[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5861 Introduced in House (IH)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5861

    To amend the National Historic Preservation Act, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 20, 2006

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the National Historic Preservation Act, 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 ``National Historic Preservation Act 
Amendments of 2006''.

SEC. 2. DETERMINATION OF ELIGIBILITY.

    The text of section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act 
(16 U.S.C. 470f) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(a) A Federal agency shall not require an applicant for Federal 
assistance, licenses, or permits to take into account the effects of a 
Federal undertaking that occur outside the area of potential effects as 
determined by the Federal agency in accordance with the regulations 
implementing this section.
    ``(b) If a State Historic Preservation Officer or a Tribal Historic 
Preservation Officer fail to concur within 30 days of receipt of an 
adequately documented finding of either `no historic properties 
affected' or `no adverse effect', as provided in the regulations 
implementing this Act, the applicant or agency may proceed with the 
undertaking in accordance with the findings.''.

SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL CRITERIA FOR CERTIFICATION OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS TO 
              CARRY OUT NATIONAL HISTORIC PRESERVATION ACT.

    Section 101(c)(1) of the National Historic Preservation Act (16 
U.S.C. 470a(c)(1)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of subparagraph (D);
            (2) by redesignating subparagraph (E) as subparagraph (F);
            (3) by inserting after subparagraph (D) the following new 
        subparagraph:
                    ``(E) agrees that it shall not use any eligibility 
                determination regarding the inclusion of property or 
                District on the National Register to initiate local 
                regulatory requirements unless the entity provides full 
                due process protection to the owner or owners of the 
                property or District through a hearing process; and''; 
                and
            (4) in the matter below the subparagraphs, by striking 
        ``through (E)'' and inserting ``through (F)''.

SEC. 4. HISTORIC PRESERVATION FUND.

    Section 108 of the National Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 
470h) is amended by striking ``2006'' and inserting ``2015''.

SEC. 5. ADVISORY COUNCIL ON HISTORIC PRESERVATION.

    (a) Membership.--Section 201 of the National Historic Preservation 
Act (16 U.S.C. 470i) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(4), by striking ``four'' and 
        inserting ``seven'';
            (2) in subsection (b), by striking ``(5) and (6)'' and 
        inserting ``paragraph (6)''; and
            (3) in subsection (f), by striking ``Nine'' and inserting 
        ``Eleven''.
    (b) Financial and Administrative Services.--Section 205(f) of such 
Act (16 U.S.C. 470m(f)) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(f) Financial and administrative services (including those 
related to budgeting, accounting, financial reporting, personnel and 
procurement) shall be provided the Council by the Department of the 
Interior or, at the discretion of the Council, such other agency or 
private entity that reaches an agreement with the Council, for which 
payments shall be made in advance or by reimbursement from funds of the 
Council in such amounts as may be agreed upon by the Chairman of the 
Council and the head of the agency or, in the case of a private entity, 
the authorized representative of the private entity that will provide 
the services. When a Federal agency affords such services, the 
regulations of that agency for the collection of indebtedness of 
personnel resulting from erroneous payments, prescribed under section 
5514(b) of title 5, United States Code, shall apply to the collection 
of erroneous payments made to or on behalf of a Council employee, and 
regulations of that agency for the administrative control of funds 
under sections 1513(d) and 1514 of title 31, United States Code, shall 
apply to appropriations of the Council. The Council shall not be 
required to prescribe such regulations.''.
    (c) Authorization of Appropriations.--Section 212(a) of such Act 
(16 U.S.C. 470t(a)) is amended by striking ``in each fiscal year 1997 
through 2005'' and inserting ``for fiscal year 2006, $5,000,000 for 
each of the fiscal years 2007 and 2008, and $6,000,000 for each of the 
fiscal years 2009 through 2015''.

SEC. 6. EFFECTIVENESS OF FEDERAL GRANT AND ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS IN 
              MEETING PURPOSES AND POLICIES OF THE NATIONAL HISTORIC 
              PRESERVATION ACT.

    The National Historic Preservation Act is amended by inserting 
after section 215 (16 U.S.C. 470v-1) the following new section:

``SEC. 216. EFFECTIVENESS OF FEDERAL GRANT AND ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS.

    ``(a) Cooperative Agreements.--The Council may enter into a 
cooperative agreement with any Federal agency that administers a grant 
or assistance program for the purpose of improving the effectiveness of 
the administration of such program in meeting the purposes and policies 
of this Act. Such cooperative agreements may include provisions that 
modify the selection criteria for a grant or assistance program to 
further the purposes of this Act or that allow the Council to 
participate in the selection of recipients, if such provisions are not 
inconsistent with the statutory authorization and purpose of the grant 
or assistance program.
    ``(b) Review of Grant and Assistance Programs.--The Council may--
            ``(1) review the operation of any Federal grant or 
        assistance program to evaluate the effectiveness of such 
        program in meeting the purposes and policies of this Act;
            ``(2) make recommendations to the head of the Federal 
        agency that administers such program to further the consistency 
        of the program with the purposes and policies of this Act and 
        to improve its effectiveness in carrying out those purposes and 
        policies; and
            ``(3) make recommendations to the President and the 
        Congress regarding the effectiveness of Federal grant and 
        assistance programs in meeting the purposes and policies of 
        this Act, including recommendations with regard to appropriate 
        funding levels.''.
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