall—
(1) charge fees for copying such records; and 
(2) grant waivers of such fees pursuant to the 
standards established by section 552(a)(4) of title 5, 
United States Code. 
(e) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—(1) The Collec-
tion shall be preserved, protected, archived, and made 
available to the public at the National Archives using ap-
propriations authorized, specified, and restricted for use 
under the terms of this Act. 
(2) The National Archives, in consultation with the 
Information Security Oversight Office, shall ensure the se-
curity of the postponed records in the Collection. 
(f) OVERSIGHT.—The Committee on Government Re-
form of the House of Representatives and the Committee 
on Governmental Affairs of the Senate shall have con-
tinuing oversight jurisdiction with respect to the Collec-
tion, and shall conduct biannual hearings, up to and in-
cluding the final archivist determination.
SEC. 5. REVIEW, IDENTIFICATION, TRANSMISSION TO THE 
NATIONAL ARCHIVES, AND PUBLIC DISCLO-
SURE OF RELATED RECORDS BY GOVERN-
MENT OFFICES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—
(1) PREPARATION.—As soon as practicable 
after the date of enactment of this Act, each Gov-
ernment office shall identify and organize its records 
relating to the life and assassination of Reverend 
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and prepare them for 
transmission to the Archivist for inclusion in the 
Collection. 
(2) RELATED
RECORDS.—No related record 
shall be destroyed, altered, or mutilated in any way. 
(3) PRIOR
DISCLOSURE.—No related record 
made available or disclosed to the public prior to the 
date of enactment of this Act may be withheld, re-
dacted, postponed for public disclosure, or reclassi-
fied. 
(4) RELATED RECORDS CREATED OUTSIDE OF 
GOVERNMENT.—No related record created by a per-
son or entity outside government (excluding names 
or identities consistent with the requirements of sec-
tion (6) shall be withheld, redacted, postponed for 
public disclosure, or reclassified.