[House Report 107-268] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] 107th Congress Report HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 1st Session 107-268 ====================================================================== AUTHORIZING THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR TO ESTABLISH THE RONALD REAGAN BOYHOOD HOME NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES _______ November 5, 2001.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed _______ Mr. Hansen, from the Committee on Resources, submitted the following R E P O R T together with DISSENTING VIEWS [To accompany H.R. 400] [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office] The Committee on Resources, to whom was referred the bill (H.R. 400) to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to establish the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home National Historic Site, and for other purposes, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass. purpose of the bill The purpose of H.R. 400 is to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to establish the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home National Historic Site, and for other purposes. background and need for legislation Ronald Wilson Reagan, the 40th President of the United States, was born on February 6, 1911, in Tampico, Illinois. After moving to a succession of rural towns in Illinois, the Reagans settled in 1920 in Dixon, Illinois; the place Ronald Reagan considers his hometown. President Reagan lived in the home located at 816 South Hennepin Road during part of his teenage years (1924-1928). From 1926 to 1933, Reagan was employed as a lifeguard in Lowell Park in Dixon where he was credited with saving seventy-seven lives. In 1928, President Reagan graduated from Dixon High School where he served as student body president. The Reagan Boyhood Home was restored and refurnished in 1984 by the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home Foundation to appear as it did during the period President Reagan lived in the home. The boyhood home and museum, which is on the National Register of Historic Properties and part of the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Complex, is currently located on approximately \3/4\ of a square city block with three other structures and a parking lot for visitors. It has an annual visitation of approximately 20,000 people, and is located within a historical district created by the City of Dixon pursuant to local ordinances. The Ronald Reagan Boyhood Complex (land and structures) designated under this legislation consists of the following: The North Half (N\1/2\) of Lot Three (3), Block One Hundred and Three (103), of the original Town (now city) of Dixon, Lee County, Illinois, and more commonly known as 816 South Hennepin Avenue, Dixon, Illinois (Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home); The South half (S\1/2\) of Lot Two (2), Block One Hundred and Three (103), of the original Town (now city) of Dixon, Lee County, Illinois, and more commonly known as 810 South Hennepin Avenue, Dixon, Illinois (Visitors Center); The South two-thirds (S\2/ 3\) of Lot Four (4) in Block One Hundred Three (103) in the original Town (now city) of Dixon, Lee County, Illinois, and more commonly known as 821 South Galena Avenue, Dixon, Illinois (Parking Lot); The Westerly Ninety feet of the Southerly One half (S\1/2\) of Lot 3 in Block 103 in the Town (now city) of Dixon, Lee County, Illinois. Establishing the Boyhood Home as a National Historic Site will ensure the long-term preservation of the museum and its eligibility for funding from the National Park Service. committee action H.R. 400 was introduced on February 6, 2001, by Congressman J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) and was referred to the Committee on Resources. On February 15, 2001, the bill was referred within the Committee to the Subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation, and Public Lands. On March 8, 2001, the Subcommittee held a hearing on the bill. On April 26, 2001, the Subcommittee met to mark up the bill. Congressman Joel Hefley (R-CO) offered an amendment in the nature of a substitute requiring that the Secretary of the Interior conduct a study on the suitability and feasibility of designating the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home as a national historic site, and to submit a report to Congress within one year. The amendment was adopted by voice vote. The bill, as amended, was then forwarded to the Full Committee. On October 3, 2001, the Full Resources Committee met to consider the bill as introduced. Congressman Hefley offered an amendment in the nature of a substitute which mirrored the amendment adopted during Subcommittee markup. The amendment failed by a roll call vote of 11 to 12, as follows:There were no further amendments. The bill was then ordered favorably reported to the House of Representatives by voice vote. committee oversight findings and recommendations Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the Committee on Resources' oversight findings and recommendations are reflected in the body of this report. constitutional authority statement Article I, section 8 and Article IV, section 3 of the Constitution of the United States grant Congress the authority to enact this bill. compliance with house rule xiii 1. Cost of Legislation. Clause 3(d)(2) 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 this bill. However, clause 3(d)(3)(B) 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 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. 2. Congressional Budget Act. As required by clause 3(c)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and section 308(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, this bill does not contain any new budget authority, spending authority, credit authority, or an increase or decrease in revenues or tax expenditures. 3. General Performance Goals and Objectives. The purpose of H.R. 400 is to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to establish the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home National Historic Site. 4. