[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 75 (Thursday, June 15, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1030]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




INTRODUCTION OF LEGISLATION TO GRANT FEDERAL CONSENT TO THE KANSAS AND 
             MISSOURI METROPOLITAN CULTURE DISTRICT COMPACT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. KAREN McCARTHY

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 15, 2000

  Ms. McCARTHY of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, today I announce my intention 
to introduce legislation to grant the consent of the Congress to the 
Kansas and Missouri Metropolitan Culture District Compact, a successful 
project I have worked on for over a decade.
  In 1987 1 sponsored enabling legislation in the Missouri House of 
Representatives to establish a bi-state cultural district for the 
Kansas City metropolitan area of five counties in Western Missouri and 
Eastern Kansas. This unique effort in our nation provides a secure 
source of local funding for metropolitan cooperation across state lines 
to restore historic structures and cultural facilities. Through the 
next seven years I worked closely with my counterparts in the Kansas 
State Legislature, the Mid-America Regional Council, KC Consensus, and 
civic leaders and elected officials to secure State and Federal 
approval. When the Bi-State Metropolitan Cultural District Compact was 
finally sent to the U.S. Congress for authorization in 1994, 1 appeared 
in Washington, D.C. in support of passage of this Compact, along with 
my co-sponsor, Missouri State Senator Harry Wiggins.
  I am proud to seek approval of the continuation of the Kansas and 
Missouri Metropolitan Culture District Compact. Approval of new State 
and Federal legislation to extend the Compact is necessary for three 
reasons. First, the existing Bi-state Contract sunsets at the end of 
the 2001 which means the local revenue stream will end unless new 
legislation extends the authority. Second, the new Contract expands the 
cultural definition to include sports facilities important to the 
region. Finally, with the consolidation of the governments of the City 
of Kansas City, Kansas and Wyandotte County into the unified 
government, the Kansas representation on the Bi-State Board was 
decreased by two Board Members. Consequently, Missouri currently has an 
advance of two votes. The new law corrects this inequity so that 
membership on the Board is balanced with half of the Members from each 
state.
  Over the past four years the Greater Kansas City area has seen the 
successes of the original Compact. It has made possible the restoration 
of Union Station which is one of the Midwest's greatest historic 
landmarks and the largest preservation project currently underway in 
the United States. The restoration project has been a unique example of 
a bi-state, private-public, local-federal partnership. Continuation of 
the Compact will allow the metropolitan area to further this productive 
alignment for successful arts and cultural initiatives in the region, 
and I expect more will be done in Kansas using the revenue in the next 
phase of the Compact.
  Mr. Speaker, I am requesting the House join me in supporting this 
worthwhile and successful effort in our districts by granting federal 
consent of the Kansas and Missouri Metropolitan Culture District 
Compact.

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