[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3976 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3976

 To amend the Act establishing the Gateway National Recreation Area to 
 provide for the management of Fort Wadsworth by the Secretary of the 
                   Interior, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 8, 1994

 Ms. Molinari introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Act establishing the Gateway National Recreation Area to 
 provide for the management of Fort Wadsworth by the Secretary of the 
                   Interior, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. AMENDMENT OF ACT ESTABLISHING GATEWAY NATIONAL RECREATION 
              AREA.

    (a) Statement of Purposes.--The first section of the Act entitled 
``An Act to establish the Gateway National Recreation Area in the 
States of New York, and New Jersey, and for other purposes'', approved 
October 27, 1972 (16 U.S.C. 460cc), is amended by inserting the 
following after the first sentence: ``In addition, the Secretary may 
utilize the resources of Fort Wadsworth in the Staten Island Unit, Fort 
Hancock in the Sandy Hook Unit, and Floyd Bennett Field in the Jamaica 
Bay and Breezy Point Units of the recreation area to provide for and 
support programs and activities that foster research, education, and 
demonstration projects concerning the environment, international 
affairs, cultural understanding, and health and science. The Secretary 
may also utilize the resources of Fort Wadsworth for any other purposes 
consistent with the community reuse plan or other initiatives for Naval 
Station New York, and is encouraged to do so to the greatest extent 
possible.''.
    (b) Administration.--Section 3 of such Act (16 U.S.C. 460cc-2) is 
amended by adding the following new subsection at the end thereof:
    ``(j)(1) In addition to other available authorities, the Secretary 
may, in his discretion, negotiate and enter into leases or other 
agreements, as appropriate, with any person, firm, association, 
organization, corporation, or governmental entity for the use of any 
property within Fort Wadsworth, Fort Hancock, and Floyd Bennett Field 
in accordance with the general management plan or for any of the 
purposes set forth in the first section of this Act. The Secretary may 
further, in his discretion, negotiate and enter into leases or other 
agreements, as appropriate, with any Federal agency to house employees 
of the agency engaged in activities or programs at Fort Wadsworth, Fort 
Hancock, Floyd Bennett Field or in the New York City metropolitan area.
    ``(2) In addition to other available authorities, the Secretary 
may, in his discretion, enter into interagency permitting agreements or 
other appropriate agreements with the Secretary of Defense, Secretary 
of Transportation, and other Federal agencies to locate their 
activities and house their employees at Fort Wadsworth, Fort Hancock, 
and Floyd Bennett Field.
    ``(3) Any leases or other appropriate agreements entered into under 
this subsection shall be subject to such procedures, terms, conditions, 
and restrictions as the Secretary deems necessary. Leases shall be 
entered into at fair market value, which shall be calculated taking 
into account the uses permitted by the general management plan or under 
this Act. The preceding sentence shall not apply to (A) any interagency 
permitting agreement entered into between the Secretary and the 
Secretary of Defense or other Federal agencies regarding the location 
of activities or housing of employees at Fort Wadsworth, Fort Hancock, 
and Floyd Bennett Field; (B) leases entered into in accordance with a 
community reuse plan for Naval Station New York; (C) any lease or use 
agreement entered into with any State or local governmental unit or 
instrumentality for a public purpose; or (D) leases entered into with 
nonprofit organizations.
    ``(4) The Secretary shall establish competitive bidding procedures 
to be used for the issuance of leases under this section. For leases 
and other appropriate agreements under this subsection, the Secretary 
may waive any requirement of any law or regulation otherwise applicable 
to the leasing of Federal properties if the Secretary determines that 
such waiver is necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act. The 
Secretary shall provide written notice of any such waiver to the United 
States Congress. The notice to Congress shall contain an explanation of 
the reasons for such determination.
    ``(5) The proceeds from leases under this subsection, and from 
concession and other use authorizations and from other services that 
may be provided by the recreation area under this subsection, shall be 
retained by the Secretary and be credited to the appropriation bearing 
the cost of preservation, restoration, maintenance, improvement, 
repair, and related expenses including administration of the above, 
incurred by the Secretary with respect to Fort Wadsworth, Fort Hancock, 
and Floyd Bennett Field properties, with the balance used to defray 
other costs incurred by the Secretary in the administration of Fort 
Wadsworth, Fort Hancock, and Floyd Bennett Field.
    ``(6) Each lessee and sublessee of a lease entered into under this 
subsection shall keep such records as the Secretary may prescribe to 
enable the Secretary to determine that all terms of the lease or 
sublease have been and are being faithfully performed. The Secretary 
and the Comptroller General of the United States and their duly 
authorized representatives shall, for the purpose of audit and 
examination, have access to all records and to other books, documents, 
and papers of the lessee and sublessee pertinent to the lease or 
sublease and all the terms and conditions thereof.
    ``(7) The Secretary shall annually prepare and submit to Congress a 
report on property leased under this subsection.
    ``(8) In addition to other available authorities, the Secretary 
may, in his discretion, enter into cooperative agreements and permits 
for any of the purposes of the recreation area set out in the first 
section of this Act.''.

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