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate. Under clause 3(c)(3) of rule XIII 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 this bill from the Director of the Congressional Budget Office: U.S. Congress, Congressional Budget Office, Washington, DC, October 10, 2001. Hon. James V. Hansen, Chairman, Committee on Resources, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 400, a bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to establish the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home National Historic Site, and for other purposes. If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Deborah Reis. Sincerely, Barry B. Anderson (For Dan L. Crippen, Director). Enclosure. H.R. 400--A bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to establish the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home National Historic Site, and for other purposes H.R. 400 would direct the Secretary of the Interior to purchase the site of Ronald Reagan's boyhood home in Dixon, Illinois, at its fair market value. Once the property is acquired, the Secretary would designate it as the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home National Historic Site. The National Park Service (NPS) would execute a cooperative agreement with the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home Foundation (the site's current owner), to operate the site. Within two years, the NPS, in consultation with the foundation, would develop a general management plan that would define the roles of the two parties in interpreting and preserving the site. CBO estimates that implementing the legislation would cost the federal government about $700,000 over the next two years, subject to appropriation of the necessary amounts. Based on available information on area property values, we estimate that the NPS would spend about $400,000 of this amount to purchase the site from the foundation. (This nonprofit organization paid around $30,000 for the former Reagan home in the early 1980s and has since invested several million dollars in the home and adjacent properties.) The remaining $300,000 would be used to complete a general management plan for the site and develop interpretive materials. CBO further estimates that once the plan and cooperative agreement have been finalized, the NPS would spend between $250,000 and $500,000 annually to provide technical and financial assistance to the foundation, which would operate the historic site. The costs of this bill are based on information provided by the NPS and local tax authorities. H.R. 400 would not affect direct spending or receipts; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures would not apply. The legislation contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would have no significant impact on the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments. The staff contact for this estimate is Deborah Reis. The estimate was approved by Peter H. Fontaine, Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis. COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104-4 This bill contains no unfunded mandates. PREEMPTION OF STATE, LOCAL OR TRIBAL LAW This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local or tribal law. CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW If enacted, this bill would make no changes in existing law. DISSENTING VIEWS OF THE HONORABLE JOEL HEFLEY The decision of this committee to ignore the actions of its Subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation and Public Lands with regard to H.R. 400 flies in the face of legislative comity and negates a nearly 10-year effort to establish a rational process for the creation of National Park Service units. For that reason, I must oppose this legislation. As adopted by the committee, H.R. 400 would establish the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home National Historical Site in Dixon, Illinois. There is no question in my mind that the Reagan site deserves eventual inclusion in the system. But the Park Service has never studied the site nor been given the opportunity to recommend how it would be interpreted. Three years ago, this Congress passed an omnibus Interior bill that included the National Park Service Reform Act. That act required that proposed Park Service units first be studied by the National Park Service; that the Park Service present to Congress its recommendation for the unit, including its interpretation; and finally, that any unit must be authorized by this committee before any appropriations could be released. Even the National Parks & Conservation Association, which fought the Reform Act as a ``parks closure bill,'' conceded that adopting this process would amount to the most significant piece of parks legislation since the Organic Act of 1916. After a grueling three-year debate and no small amount of political grief to myself, Mr. Hansen (of Utah), Mr. Miller (of California), our late colleague, Mr. Vento and others, the bill became law in 1998. The National Park Service Reform Act grew out of debate over the Steamtown National Historic Site near Scranton, Pennsylvania. There, a powerful member of the House Appropriations Committee, managed to funnel over $100 million into the creation of a railway park of dubious authenticity. Even its sponsor conceded Steamtown's main purpose was economic development: ``My town's economy was based on coal and then on textiles,'' he told me. ``This is all we've got left.'' Meanwhile, Park Service backlogs in maintenance, land acquisition and housing continued to grow into the billions, a situation which would continue, without redress, until Mr. Regula (of Ohio) became chairman of the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee in 1994. I authored the National Park Service Reform Act because I believe--then and now--that Park Service units should be designated on the basis of what they are, not because they are the pet project of someone in a powerful position. As chairman of the National Parks Subcommittee, Dr. Christensen (of the Virgin Islands) and I worked to ensure a fair hearing for the proposal before our panel. Save for the Moccasin Bend National Historic Site in Tennessee, which has been studied for 50 years, and an expansion of the Booker T. Washington NHS in Virginia, all the parks proposals, all the trails and heritage area proposals, were made subject to Park Service study. By a voice vote, that subcommittee amended H.R. 400 to mandate a study as well. The committee, however, has chosen to vote on the bill's original text, which designates the Reagan site immediately and without a study. There's no doubt that Speaker Hastert is in a powerful position. Nevertheless, I believe he should follow the same rules as everyone else. So should I. So should everyone on this committee or in this Congress. A year will endanger neither the significance nor the safety of the Reagan Home. Its present custodians have done an exemplary job creating and preserving the site. They are getting on in years and want only the safeguard of an NPS designation to preserve their work, but have no objection to a year's delay for the study. But by ignoring the actions of the Parks Subcommittee and the Park Service Reform Act, we risk returning to a balkanized Park System of units significant only to those who had enough clout to establish them. When I first entered into the park reform debate seven years ago, I said that if an authorizing committee wasn't going to stand firm on its policies, it might as well go home and leave things to the appropriators. By passing the unamended version of H.R. 400, that is basically what the Resources Committee has done. Joel Hefley.