PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Congressional Research Service
No official summary is available in the imported record yet.
People & committees
Rep. Patronis, Jimmy [R-FL-1] · R–FL
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Sep 16, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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PlainBill explanation
Based on the full Introduced in House · 2026-08-31 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.
The proposed Lake America Act would rename Lake Ontario as Lake America and treat references to the lake in U.S. laws, maps, and other federal records as references to the new name. Federal agencies would have to update their documents and maps within 180 days after the renaming section becomes law.
This Act may be cited as the Lake America Act.
(a) Renaming Lake Ontario shall be known as Lake America.
Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, paper, or other record of the United States to Lake Ontario shall be deemed to be a reference to Lake America.
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this section, the head of each Federal agency shall update each document and map of the Federal agency in accordance with the renaming described in subsection (a).
Under the proposal, existing references to Lake Ontario in U.S. laws, regulations, maps, documents, papers, and other federal records would legally mean Lake America.
Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, paper, or other record of the United States to Lake Ontario shall be deemed to be a reference to Lake America.
The Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Chairman of the Board on Geographic Names, would oversee implementation of the name change in every federal document and map.
The Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Chairman of the Board on Geographic Names, shall oversee the implementation of the renaming described in subsection (a) with respect to each Federal document and map.
Each federal agency head would be required to update every agency document and map to reflect the new name within 180 days after enactment of the renaming section. The deadline would run from enactment, not introduction.
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this section, the head of each Federal agency shall update each document and map of the Federal agency in accordance with the renaming described in subsection (a).
The supplied official-actions snapshot, updated September 16, 2026, records introduction in the House and referral to the House Committee on Natural Resources on August 31, 2026.
Source snapshot updated 2026-09-16T16:27:22Z. 2026-08-31: Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources. 2026-08-31: Introduced in House
A closer look
Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2026-08-31. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.
This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.
Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.
None identified in the reviewed text
No unrelated provision or policy change attached to appropriations was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version, not other versions or accompanying materials.
Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.
None identified in the reviewed text
No congressionally directed spending for particular recipients or places was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version, not other versions or accompanying materials.
Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.
None identified in the reviewed text
No materially narrow exemption, carve-out, or preferential treatment was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version, not other versions or accompanying materials.
Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: Sep 16, 2026. How PlainBill uses AI