PRINTER'S NO. 3633
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE RESOLUTION
No.
242
Session of
2022
INTRODUCED BY RABB, KENYATTA, HILL-EVANS, SCHLOSSBERG AND
FIEDLER, NOVEMBER 16, 2022
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON RULES, NOVEMBER 16, 2022
A RESOLUTION
Amending House Rule 17, further providing for order of business;
and amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to
provide for land acknowledgment.
RESOLVED, That House Rule 17 be amended to read:
RULE 17
ORDER OF BUSINESS
The daily order of business shall be:
(1) Land acknowledgment under Rule 17(a).
[(1)] (2) Prayer.
[(2)] (3) Pledge of Allegiance.
[(3)] (4) Correction and approval of the Journal.
[(4)] (5) Leaves of absence.
[(5)] (6) Master Roll Call.
[(6)] (7) Reports of Committee.
[(7)] (8) First consideration bills.
[(8)] (9) Second consideration bills.
[(9)] (10) Third consideration bills, final passage bills
(including both third consideration and final passage postponed
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bills and resolutions).
[(10)] (11) Final passage bills recalled from the Governor.
[(11)] (12) Messages from the Senate and communications from
the Governor.
[(12)] (13) Reference to appropriate committees of bills,
resolutions, petitions, memorials, remonstrances and other
papers.
[(13)] (14) Unfinished business on the Speaker's table.
[(14)] (15) Announcements.
[(15)] (16) Adjournment.
Any question may, by a majority vote of the members elected,
be made a special order of business. When the time arrives for
its consideration, the Speaker shall lay the special order of
business before the House.
In lieu of offering House Resolutions on topics of importance
to members, any member, without unanimous consent, may address
the House on such issue and have his or her remarks entered into
the record during a special period of time established each week
by the Speaker either prior to, or at the conclusion of, House
business on a specific day.
RESOLVED, That the Rules of the House of Representatives be
amended by adding a rule to read:
RULE 17(a)
LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The Pennsylvania State Capitol Complex sits on stolen land,
the territory of American Indian Tribal Nations.
American Indian history in Pennsylvania is complicated. It
has been since the Commonwealth became a place of refuge during
the 17th and 18th centuries for numerous American Indian tribal
nations whose original homeland was in states along the Atlantic
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seaboard. Those displaced refugee American Indian tribal nations
joined with the original Lenape, Susquehannock, Erie, Shawnee
and Seneca inhabitants from the 16th to 18th centuries to make
up the American Indian tribal communities of early Pennsylvania
history.
By the early 19th century, American Indian tribal nations
were completely removed due to colonial wars, forced emigration
and forced land sales and treaties. It was not until the early
20th century that citizens of those historic and other federally
recognized nations from across the United States began to return
and relocate to Pennsylvania to live and work.
Because of this history, some of these American Indian tribal
nations no longer exist but were absorbed and amalgamated into
the other tribal nations that still exist today. In contemporary
times, these communities live in diaspora, spread across three
states and two countries. Those American Indian tribal nations
that comprise the historic and prehistoric American Indian
communities are:
(1) The Delaware Nation Lenni Lenape, Anadarko, Oklahoma.
(2) The Delaware Tribe of Indians, Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
(3) The Stockbridge Munsee Band of Mohicans, Bowler,
Wisconsin.
(4) The EELÜNAAPÉEWI LAHKÉEWIIT Delaware Nation,
Thamesville, Ontario.
(5) The Munsee Delaware Nation, Muncey, Ontario.
(6) The Shawnee Tribe, Miami, Oklahoma.
(7) The Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, Wyandotte,
Oklahoma.
(8) The Absentee Shawnee Tribe, Shawnee, Oklahoma.
(9) The Seneca-Cayuga Nation, Grove, Oklahoma.
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(10) The Seneca Nation, Salamanca, New York.
(11) The Tonawanda Seneca Nation, Akron, New York.
The statements contained in this rule serve as recognition of
this history, demonstrating a commitment from the House of
Representatives to dismantling the ongoing legacies of
colonialism. The House of Representatives cannot right the
injustices of the past with words alone, but through these
words, can begin a process of doing so.
On the first legislative day in a new term of the House of
Representatives, the following statement shall be read:
We, the members of the House of Representatives, acknowledge
that we meet and that the Pennsylvania State Capitol Complex
sits on stolen land. We recognize this Commonwealth as the
ancestral home to many Indigenous peoples. These include the
Erie, Iroquois, Lenape, Munsee, Nanticoke, Shawnee,
Susquehannock, Delaware Nation Lenni Lenape-Anadarko,
Delaware Tribe of Indians-Bartlesville, Stockbridge Munsee
Band of Mohicans, EELÜNAAPÉEWI LAHKÉEWIIT Delaware Nation,
Munsee Delaware Nation, Shawnee Tribe, Eastern Shawnee Tribe
of Oklahoma, Absentee Shawnee Tribe, Seneca-Cayuga Nation,
Seneca Nation and Tonawanda Seneca Nation.
Pennsylvania became a place of refuge during the 17th and
18th centuries for numerous American Indian tribal nations
whose original homeland was in states along the Atlantic
seaboard. Those displaced American Indian tribal nations
joined with existing American Indian inhabitants from the
16th to 18th centuries to make up the American Indian tribal
communities of early Pennsylvania history.
By the early 19th century, American Indian tribal nations
were completely removed due to colonial wars, forced
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emigration and forced land sales and treaties. It was not
until the early 20th century that citizens of those historic
and other federally recognized nations from across the United
States began to return and relocate to Pennsylvania to live
and work. Because of this history, some of these American
Indian tribal nations no longer exist but were absorbed and
amalgamated into the other tribal nations that still exist
today. In contemporary times, these communities live in
diaspora, spread across three states and two countries.
In offering this land acknowledgment, we affirm Indigenous
sovereignty, culture and experiences. We honor and recognize
American Indian tribal nation legacy and history and
celebrate their significant and ongoing contributions to this
Commonwealth. We mourn the murder, forced emigration, forced
land sale and treaties and cultural genocide faced by
American Indian tribal nations.
We commit to dismantling the ongoing legacies of colonialism
and protecting the history and traditions of American Indian
tribal groups that previously inhabited and currently inhabit
this Commonwealth.
On each legislative day after the first legislative day in a
new term of the House of Representatives, the following
statement shall be read:
We, the members of the House of Representatives, gather on
the land of Indigenous peoples that was never ceded by them. We
acknowledge that the land was founded upon exclusions and
erasures of many Indigenous peoples, including those on whose
land the Pennsylvania State Capitol Complex is located. Our
acknowledgment demonstrates a recognition of the injustices
faced by Indigenous peoples and a commitment to dismantling the
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ongoing legacies of colonialism.
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