Short title

This Act may be cited as the

National Historic Preservation Act Amendments of 2006

Historic Preservation Officer responsibilities

Section 101(b) of the National Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 470a(b)) is amended by adding at the end the following:

(7)The State Historic Preservation Officer shall have no authority to require an applicant for Federal assistance, permit, or license to identify historic properties outside the undertaking’s area of potential effects as determined by the Federal agency in accordance with the regulations implementing section 106. (8)If the State Historic Preservation Officer, Tribal representative, or Tribal Historic Preservation Officer fails to respond within 30 days after an adequately documented finding of no historic properties affected or no adverse effect as provided in the regulations implementing section 106, the Federal agency may assume that the State Historic Preservation Officer or Tribal Historic Preservation Officer has no objection to the finding.

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 any 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).

Historic preservation fund

Section 108 of the National Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 470h) is amended by striking 2005 and inserting 2015.

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 the Act (16 U.S.C. 470t(a)) is amended by striking for purposes of this title not to exceed $4,000,000 for each fiscal year 1997 through 2005 and inserting such amounts as may be necessary to carry out this title.

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:

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.