[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1447 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1447

   To revise the boundaries of the Blackstone River Valley National 
  Heritage Corridor in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 6, 1995

Mr. Neal of Massachusetts (for himself, Mr. Blute, Mr. Kennedy of Rhode 
Island, and Mr. Reed) introduced the following bill; which was referred 
                     to the Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To revise the boundaries of the Blackstone River Valley National 
  Heritage Corridor in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, 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. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Blackstone River Valley National 
Heritage Corridor Amendments Act of 1995''.

SEC. 2. BOUNDARY CHANGES.

    Section 2 of the Act entitled ``An Act to establish the Blackstone 
River Valley National Heritage Corridor in Massachusetts and Rhode 
Island'', approved November 10, 1986 (Public Law 99-647; 16 U.S.C. 461 
note), is amended by striking the first sentence and inserting the 
following new sentence: ``The boundaries shall include the lands and 
water generally depicted on the map entitled Blackstone River Valley 
National Heritage Corridor Boundary Map, numbered BRV-80-80,011, and 
dated May 2, 1993.''.

SEC. 3. TERMS.

    Section 3(c) of the Act entitled ``An Act to establish the 
Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor in Massachusetts and 
Rhode Island'', approved November 10, 1986 (Public Law 99-647; 16 
U.S.C. 461 note), is amended by inserting immediately before the period 
at the end the following: ``, but may continue to serve after the 
expiration of this term until a successor has been appointed''.

SEC. 4. REVISION OF PLAN.

    Section 6 of the Act entitled ``An Act to establish the Blackstone 
River Valley National Heritage Corridor in Massachusetts and Rhode 
Island'', approved November 10, 1986 (Public Law 99-647; 16 U.S.C. 461 
note), is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(d) Revision of Plan.--(1) Not later than 1 year after the date 
of enactment of this subsection, the Commission, with the approval of 
the Secretary, shall revise the Cultural Heritage and Land Management 
Plan. The revision shall address the boundary change and shall include 
a natural resource inventory of areas or features that should be 
protected, restored, managed, or acquired because of their contribution 
to the understanding of national cultural landscape values.
    ``(2) No changes other than minor revisions may be made in the 
approved plan as amended without the approval of the Secretary. The 
Secretary shall approve or disapprove any proposed change in the plan, 
except minor revisions, in accordance with subsection (b).''.

SEC. 5. EXTENSION OF COMMISSION.

    Section 7 of the Act entitled ``An Act to establish the Blackstone 
River Valley National Heritage Corridor in Massachusetts and Rhode 
Island'', approved November 10, 1986 (Public Law 99-647; 16 U.S.C. 461 
note), is amended to read as follows:

                      ``termination of commission

    ``Sec. 7. (a) Termination.--Except as provided in subsection (b), 
the Commission shall terminate on the date that is 10 years after the 
date of enactment of the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage 
Corridor Amendments Act of 1995.
    ``(b) Extension.--The Commission may be extended for an additional 
term of 10 years if--
            ``(1) not later than 180 days before the termination of the 
        Commission, the Commission determines that an extension is 
        necessary to carry out this Act;
            ``(2) the Commission submits a proposed extension to the 
        appropriate committees of the Senate and the House of 
        Representatives; and
            ``(3) the Secretary, the Governor of Massachusetts, and the 
        Governor of Rhode Island each approve the extension.
    ``(c) Determination of Approval.--The Secretary shall approve the 
extension if the Secretary finds that--
            ``(1) the Governor of Massachusetts and the Governor of 
        Rhode Island provide adequate assurances of continued tangible 
        contribution and effective policy support toward achieving the 
        purposes of this Act; and
            ``(2) the Commission is effectively assisting Federal, 
        State, and local authorities to retain, enhance, and interpret 
        the distinctive character and nationally significant resources 
        of the Corridor.''.

SEC. 6. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PLAN.

    Subsection (c) of section 8 of the Act entitled ``An Act to 
establish the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor in 
Massachusetts and Rhode Island'', approved November 10, 1986 (Public 
Law 99-647; 16 U.S.C. 461 note), is amended to read as follows:
    ``(c) Implementation.--(1) To assist in the implementation of the 
Cultural Heritage and Land Management Plan in a manner consistent with 
purposes of this Act, the Secretary is authorized to undertake a 
limited program of financial assistance for the purpose of providing 
funds for the preservation and restoration of structures on or eligible 
for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places within the 
Corridor which exhibit national significance or provide a wide spectrum 
of historic, recreational, or environmental education opportunities to 
the general public.
    ``(2) To be eligible for funds under this section, the Commission 
shall submit an application to the Secretary that includes--
            ``(A) a 10-year development plan including those resource 
        protection needs and projects critical to maintaining or 
        interpreting the distinctive character of the Corridor; and
            ``(B) specific descriptions of annual work programs that 
        have been assembled, the participating parties, roles, cost 
        estimates, cost-sharing, or cooperative agreements necessary to 
        carry out the development plan.
    ``(3) Funds made available pursuant to this subsection shall not 
exceed 50 percent of the total cost of the work programs.
    ``(4) In making the funds available, the Secretary shall give 
priority to projects that attract greater non-Federal funding sources.
    ``(5) Any payment made for the purposes of conservation or 
restoration of real property or structures shall be subject to an 
agreement either--
            ``(A) to convey a conservation or preservation easement to 
        the Department of Environmental Management or to the Historic 
        Preservation Commission, as appropriate, of the State in which 
        the real property or structure is located; or
            ``(B) that conversion, use, or disposal of the resources so 
        assisted for purposes contrary to the purposes of this Act, as 
        determined by the Secretary, shall result in a right of the 
        United States for reimbursement of all funds expended upon such 
        resources or the proportion of the increased value of the 
        resources attributable to such funds as determined at the time 
        of such conversion, use, or disposal, whichever is greater.
    ``(6) The authority to determine that a conversion, use, or 
disposal of resources has been carried out contrary to the purposes of 
this Act in violation of an agreement entered into under paragraph 
(5)(A) shall be solely at the discretion of the Secretary.''.

SEC. 7. LOCAL AUTHORITY.

    Section 5 of the Act entitled ``An Act to establish the Blackstone 
River Valley National Heritage Corridor in Massachusetts and Rhode 
Island'', approved November 10, 1986 (Public Law 99-647; 16 U.S.C. 461 
note), is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(j) Local Authority and Private Property Not Affected.--Nothing 
in this Act shall be construed to affect or to authorize the Commission 
to interfere with--
            ``(1) the rights of any person with respect to private 
        property; or
            ``(2) any local zoning ordinance or land use plan of the 
        Commonwealth of Massachusetts or a political subdivision of 
        such Commonwealth.''.

SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    Section 10 of the Act entitled ``An Act to establish the Blackstone 
River Valley National Heritage Corridor in Massachusetts and Rhode 
Island'', approved November 10, 1986 (Public Law 99-647; 16 U.S.C. 461 
note), as amended, is further amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), by striking ``$350,000'' and 
        inserting ``$650,000''; and
            (2) by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:
    ``(b) Development Funds.--For fiscal years 1996, 1997, and 1998, 
there is authorized to be appropriated to carry out section 8(c), 
$5,000,000 in the aggregate.''.
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