[House Report 104-567]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



104th Congress                                                   Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 2d Session                                                     104-567
_______________________________________________________________________


 
              SELMA TO MONTGOMERY NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL

                                _______


  May 8, 1996.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 
              State of the Union and ordered to be printed

_______________________________________________________________________


  Mr. Young of Alaska, from the Committee on Resources, submitted the 
                               following

                              R E P O R T

                        [To accompany H.R. 1129]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Resources, to whom was referred the bill 
(H.R. 1129) to amend the National Trails System Act to 
designate the route from Selma to Montgomery as a National 
Historic Trail, having considered the same, report favorably 
thereon with an amendment and recommend that the bill as 
amended do pass.
    The amendment is as follows:
    Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert in lieu 
thereof the following:

That section 5(a) of the National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 
1244(a)) is amended by adding at the end thereof the following 
new paragraph:
    ``(  ) The Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail, 
consisting of 54 miles of city streets and United States 
Highway 80 from Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church in Selma to the 
State Capitol Building in Montgomery, Alabama, traveled by 
voting rights advocates during March 1965 to dramatize the need 
for voting rights legislation, as generally described in the 
report of the Secretary of the Interior prepared pursuant to 
subsection (b) of this section entitled `Selma to Montgomery' 
and dated April 1993. Maps depicting the route shall be on file 
and available for public inspection in the Office of the 
National Park Service, Department of the Interior. The trail 
shall be administered in accordance with this Act, including 
section 7(h). The Secretary of the Interior, acting through the 
National Park Service, which shall be the lead Federal agency, 
shall cooperate with other Federal, State and local authorities 
to preserve historic sites along the route, including (but not 
limited to) the Edmund Pettus Bridge and the Brown Chapel 
A.M.E. Church.''.

                          Purpose of the Bill

    The purpose of H.R. 1129 is to designate the 54-mile route 
taken by voting rights protesters in 1965 from Selma to 
Montgomery, Alabama, as a national historic trail.

                  Background and Need for Legislation

    Although Congress enacted major civil rights acts in 1957 
and 1964, African-Americans were still denied access to the 
political process. Voting discrimination for the most part was 
caused by the government's lack of enforcement of existing 
laws. Therefore, a number of organizations became very active 
in voter registration drives. Selma, Alabama, was one area of 
concentrated effort to secure voting rights for African-
Americans.
    On March 7, 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. attempted to 
lead a voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery. However, 
as the marchers attempted to leave Selma, they encountered a 
sheriff's posse and state troopers on the Edmond Pettus Bridge. 
After first blocking the path of the marchers, law enforcement 
officials drove the marchers from the bridge in an attack which 
would later be known as ``Bloody Sunday.'' The march was 
rescheduled for March 21, when marchers were protected by an 
order from President Johnson federalizing the Alabama National 
Guard. On August 6, less than five months after the Selma to 
Montgomery march, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed into 
law.
    Historic trail designation has more typically been 
associated with westward expansion and exploration; however, 
the Selma to Montgomery route meets all of the requisite 
criteria identified in the National Trails System Act of 1968. 
The 54-mile route remains essentially unchanged from its 
appearance in 1965, except for some minor road improvements. 
Existing criteria require that in order to determine that an 
event or building is historically significant, it be at least 
50 years old or of extraordinary significance. In conducting 
the study of this trail mandated pursuant to Public Law 101-
321, the National Park Service found that the route did meet 
the test of extraordinary significance. Further, the National 
Park Service study recommended the trail be designated by 
Congress.

                            Committee Action

    H.R. 1129 was introduced on March 3, 1995, by Congressman 
John Lewis of Georgia. The bill was referred to the Committee 
on Resources, and within the Committee to the Subcommittee on 
National Parks, Forests and Lands. On September 19, 1995, the 
Subcommittee held a hearing on H.R. 1129. On December 19, 1995, 
the Subcommittee met to mark up H.R. 1129. Congressman James V. 
Hansen offered an amendment in the nature of a substitute to 
clarify that the Selma to Montgomery Trail would not be added 
to the National Park System; the amendment was adopted by voice 
vote. The bill was then ordered favorably reported to the Full 
Committee. On March 28, 1996, the Full Resources Committee met 
to consider H.R. 1129. The bill, as amended, was ordered 
favorably reported to the House of Representatives by voice 
vote in the presence of a quorum.

                      Section-by-Section Analysis

    The legislation provides for the route from Selma to 
Montgomery, Alabama, to be designated as a National Historic 
Trail. The route taken by marchers on March 21, 1965, as 
depicted in the study prepared by the National Park Service, 
shall be the route of the trail. The legislation provides that 
the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail shall not 
become a unit of the National Park System. The Committee notes 
that the definition of what constitutes a unit of the park 
system is at best unclear. However, several trails have already 
been recognized as units of the park system, and it is possible 
that the Selma to Montgomery Trail could likewise be designated 
by administrative action. In accordance with the language of 
the legislation, the Committee expects the Federal Government 
to work in partnership with others in the administration of 
this trail. However, the Committee does not expect that the 
level of support for this trail would be less, solely because 
of the inclusion of this language.

