[House Report 109-549]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



109th Congress                                                   Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 2d Session                                                     109-549

======================================================================

 
 TO AMEND THE NATIONAL TRAILS SYSTEM ACT TO UPDATE THE FEASIBILITY AND 
 SUITABILITY STUDY ORIGINALLY PREPARED FOR THE TRAIL OF TEARS NATIONAL 
  HISTORIC TRAIL AND PROVIDE FOR THE INCLUSION OF NEW TRAIL SEGMENTS, 
 LAND COMPONENTS, AND CAMPGROUNDS ASSOCIATED WITH THAT TRAIL, AND FOR 
                             OTHER PURPOSES

                                _______
                                

 July 10, 2006.--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. 3085]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Resources, to whom was referred the bill 
(H.R. 3085) to amend the National Trails System Act to update 
the feasibility and suitability study originally prepared for 
the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail and provide for the 
inclusion of new trail segments, land components, and 
campgrounds associated with that trail, 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. REVISION OF FEASIBILITY AND SUITABILITY STUDY OF TRAIL OF 
                    TEARS NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL.

  Section 5(a)(16) of the National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 
1244(a)(16)) is amended--
          (1) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``subsections'' and 
        inserting ``sections''; and
          (2) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
  ``(C) Not later than 6 months after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall complete the remaining 
criteria and submit to Congress a study regarding the feasibility and 
suitability of designating, as additional components of the Trail of 
Tears National Historic Trail, the following routes and land components 
by which the Cherokee Nation was removed to Oklahoma:
          ``(i) The Benge and Bell routes.
          ``(ii) The land components of the designated water routes in 
        Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.
          ``(iii) The routes from the collection forts in Alabama, 
        Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee to the emigration 
        depots.
          ``(iv) The related campgrounds located along the routes and 
        land components described in clauses (i) through (iii).''.

                          Purpose of the Bill

    The purpose of H.R. 3085 is to amend the National Trails 
System Act to update the feasibility and suitability study 
originally prepared for the Trail of Tears National Historic 
Trail and provide for the inclusion of new trail segments, land 
components, and campgrounds associated with that trail, and for 
other purposes.

                  Background and Need for Legislation

    Congress designated the Trail of Tears National Historic 
Trail in 1987. The trail encompasses the primary water route 
and northern land route used during the forced removal of the 
Cherokee Nation from its homelands in the southeastern United 
States to present-day Oklahoma. H.R. 3085 would direct the 
Secretary of the Interior to study the feasibility and 
suitability of adding various land routes and sites to the 
Trail of Tears National Historic Trail, including the popular 
Bell and Benge routes. As ordered reported, the bill requires 
the Secretary of the Interior to submit the report to Congress 
within six months of the date of enactment of this legislation.

                            Committee Action

    H.R. 3085 was introduced on June 28, 2005, by Congressman 
Zach Wamp (R-TN). The bill was referred to the Committee on 
Resources, and within the Committee to the Subcommittee on 
National Parks. On April 27, 2006, the Subcommittee held a 
hearing on the bill. On June 21, 2006, the Full Resources 
Committee met to consider the bill, at which time the 
Subcommittee on National Parks was discharged from further 
consideration of the bill by unanimous consent. Congressman 
Stevan Pearce (R-NM) offered an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute to expedite the time line for study to be completed 
as well as eliminate the Secretarial authority to designate 
additional segments to the Trail of Tears National Historic 
Trail. The amendment was adopted by unanimous consent. The 
bill, as amended, was then ordered favorably reported to the 
House of Representatives by unanimous consent.

                   Constitutional Authority Statement

    Article IV, section 3, clause 2 of the Constitution of the 
United States grants 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 bill does 
not authorize funding and therefore, clause 3(c)(4) of rule 
XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives does not 
apply.
    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. 3085--A bill to amend the National Trails System Act to update the 
        feasibility and suitability study originally prepared for the 
        Trail of Tears National Historic Trail and provide for the 
        inclusion of new trail segments, land components, and 
        campgrounds associated with the trail

    H.R. 3085 would require the National Park Service (NPS) to 
complete, over six months, a feasibility study for designating 
certain routes as components of the Trail of Tears National 
Historic Trail. Assuming the availability of appropriated 
funds, CBO estimates that carrying out the required work would 
cost less than $100,000 over the next year. Enacting H.R. 3085 
would not affect direct spending or revenues.
    H.R. 3085 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and 
would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
    On January 12, 2006, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for 
H.R. 3085, as introduced in the House of Representatives on 
June 28, 2005. The estimated cost of implementing the 
committee-approved version of the legislation is lower than the 
estimated cost for the introduced version of H.R. 3085 because 
the earlier version (as introduced in the House) would direct 
the NPS to designate as a component of the historic trail any 
studied segments that it might deem appropriate, without 
further Congressional authorization. Also, the introduced 
version of H.R. 3085 would provide three years for the required 
studies rather than six months.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Deborah Reis. 
This 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 Made by the Bill, as Reported

    In compliance with clause 3(e) 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 (existing law 
proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, 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) * * *

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *

    (16)(A) * * *
    (B) In carrying out his responsibilities pursuant to 
[subsections] sections 5(f) and 7(c) of this Act, the Secretary 
of the Interior shall give careful consideration to the 
establishment of appropriate interpretive sites for the Trail 
of Tears in the vicinity of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, Fort Smith, 
Arkansas, Trail of Tears State Park, Missouri, and Tahlequah, 
Oklahoma.
    (C) Not later than 6 months after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall complete the 
remaining criteria and submit to Congress a study regarding the 
feasibility and suitability of designating, as additional 
components of the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail, the 
following routes and land components by which the Cherokee 
Nation was removed to Oklahoma:
          (i) The Benge and Bell routes.
          (ii) The land components of the designated water 
        routes in Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.
          (iii) The routes from the collection forts in 
        Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee to the 
        emigration depots.
          (iv) The related campgrounds located along the routes 
        and land components described in clauses (i) through 
        (iii).

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


                                  
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