[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 164 (Monday, December 13, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8960-S8961]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                KINGMAN AND HERITAGE ISLANDS ACT OF 2010

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 6278, which was received 
from the House and is at the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 6278) to amend the National Children's Island 
     Act of 1995 to expand allowable uses for Kingman and Heritage 
     Islands by the District of Columbia, and for other purposes.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Madam President, I rise today to speak about the 
Kingman and Heritage Islands Act of 2010, H.R. 6278. In particular, I 
wish to describe the legislative history and intent of this act. 
Earlier this year, essentially identical legislation, H.R. 2092, passed 
the House and the Senate but has not been enacted for reasons that I 
will address in this statement. Therefore, the House and Senate 
committee reports describing H.R. 2092 should be referenced as 
applicable legislative history for H.R. 6278.
  D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton introduced H.R. 2092, The Kingman 
and Heritage Islands Act of 2009, on April 23, 2009. The bill was 
considered by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on 
September 10, 2009, and ordered reported favorably with an amendment. 
On October 7, 2009, H.R. 2092 passed the House of Representatives under 
suspension of the rules and the subsequent day, H.R. 2092 was referred 
to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The 
committee considered the bill on May 17, 2010, and ordered the bill 
reported to the full Senate with one amendment. On September 27, 2010, 
the Senate passed H.R. 2092 by unanimous consent. Due to a mistake, 
however, the version that the Senate passed on September 27 contained a 
few drafting errors and did not reflect all of the modifications that 
our committee had intended.
  Rather than seek the enactment of the Senate-passed version of H.R. 
2092, and in order to avoid any confusion among the government entities 
responsible for implementing the bill, Delegate Norton subsequently 
introduced H.R. 6278 with the support of the chairman and ranking 
member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. H.R. 
6278 consists of the text of H.R. 2092 as my committee had amended it 
and intended it to pass in the Senate. Delegate Norton introduced H.R. 
6278 on September 29, 2010, and it passed the House of Representatives 
on November 16, 2010, under suspension of the rules. After being 
received in the Senate, the bill was held at the desk and today it will 
pass the Senate by unanimous consent.
  Because neither the relevant House nor Senate committee had the 
opportunity to file committee reports describing H.R. 6278, the 
committee reports describing H.R. 2092 should be considered as 
applicable legislative history for this bill. The report filed by the 
House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform report is House 
Report 111-275 and the report filed by the Senate Committee on Homeland 
Security and Governmental Affairs is Senate Report 111-300. In the 
remainder of my statement I further describe the background and intent 
of the legislation.
  The Kingman and Heritage Islands Act of 2010 would allow the District 
of Columbia to use all of Heritage Island and portions of Kingman 
Island--the Islands--for recreational, environmental and educational 
uses. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers created Kingman and Heritage 
Islands in the District of Columbia from sediment dredged from the 
Anacostia River.
  Until the enactment in 1996 of the National Children's Island Act of 
1995--the act--the National Park Service held administrative 
jurisdiction on both islands. The act required the Federal Government 
to transfer title of the islands to the District of Columbia for use as 
a children's recreational park. It also mandated that title to the 
islands would revert back to the Federal Government if the District did 
not use the land in a manner consistent with the purposes specified in 
the act. The Secretary of the Interior transferred title of the Islands 
to the District via quitclaim deed in January 1997. In 2000, the 
Secretary of Interior wrote the District a letter stating that the 
District had fully lived up to the letter and spirit of the act and 
that DC should retain title to the Islands.
  DC has not developed a children's recreational park on the Islands, 
and since that time, it has re-evaluated its

[[Page S8961]]

needs and interests and no longer seeks to use the Islands for that 
purpose. In 2003, in accordance with a memorandum of understanding 
between DC and several Federal agencies, including the NPS, the 
District developed the Anacostia Waterfront Framework Plan--Waterfront 
Plan--to redevelop and revitalize the Anacostia waterfront. The 
Waterfront Plan envisions using the islands for nature-themed 
exhibitions and educational projects. The District also has developed a 
Comprehensive Plan to serve as a general policy document to provide 
overall guidance for future planning and development in DC.
  Recently, the District has taken steps toward implementing the 
Waterfront Plan. In the summer of 2007, the Anacostia Waterfront 
Corporation, now part of the DC Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning 
and Economic Development, partnered with a number of other 
organizations to begin using the Islands to host environmental programs 
and cleanup. Since May 2008, Living Classrooms, a nonprofit educational 
organization with a focus on experiential learning, has been managing 
the islands and running programs there, including educational 
programming and volunteer events aimed at restoring the Islands.
  To ensure that the activities DC has authorized do not raise any 
questions about its title to the Islands, the District has asked 
Congress to amend the act to sanction the broader work now occurring on 
the Islands. H.R. 6278 would do just that, by amending the National 
Children's Island Act in order to allow the District to conduct 
recreational, environmental and educational activities on the Islands, 
consistent with the Waterfront Plan and the District's Comprehensive 
Plan. If any portion of the land is used for an activity that is not 
recreational, environmental or educational, the reversionary process as 
outlined in the bill could begin.
  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be 
read three times and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the 
table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements 
relating to the bill be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (H.R. 6278) was ordered to a third reading, was read the 
third time, and passed.

                          ____________________