            Committee Oversight Findings and Recommendations

    With respect to the requirements of clause 2(l)(3) of rule 
XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives, and clause 
2(b)(1) of rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives, 
the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Lands of the 
Committee on Resources held a hearing on H.R. 1129 on September 
19, 1995, and the Committee on Resources' oversight findings 
and recommendations are reflected in the body of this report.

                     Inflationary Impact Statement

    Pursuant to clause 2(l)(4) of rule XI of the Rules of the 
House of Representatives, the Committee estimates that the 
enactment of H.R. 1129 will have no significant inflationary 
impact on prices and costs in the operation of the national 
economy.

                        Cost of the Legislation

    Clause 7(a) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives requires an estimate and a comparison by the 
Committee of the costs which would be incurred in carrying out 
H.R. 1129. However, clause 7(d) of that rule provides that this 
requirement does not apply when the Committee has included in 
its report a timely submitted cost estimate of the bill 
prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget Office 
under section 403 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.

                     Compliance With House Rule XI

    1. With respect to the requirement of clause 2(l)(3)(B) of 
rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives and 
section 308(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, H.R. 
1129 does not contain any new budget authority, spending 
authority, credit authority, or an increase or decrease in 
revenues or tax expenditures.
    2. With respect to the requirement of clause 2(l)(3)(D) of 
rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the 
Committee has received no report of oversight findings and 
recommendations from the Committee on Government Reform and 
Oversight on the subject of H.R. 1129.
    3. With respect to the requirement of clause 2(l)(3)(C) of 
rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives and 
section 403 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the 
Committee has received the following cost estimate for H.R. 
1129 from the Director of the Congressional Budget Office.

               Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate

                                     U.S. Congress,
                               Congressional Budget Office,
                                       Washington, DC, May 6, 1996.
Hon. Don Young,
Chairman, Committee on Resources,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
    Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has 
reviewed H.R. 1129, a bill to amend the National Trails System 
Act to designate the route from Selma to Montgomery as a 
National Historic Trail, as ordered reported by the House 
Committee on Resources on March 28, 1996. Assuming 
appropriation of the necessary amounts, CBO estimates that the 
federal government would spend about $1 million over the next 
two years and between $100,000 and $500,000 annually thereafter 
to implement this bill. H.R. 1129 would not affect direct 
spending or receipts; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures would 
not apply.
    H.R. 1129 would designate a route between Selma and 
Montgomery, Alabama, as a national historic trail. The 54-mile 
route would not be a unit of the National Park Service (NPS), 
but that agency would be the lead federal agency in 
coordinating federal, state, and local efforts to preserve and 
interpret the new trail.
    Based on information provided by the NPS and assuming 
appropriation of the necessary amounts, CBO estimates that the 
agency would spend about $1 million over the next two years to 
develop and implement an interpretive program for the new 
national trail. Depending on the level of federal participation 
in ongoing trail activities, the NPS would spend between 
$100,000 and $500,000 annually thereafter to coordinate federal 
and local programs on resource preservation and interpretation.
    The bill contains no intergovernmental or private sector 
mandates as defined in Public Law 104-4 and would impose no 
direct costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
    If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be 
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Deborah Reis.
            Sincerely,
                                         June E. O'Neill, Director.

                    Compliance With Public Law 104-4

    H.R. 1129 contains no unfunded mandates.

                          Departmental Reports

    The Committee received no departmental reports on H.R. 
1129.

         Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported

    In compliance with clause 3 of rule XIII of the Rules of 
the House of Representatives, changes in existing law made by 
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows (new matter is 
printed in italic, existing law in which no change is proposed 
is shown in roman):

              SECTION 5 OF THE NATIONAL TRAILS SYSTEM ACT

             national scenic and national historical trails

    Sec. 5. (a) National scenic and national historic trails 
shall be authorized and designated only by Act of Congress. 
There are hereby established the following National Scenic and 
National Historic Trails:
    (1) * * *

     *         *         *         *         *         *         *

    ( ) The Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail, 
consisting of 54 miles of city streets and United States 
Highway 80 from Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church in Selma to the 
State Capitol Building in Montgomery, Alabama, traveled by 
voting rights advocates during March 1965 to dramatize the need 
for voting rights legislation, as generally described in the 
report of the Secretary of the Interior prepared pursuant to 
subsection (b) of this section entitled ``Selma to Montgomery'' 
and dated April 1993. Maps depicting the route shall be on file 
and available for public inspection in the Office of the 
National Park Service, Department of the Interior. The trail 
shall be administered in accordance with this Act, including 
section 7(h). The Secretary of the Interior, acting through the 
National Park Service, which shall be the lead Federal agency, 
shall cooperate with other Federal, State and local authorities 
to preserve historic sites along the route, including (but not 
limited to) the Edmund Pettus Bridge and the Brown Chapel 
A.M.E. Church.

     *         *         *         *         *         *         *