[House Report 109-142]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
109th Congress Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
1st Session 109-142
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PROVIDING FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE HISTORIC CONFINEMENT SITES WHERE
JAPANESE AMERICANS WERE DETAINED DURING WORLD WAR II, AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES
_______
June 21, 2005.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the
State of the Union and ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Pombo, from the Committee on Resources, submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany H.R. 1492]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Resources, to whom was referred the bill
(H.R. 1492) to provide for the preservation of the historic
confinement sites where Japanese Americans were detained during
World War II, and for other purposes, 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 all after the enacting clause and insert the
following:
SECTION 1. PRESERVATION OF HISTORIC CONFINEMENT SITES.
(a) Preservation Program.--The Secretary shall create a program
within the National Park Service to encourage, support, recognize, and
work in partnership with citizens, Federal agencies, State, local, and
tribal governments, other public entities, educational institutions,
and private nonprofit organizations for the purpose of identifying,
researching, evaluating, interpreting, protecting, restoring,
repairing, and acquiring historic confinement sites in order that
present and future generations may learn and gain inspiration from
these sites and that these sites will demonstrate the Nation's
commitment to equal justice under the law.
(b) Grants.--The Secretary, in consultation with the Japanese
American National Heritage Coalition, shall make grants to State,
local, and tribal governments, other public entities, educational
institutions, and private nonprofit organizations to assist in carrying
out subsection (a).
(c) Property Acquisition.--
(1) Authority.--Federal funds made available under this
section may be used to acquire non-Federal property for the
purposes of this section, in accordance with section 3, only if
that property is within the areas described in paragraph (2).
(2) Property descriptions.--The property referred to in
paragraph (2) is the following:
(A) Jerome, depicted in Figure 7.1 of the Site
Document.
(B) Rohwer, depicted in Figure 11.2 of the Site
Document.
(C) Topaz, depicted in Figure 12.2 of the Site
Document.
(D) Honouliuli, located on the southern part of the
Island of Oahu, Hawaii, and within the land area
bounded by H1 to the south, Route 750 (Kunia Road) to
the east, the Honouliuli Forest Reserve to the west,
and Kunia town and Schofield Barracks to the north.
(3) No effect on private property.--The authority granted in
this subsection shall not constitute a Federal designation or
have any effect on private property ownership.
(d) Matching Fund Requirement.--The Secretary shall require a 25
percent non-Federal match for funds provided under this section.
(e) Sunset of Authority.--This Act shall have no force or effect on
and after the date that is 2 years after the disbursement to grantees
under this section of the total amount of funds authorized to be
appropriated under section 4.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Act the following definitions apply:
(1) Historic confinement sites.--(A) The term ``historic
confinement sites'' means the 10 internment camp sites referred
to as Gila River, Granada, Heart Mountain, Jerome, Manzanar,
Minidoka, Poston, Rohwer, Topaz, and Tule Lake and depicted in
Figures 4.1, 5.1, 6.1, 7.1, 8.4, 9.2, 10.6, 11.2, 12.2, and
13.2, respectively, of the Site Document; and
(B) other historically significant locations, as determined
by the Secretary, where Japanese Americans were detained during
World War II.
(2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of
the Interior.
(3) Site document.--The term ``Site Document'' means the
document titled ``Confinement and Ethnicity: An Overview of
World War II Japanese American Relocation Sites'', published by
the Western Archeological and Conservation Center, National
Park Service, in 1999.
SEC. 3. PRIVATE PROPERTY PROTECTION.
No Federal funds made available to carry out this Act may be used to
acquire any real property or any interest in any real property without
the written consent of the owner or owners of that property or interest
in property.
SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary $38,000,000
to carry out this Act. Such sums shall remain available until expended.
PURPOSE OF THE BILL
The purpose of H.R. 1492 is to provide for the preservation
of the historic confinement sites where Japanese Americans were
detained during World War II, and for other purposes.
BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION
Two years after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, President
Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 that called for all
people of Japanese ancestry residing on the west coast, most of
whom were American citizens, to be placed in relocation camps
(1942-1945). This action represented the largest forced
relocation in U.S. history--over 120,000 Japanese-American
citizens and Japanese aliens were uprooted from their homes and
interned in sites throughout the country. While there are two
units in the National Park System that preserve and interpret
the internment period (Manzanar National Historic Site and
Minidoka Internment National Monument) there are many who
believe that other internment sites should also be preserved
whether or not they become a unit of the National Park System.
