H.R. 9779 explained · 119th Congress · Pending in Congress
Hands Off Our Boca Chica Beach Act of 2026
Cosponsors: none · per Congress.gov, 2026-10-14
Introduced: 2026-07-20
Latest action (2026-09-02): Subcommittee Hearings Held
What H.R. 9779 does, in plain terms
The Congressional Research Service has not published a summary of H.R. 9779 yet. Its official title: “Hands Off Our Boca Chica Beach Act of 2026”.
Constitution Index
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H.R. 9779 has not been graded yet. New measures with an official summary are graded daily under the published rubric.
The Framers
“Founders’ Verdict”
Confidence 1.00
Archived SI output (machine-generated)No editorial review recorded. This historical SI verdict was machine-generated by software and predates the review desk; check it against the official bill text.
Synthesis
The bill exceeds Congress's enumerated powers by naming a local beach without any connection to a federal power or property, violating the Tenth Amendment. All four Founders conclude that as currently drafted (without federal ownership), the bill is unconstitutional.
The Constitution grants Congress only enumerated powers, and the act of naming a local beach does not fall within any express grant. Under the Tenth Amendment, powers not delegated to the United States are reserved to the states or the people. However, if Boca Chica Beach is property belonging to the United States, Congress may regulate it under Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2. The bill does not specify federal ownership, and the name change alone implicates no federal interest. Therefore, the legislation is constitutional only if the beach is federal territory.
The Constitution enumerates only limited powers to the Congress, and among these is no authority to name geographic features lying within a sovereign state. The power to name local landmarks, beaches, or other intrastate places is a matter reserved to the state of Texas by the Tenth Amendment. The federal government may not, under the guise of a naming bill, exercise a power not delegated to it by the people through the Constitution. To do so would be to encroach upon the reserved rights of the states and the people.
The power to name a beach within a state is not among the enumerated powers of Congress under Article I, Section 8. Unless the beach is part of federal territory or property under Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2, the federal government lacks authority. The Tenth Amendment reserves such matters to the states. Therefore, the bill is constitutional only if Boca Chica Beach is under federal jurisdiction.
This bill, which merely designates a name for a beach without any connection to an enumerated power of Congress, exceeds the limited authority granted to the federal legislature by the Constitution. The Constitution does not confer upon Congress a general power to name geographic features; such an act is not among the powers enumerated in Article I, Section 8, nor is it a necessary and proper means of executing any such power. While the Necessary and Proper Clause allows Congress to choose means to carry out its express powers, the naming of a state beach (absent any federal proprietary intere…
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