[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4126 Introduced in House (IH)]
106th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 4126
To authorize funding for the expansion annex of the historic Palace of
the Governors, a public history museum located, and relating to the
history of Hispanic and Native American culture, in the Southwest, and
for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 29, 2000
Mr. Udall of New Mexico (for himself, Mrs. Wilson, Ms. Roybal-Allard,
Mr. Romero-Barcelo, Ms. Velazquez, Mr. Gonzalez, Mr. Hinojosa, Mr.
Reyes, and Mr. Baca) introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on Resources
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize funding for the expansion annex of the historic Palace of
the Governors, a public history museum located, and relating to the
history of Hispanic and Native American culture, in the Southwest, 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 ``Palace of the Governors Expansion Act''.
SEC. 2. CONSTRUCTION OF PALACE OF THE GOVERNORS EXPANSION.
(a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The United States has an enriched legacy of Hispanic
influence in politics, government, economic development, and
cultural expression.
(2) The Palace of the Governors has been the center of
administrative and cultural activity over a vast region of the
Southwest since its construction as New Mexico's second capitol
in Santa Fe by Governor Pedro de Peralta in 1610.
(3) The Palace of the Governors is the oldest continuously
occupied public building in the United States and has been
occupied for 390 years.
(4) Since its creation, the Museum of New Mexico has worked
to protect and promote Southwest, Hispanic, and Native American
arts and crafts.
(5) The Palace of the Governors is the history division of
the Museum of New Mexico and was once proposed by Teddy
Roosevelt to be part of the Smithsonian Museum and known as the
``Smithsonian West.''
(6) The Museum has a extensive and priceless collection of
the following:
(A) Spanish Colonial and Iberian Colonial
paintings, including the Sagesser Hyde paintings on
buffalo hide dating back to 1706.
(B) Pre-Columbian Art.
(C) Historic artifacts including the following:
(i) Helmets and armor worn by the Don Juan
Onate expedition conquistadors who established
the first capital in the United States, San
Juan de los Caballeros, in July of 1598.
(ii) The Vara Stick used to measure land
grants and other real property boundaries in
Dona Ana County, New Mexico.
(iii) The Columbus, New Mexico Railway
Station clock that was shot, stopping the
pendulum, freezing for all history the moment
when Pancho Villa's raid began, which marks the
beginning of the last invasion of the
continental United States.
(iv) The field desk of Brigadier General
Stephen Watts Kearny who was posted to New
Mexico during the Mexican War and whose Army of
the West traveled the Santa Fe trail to occupy
the territories of New Mexico and California.
(v) More than 800,000 other historic
photographs, guns, costumes, maps, books and
handicrafts.
(7) The Palace of the Governors and the Sagesser Hyde
paintings were designated National Treasures by the National
Trust for Historic Preservation.
(8) The facilities both for exhibiting and storage of this
irreplaceable collection are so totally inadequate and
dangerously unsuitable that there existence is endangered and
their preservation is in jeopardy.
(b) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Annex.--The terms ``Palace of the Governors Expansion
Annex'' and ``Annex'' mean the Palace of the Governors, Museum
of New Mexico addition to be located directly behind the
historic Palace of the Governors building at 110 Lincoln
Avenue, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
(2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of the Interior.
(c) Construction of the Annex.--Subject to the availability of
appropriations, the Secretary shall award a grant to the State of New
Mexico to pay for the Federal share of the costs of the final design,
construction, furnishing, and equipping of the Palace of the Governors
Expansion Annex.
(d) Grant Requirements.--
(1) In general.--In order to receive a grant awarded under
subsection (c), the State of New Mexico, acting through the
Office of Cultural Affairs of the State--
(A) shall submit to the Secretary, within 30 days
of the date of enactment of this section, a copy of the
architectural blueprints for the Palace of the
Governors Expansion Annex.
(B) shall exercise due diligence to obtain an
appropriation from the New Mexico State Legislature for
at least $8,000,000 for the design, construction,
furnishing, and equipping of the Annex.
(C) shall exercise due diligence to expeditiously
execute a memorandum of understanding recognizing that
time is of the essence for the construction for the
Annex because 2010 marks the 400th anniversary of the
continuous occupation and use of the Palace of the
Governors.
(2) Memorandum of understanding.--The memorandum of
understanding described in paragraph (1) shall provide--
(A) the date of completion of the construction of
the Annex.
(B) that Office of Cultural Affairs shall award the
contract for construction of the Annex in accordance
with the New Mexico Procurement Code; and
(C) that the contract for the construction of the
Annex shall be awarded pursuant to a competitive
bidding process.
(3) Federal share.--The Federal share of the costs
described in subsection (c) shall be 50 percent.
(4) Non-federal share.--The non-Federal share of the costs
described in section (c) shall be in cash or in kind fairly
evaluated, including land, art and artifact collections, plant,
equipment, or services. The non-Federal share shall include any
contribution received by the State of New Mexico for the
design, land acquisition, library acquisition, library
renovation, Palace of the Governors conservation, and
construction, furnishing, equipping of the Annex, or donations
of art collections to the Museum of New Mexico prior to the
date of enactment of this section. The non-Federal share of the
costs described in subsection (c) shall include the following:
(A) Cost of the land at 110 Lincoln Avenue, Santa
Fe, New Mexico.
(B) Library acquisition expenditures.
(C) Library renovation expenditures.
(D) Palace conservation expenditures.
(E) New Mexico Foundation and other endowment
funds.
(F) Donations of art collections or other
artifacts.
(e) Use of Funds for Construction--Furnishing and Equipment.--
Subject to funds being appropriated, the funds received under a grant
awarded under subsection (c) shall be used only for the final design,
construction, management, inspection, furnishing, and equipment of the
Annex.
(f) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be
appropriated to the Secretary to award the grant described in
subsection (c) a total of $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2001 and
succeeding fiscal years. Funds appropriated pursuant to this
authorization of appropriations shall remain available until the grant
is awarded, but the authority of the Secretary to award the grant is
conditioned upon the New Mexico State legislature appropriating at
least $8,000,000 as provided in subsection (d)(1)(B) before January 1,
2010, and other non-Federal sources providing enough funds, when
combined with the New Mexico State legislature appropriations, to
ensure that the grant is based on a fifty-fifty match.
<all>