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U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Brownsville, has introduced a new bill that aims to protect Boca Chica Beach from “unnecessary name changes.”
The Hands off Our Boca Chica Beach Act was announced on Monday morning. According to a news release from the congressman’s office, the bill would codify the name “Boca Chica Beach” and require the Domestic Names Committee to notify Gonzalez of any proposed name changes that would affect his district.
The bill was introduced less than two weeks after the Domestic Names Committee of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN) voted against a Mississippi resident’s petition to officially rename a portion of the beach to “Cyber Beach.”
“It is absurd that a name proposal from outside our state was able to threaten the very essence of a cultural and historic landmark in South Texas,” Gonzalez said in the news release. “The severe lack of transparency from the Domestic Names Committee almost shut out the people of Cameron County from a decision that directly impacted our daily lives—and would have created a financial burden for local municipalities responsible for replacing signage and other publicly used identifiers.”
“While our community was able to quickly band together to stop this initial proposal from being adopted, my bill would ensure that Boca Chica Beach always remains the People’s Beach.”
The BGN’s Domestic Names Committee announced on the evening of July 8 that there would be a hearing in Washington D.C. the following day to rename the beach to “Cyber Beach” at the request of an individual from Mississippi.
News of the hearing prompted Gonzalez and State Rep. Erin Gamez to send letters to the committee who criticized the lack of transparency and the failure to give community members adequate time to respond.
“I am disappointed to see a federal entity not notify federal representatives of activity happening in their district,” Gonzalez wrote to the committee.
Gonzalez’s new bill would give him precedence over BGN’s “principles, policies, and procedures,” since geographic names established by an act of Congress, or those introduced as proposed legislation, are not bound by the BGN.
He added that his bill would ensure that “no future proposal to rename Boca Chica Beach during this Congress will be considered.”