With the passage of time, much of the sites' physical
infrastructure has been lost. In addition, those persons with
memories of the confinement are increasingly being lost.
H.R. 1492 would direct the Secretary of the Interior to
establish a 25% matching grant program within the National Park
Service to support partnerships with governmental and
nongovernmental organizations to identify, protect, interpret
and restore historic confinement sites. The bill expressly
makes 10 internment sites eligible for the grant program; they
are the relocation centers that are known as Gila River,
Granada, Heart Mountain, Jerome, Manzanar, Minidoka, Poston,
Rohwer, Topaz, and Tule Lake. The bill also makes other
confinement sites eligible for the grant program if they are
determined by the Secretary to be historically significant. The
bill would also authorize $38 million to conduct the grant
program. Examples of such other historically significant sites
include, but are not limited to, any of the assembly centers or
U.S. Department of Justice or military installations where
people were detained pursuant to Executive Order 9066 during
World War II.
The Committee recognizes that H.R. 1492 grants the
Secretary of the Interior the authority to approve additional
historic confinement sites, and therefore these too would then
be eligible for funds under the Act. Examples of sites that may
be approved include, but are not limited to, any of the
assembly centers, the Crystal City World War II Alien Family
Internment Camp in Texas, or the Gordon Hirabayashi Recreation
Site in Arizona. Grants would be made subject to agreements
with the Secretary of the Interior assuring that funds will be
used consistent with the purposes of the Act. Further, any
property acquired using federal grants under the Act will be
subject to agreements or easements in perpetuity that ensure
the use of such lands are also consistent with the purposes of
the Act.
COMMITTEE ACTION
H.R. 1492 was introduced on April 6, 2005, by Congressman
William M. Thomas (R-CA). The bill was referred to the
Committee on Resources, and within the Committee to the
Subcommittee on National Parks. On April 14, 2005, the
Subcommittee on National Parks held a hearing on H.R. 1492. On
May 18, 2005, the Resources Committee met to consider the bill,
at which time the Subcommittee was discharged from further
consideration of the bill by unanimous consent. Chairman
Richard Pombo (R-CA) offered an amendment in the nature of a
substitute that was agreed to by unanimous consent. The
amendment clarifies the location of lands which are eligible
for purchase using grant funds, and specifies that purchases of
these lands may occur only on a willing seller basis. The
amendment also clarifies that H.R. 1492 creates no federal
designation or limitations on private lands. H.R. 1492, as
amended, was ordered favorably reported to the House of
Representatives by unanimous consent.
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. As required by
clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII, the general performance goal or
objective of this bill is to provide for the preservation of
the historic confinement sites where Japanese Americans were
detained during World War II, and for other purposes.
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:
H.R. 1492--A bill to provide for the preservation of the historic
confinement sites where Japanese Americans were detained during
World War II
Summary: H.R. 1492 would direct the National Park Service
(NPS) to provide grants to nonfederal entities to restore and
preserve sites associated with the internment of Japanese
Americans during World War II. The grants would be used for up
to 75 percent of the costs of protecting significant sites,
including those to identify, acquire, and interpret them. For
this purpose, the bill would authorize the appropriation of $38
million. Assuming appropriation of the authorized amount, CBO
estimates that implementing the bill would cost $38 million
over the 2006-2010 period.
Enacting the bill would not affect direct spending or
revenues. H.R. 1492 contains no intergovernmental or private-
sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act
(UMRA) and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal
governments.
Estimated cost to the Federal Government: The estimated
budgetary impact of H.R. 1492 is shown in the following table.
The costs of this legislation fall within budget function 300
(natural resources and environment). For this estimate, CBO
assumes that the authorized amount would be appropriated over
the next five years and paid to nonprofit organizations and
other entities as needed.
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By fiscal year, in millions of dollars--
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2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
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CHANGES IN SPENDING SUBJECT TO APPROPRIATION
Authorization Level................................................ 8 8 8 8 6
Estimated Outlays.................................................. 6 8 8 8 8
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Intergovernmental and private-sector impact: H.R. 1492
contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as
defined in UMRA and would impose no costs on state, local, or
tribal governments.
Estimate prepared by: Federal Costs: Deborah Reis. Impact
on State, Local, and Tribal Governments: Marjorie Miller.
Impact on the Private Sector: Jean Talarico.
Estimate 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 to existing
law.