Description
White House Bill Signing Pen, from the “Blackbird Bill,” signed by President Ford on February 4th, 1976, from the estate of Kentucky Rep. Romano L. Mazzoli.
Blue cardboard box, lid edged with brass. Presidential seal and replica signature of Gerald R. Ford on top panel of lid. Pen housed in yellow velvet sleeve. The pen was made by the Parker Pen Company, is blue and chrome and also features a replica Ford signature. Pen has a removable cap, felt ink tip. Address label of “U.S. Rep. R.L. Mazzoli” on the underside of the lid. Handwritten note on the bottom of the box, noting “Blackbird Bill.”
The “Blackbird Bill” signed by President Gerald Ford (H.R. 11510), enacted on February 4, 1976, was an emergency measure aimed at massive winter roosts of starlings, grackles, and blackbirds in Kentucky and Tennessee that lawmakers said threatened health, safety, livestock, and agriculture. It directed the U.S. Department of the Interior to treat roosts exceeding 500,000 birds with registered bird-control chemicals after certification by a governor, and it waived compliance with NEPA legal requirements through April 15, 1976 to allow rapid action.
From the estate of Rep. Ron Mazzoli (1932-2022), a Louisville Democrat who represented Kentucky’s 3rd Congressional District in the U.S. House from 1971-1995. Mazzoli was a leading architect of modern immigration policy, the principal House author (with Sen. Alan Simpson) of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.
