II 110th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 1592 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES June 12, 2007 Mr. Brown (for himself, Mr. Voinovich, Mr. Obama, and Mr. Alexander) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To reauthorize the Underground Railroad Educational and Cultural Program.

1.

Underground railroad educational and cultural program

(a)

Program established

The Secretary of Education, in consultation and cooperation with the Secretary of the Interior, is authorized to make grants to 1 or more nonprofit educational organizations that are established to research, display, interpret, and collect artifacts relating to the history of the Underground Railroad. (b)

Grant agreement

Each nonprofit educational organization awarded a grant under this section shall enter into an agreement with the Secretary of Education. Each such agreement shall require the organization— (1)to establish a facility to house, display, and interpret the artifacts related to the history of the Underground Railroad, and to make the interpretive efforts available to institutions of higher education that award a baccalaureate or graduate degree; (2)to demonstrate substantial private support for the facility through the implementation of a public-private partnership between a State or local public entity and a private entity for the support of the facility, which private entity shall provide matching funds for the support of the facility in an amount equal to 4 times the amount of the contribution of the State or local public entity, except that not more than 20 percent of the matching funds may be provided by the Federal Government; (3)to create an endowment to fund any and all shortfalls in the costs of the on-going operations of the facility; (4)to establish a network of satellite centers throughout the United States to help disseminate information regarding the Underground Railroad throughout the United States, if such satellite centers raise 80 percent of the funds required to establish the satellite centers from non-Federal public and private sources; (5)to establish the capability to electronically link the facility with other local and regional facilities that have collections and programs that interpret the history of the Underground Railroad; and (6)to submit, for each fiscal year for which the organization receives funding under this section, a report to the Secretary of Education that contains— (A)a description of the programs and activities supported by the funding; (B)the audited financial statement of the organization for the preceding fiscal year; (C)a plan for the programs and activities to be supported by the funding as the Secretary may require; and (D)an evaluation of the programs and activities supported by the funding as the Secretary may require. (c)

Authorization of appropriations

There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $6,000,000 for fiscal year 2008, $6,000,000 for fiscal year 2009, $6,000,000 for fiscal year 2010, $3,000,000 for fiscal year 2011, and $3,000,000 for fiscal year 2012.