[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4448 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4448

To amend the Act establishing Lowell National Historical Park, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 18, 1994

  Mr. Meehan introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Act establishing Lowell National Historical Park, 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. AMENDMENTS.

    (a) In General.--This Act entitled ``An Act to provide for the 
establishment of the Lowell National Historical Park in the 
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and for other purposes'' approved June 
5, 1978 (92 Stat. 290; 16 U.S.C. 410cc et seq.), is amended as follows:
            (1) In section 1(b), by striking ``to preserve and 
        interpret'' and inserting ``to preserve, interpret, and 
        promote''.
            (2) In section 103(a)(2), by striking ``$33,600,000'' and 
        inserting ``$43,930,000''.
            (3) In section 201(b), by adding at the end thereof the 
        following new paragraph.
            ``(3) The Secretary shall submit to the Congress a revised 
        park management plan within 2 years after the date of enactment 
        of this paragraph.''.
            (4) In section 203, by adding at the end thereof the 
        following new subsection:
    ``(c) The Secretary, acting through the National Park Service, 
shall assume all responsibilities for administration and oversight of 
the loan and grant agreements under section 303 of this Act as were 
previously ascribed to the Commission, upon its termination.''.
            (5) In section 205, by adding at the end thereof the 
        following new subsections:
    ``(e) Any revenues or other assets acquired by the Secretary by 
donation, the lease or sale of property or fees for services shall be 
available to the Secretary, without fiscal year limitation, to be used 
for any function of the Secretary authorized under this Act. The 
Secretary shall keep financial records fully disclosing the amount and 
source of revenues and other assets acquired by the Secretary.
    ``(f) The Secretary shall provide for audits of the financial 
records of the park to be conducted not less frequently than once each 
year in order to ensure that revenues and other assets of the park are 
being used in a manner authorized under this Act.''.
            (6) In section 301(i), by striking ``seventeen'' and 
        inserting ``twenty-two''.
            (7) In section 303(a), by amending paragraph (1) to read as 
        follows:
            ``(1) The loan to the corporation shall have a maturity of 
        thirty-five years. At the end of such period, the corporation 
        shall repay to the Secretary of the Treasury (in a lump sum) 
        for deposit in the general fund of the Treasury the full amount 
        of the loan and any additional amounts accruing to the 
        corporation pursuant to this subsection excepting principal and 
        interest losses occasioned by loan defaults after all 
        reasonable efforts at collection have been completed plus those 
        amounts expended by the Corporation for reasonable 
        administrative expenses. The Commission is further authorized 
        to renegotiate the terms and conditions respecting loan 
        repayment of the agreement dated December 8, 1980, with the 
        Lowell Development and Financial Corporation.''.
            (8) In section 305(g), by inserting before the period at 
        the end thereof ``for administration by the National Park 
        Service in accordance with the general management plan''.
            (9) By adding after section 307 the following:

                          ``advisory committee

    ``Sec. 308. (a) Upon the termination of the Commission on the date 
specified in section 301(i), the Secretary shall establish a committee 
to be known as the Lowell National Historical Park Advisory Committee 
(hereinafter in this section referred to as the `Advisory Committee').
    ``(b) The Advisory Committee shall be composed of 15 members 
appointed by the Secretary as follows:
            ``(1) Three members who are members of the city council of 
        Lowell, appointed from recommendations made by the mayor of 
        Lowell.
            ``(2) Four members appointed from recommendations made by 
        the city manager of Lowell of persons who are representative of 
        organized labor, the business community, local neighborhoods, 
        and cultural institutions, and who are not elected officials.
            ``(3) One member appointed from recommendations made by the 
        Lowell Historical Society.
            ``(4) One member appointed from recommendations made by the 
        chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.
            ``(5) Three members appointed from recommendations made by 
        the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts of persons 
        who must be employees of the Massachusetts Historical 
        Commission, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and the 
        Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management.
            ``(6) One member appointed from recommendations made by the 
        New England Foundation for the Arts.
            ``(7) One member appointed from recommendations made by the 
        National Trust for Historic Preservation.
            ``(8) One member qualified to serve on the Commission 
        because of his or her familiarity with programs of the 
        Department of the Interior involving national parks and 
        historic preservation and who shall be an employee of the 
        Cultural Resources Center of the National Park Service.
    ``(c) The Advisory Committee shall designate one of its members as 
Chairperson.
    ``(d) Eight members of the Advisory Committee shall constitute a 
quorum. The Advisory Committee shall act and advise by affirmative vote 
of a majority of the members voting at a meeting at which a quorum is 
present. The Advisory Committee shall meet on a regular basis. Notice 
of meetings and agenda shall be published in local newspapers which 
have a distribution which generally covers the area affected by the 
park and preservation district. Advisory Committee meetings shall be 
held at locations and in such a manner as to ensure adequate public 
involvement.
    ``(e) The Advisory Committee shall advise the Secretary on the 
operation, maintenance, development, and programming of the park and 
preservation district.
    ``(f) In order to provide staff support and technical services to 
assist the Advisory Committee in carrying out its duties under this 
Act, upon request of the Advisory Committee, the Secretary of the 
Interior is authorized to detail any personnel of the National Park 
Service to the Advisory Committee.
    ``(g) Members of the Advisory Committee shall serve without 
compensation but shall be entitled to travel expenses, including per 
diem in lieu of subsistence, in the same manner as persons employed 
intermittently in Government service under section 5703 of title 5, 
United States Code.
    ``(h) The provisions of section 14(b) of the Federal Advisory 
Committee Act (5 U.S.C. Appendix; 86 Stat. 776), are hereby waived with 
respect to the Advisory Committee.
    ``(i) Any vacancy in the Advisory Committee shall be filled in the 
same manner in which the original appointment was made. Any member may 
serve after the expiration of his term until his successor is 
appointed.''.
    (b) General Effective Date.--Except as provided in subsection (c), 
the amendments made by subsection (a) shall take effect on the date of 
the enactment of this Act.
    (c) Effective Date of Authorization of Appropriation.--The 
amendment made by subsection (a)(2) shall take effect on October 1, 
1994.

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