Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) introduced the bill last November after promising a constituent she would act if the Maryland legislature passed a similar law. The Maryland law passed unanimously, and Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) signed it into law last year.

The bill is named after Rosa Marcellino, who has an intellectual disability and whose family was instrumental in passing the Maryland law…

Rosa’s Law would benefit all children “who are labeled, stigmatized, and bear a burden the rest of their lives because of the language we use in the law books,” Mikulski said in her floor statement when she introduced the bill.