Which public law created the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission for America250?

Public Law 114-196 created the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission for America250.

Congress enacted the United States Semiquincentennial Commission Act in 2016, and President Barack Obama signed it into law. The statute established a bipartisan commission to promote and coordinate observances of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.

The law gave the commission a national planning role rather than making it merely an organizer of one celebration. It called for public participation, educational activity and commemorations involving the states, territories and the federal government. The commission’s work was intended to be inclusive and national in scope.

The original law was later amended. Public Law 116-260, enacted in 2020, made technical and operational changes, including provisions affecting funding and commission membership. That later law is not the act that originally created the commission, which is why the two public-law numbers are sometimes confused.