[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2344 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2344

  To establish the Lower East Side Tenement Museum National Historic 
                     Site, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 14, 1995

 Ms. Velazquez (for herself and Ms. Molinari) introduced the following 
         bill; which was referred to the Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To establish the Lower East Side Tenement Museum National Historic 
                     Site, 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 ``Lower East Side Tenement Museum 
National Historic Site Act of 1995''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) the Lower East Side Tenement Museum at 97 Orchard 
        Street is an outstanding survivor of the vast number of humble 
        buildings that housed immigrants to New York City during the 
        greatest wave of immigration in American history;
            (2) the Museum is well suited to represent a profound 
        social movement involving great numbers of unexceptional but 
        courageous people;
            (3) no single identifiable neighborhood in the United 
        States absorbed a comparable number of immigrants;
            (4) the Lower East Side Tenement Museum is dedicated to 
        interpreting immigrant life on the Lower East Side and its 
        importance to United States history, within a neighborhood long 
        associated with the immigrant experience in America; and
            (5) the National Park Service found the Lower East Side 
        Tenement Museum to be nationally significant, suitable, and 
        feasible for inclusion in the National Park System.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to ensure the preservation, maintenance, and 
        interpretation of this site and to interpret in the site and in 
        the surrounding neighborhood, the themes of early tenement 
        life, the housing reform movement, and tenement architecture in 
        the United States;
            (2) to ensure the continuation of the Museum at this site, 
        the preservation of which is necessary for the continued 
        interpretation of the nationally significant immigrant 
        phenomenon associated with the New York City's Lower East Side, 
        and its role in the history of immigration to the United 
        States; and
            (3) to enhance the interpretation of the Castle Clinton 
        National Historic Monument and Ellis Island National Historic 
        Monument through cooperation with the Museum.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    As used in this Act:
            (1) Historic site.--The term ``historic site'' means the 
        Lower East Side Tenement Museum designated as a national 
        historic site by section 4.
            (2) Museum.--The term ``Museum'' means the Lower East Side 
        Tenement Museum at 97 Orchard Street, New York City, in the 
        State of New York, and related facilities owned or operated by 
        the Museum.
            (3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of the Interior.

SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF HISTORIC SITE.

    To further the purposes of this Act and the Act entitled ``An Act 
to provide for the preservation of historic American sites, buildings, 
objects, and antiquities of national significance, and for other 
purposes'', approved August 21, 1935 (16 U.S.C. 461 et seq.), the Lower 
East Side Tenement Museum at 97 Orchard Street, in the city of New 
York, State of New York, is designated as a national historic site.

SEC. 5. ACQUISITION OR COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary may--
            (1) acquire the historic site with donated or appropriated 
        funds; or
            (2) enter into a cooperative agreement with the Lower East 
        Side Tenement Museum to carry out this Act.
    (b) Technical and Financial Assistance.--The agreement may include 
provisions by which the Secretary will provide--
            (1) technical assistance to mark, restore, interpret, 
        operate, and maintain the historic site; and
            (2) financial assistance to the Museum to acquire ownership 
        of and to maintain the historic site, or to mark, interpret, 
        and restore the historic site, including the making of 
        preservation-related capital improvements and repairs.
    (c) Additional Provisions.--The agreement may also contain 
provisions that--
            (1) permit the Secretary, acting through the National Park 
        Service, to have a right of access at all reasonable times to 
        all public portions of the property covered by the agreement 
        for the purpose of conducting visitors through the properties 
        and interpreting the portions to the public; and
            (2) prohibit changes or alterations in the properties 
        except by mutual agreement between the Secretary and the other 
        parties to the agreement.

SEC. 6. LAND ACQUISITION.

    The Secretary, through the use of appropriated funds or funds 
donated for such purpose, may assist the Museum in acquiring real 
properties that the Museum occupies or uses.

SEC. 7. APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary 
to carry out this Act.
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