[Senate Report 109-157]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



                                                       Calendar No. 249
109th Congress                                                   Report
                                 SENATE
 1st Session                                                    109-157

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



 
   ANGEL ISLAND IMMIGRATION STATION RESTORATION AND PRESERVATION ACT

                                _______
                                

                October 19, 2005.--Ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

   Mr. Domenici, from the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, 
                        submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                        [To accompany H.R. 606]

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was 
referred the Act (H.R. 606) to authorize appropriations to the 
Secretary of the Interior for the restoration of the Angel 
Island Immigration Station in the State of California, having 
considered the same, reports favorably thereon without 
amendment and recommends that the Act do pass.

                         PURPOSE OF THE MEASURE

    The purpose of H.R. 606 is to authorize the Secretary of 
the Interior to provide up to $15 million in grants to help 
restore the Angel Island Immigration Station in California.

                          BACKGROUND AND NEED

    Between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of 
the 20th century, millions of people came to America in pursuit 
of a better way of life. On the east coast, most of the 
immigrants were met by the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. 
On the west coast, between 1910 and 1940, most entered the 
United States through the wooden buildings of Angel Island, in 
the San Francisco Bay. These immigrants were Australians and 
New Zealanders, Canadians, Mexicans, Central and South 
Americans, Russians, and in particular, Asians. There, during 
this period of the great migrations, they met with a reception 
quite unlike that given to European immigrants on the east 
coast.
    Around the middle of the 19th century, immigrants from 
southern China began arriving in the United States in large 
numbers, fleeing from a land stricken by both natural and man-
made disasters and a collapsing rural economy. Almost all of 
these immigrants arrived in San Francisco. Though initially 
welcomed, when the California economy took a downturn in the 
1870s, economic problems were laid at the feet of this highly 
visible minority by organized labor, newspapers, and 
politicians. A number of laws were passed at the local and 
State levels targeting the Chinese. In addition, Congress 
passed several laws targeting immigration from Asia. With the 
passing of the first of these laws, the Chinese Exclusion Act 
of 1882, America had limited immigration on the basis of 
nationality or race for the first time. Subsequent laws 
severely curtailed each successive wave of immigration from 
Asia which came to replace Chinese immigrant workers.
    The question soon arose of how to actually implement the 
Chinese Exclusion Act. Initially, customs service officers 
individually and arbitrarily administered exclusion policies; 
in time, procedures became standardized by the Bureau of 
Immigration. As part of this system, Immigration officials 
planned a new facility on Angel Island, the largest island in 
the San Francisco Bay, far from the mainland. The Angel Island 
facility prevented Chinese immigrants from communicating with 
those in San Francisco, isolated immigrants with communicable 
diseases, and, like the prison on nearby Alcatraz Island, was 
escape proof. In January 1910, over the objections of Chinese 
community leaders, this hastily-built immigration station was 
opened on the northeastern edge of Angel Island, ready to 
receive its first immigrants. The Chinese Exclusion Act was 
finally repealed in 1943, although immigration from China was 
strictly limited until 1965.
    The Angel Island Immigration Station was eventually closed 
after a fire destroyed many of the buildings in 1940. It was 
later used as a prisoner of war processing center during World 
War II. Following the war, the site was abandoned. In 1963 the 
State of California established Angel Island as a State park.
    In 1997, the Angel Island Immigration Station was 
designated as a National Historic Landmark by the Secretary of 
the Interior. In 1999, Save America's Treasures, a project of 
the National Trust and the White House Millennium Council, 
designated the Angel Island Immigration Station as one of its 
Official Projects, providing $500,000 for the preservation of 
the Chinese poems carved into the barracks walls. In March 
2000, California voters passed a State bond measure that set 
aside $15 million specifically for restoration of the Angel 
Island Immigration Station.
    H.R. 606 would authorize $15 million in matching Federal 
funds to be utilized for the restoration of the Angel Island 
Immigration Station.

                          LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

    H.R. 606 was introduced by Representative Woolsey on 
February 2, 2005. The House of Representatives passed H.R. 606 
by a voice vote on May 23, 2005. Identical legislation, S. 262, 
was introduced by Senators Feinstein, Boxer, and Akaka on 
February 2, 2005. Similar legislation, S. 2833, was introduced 
by Senator Feinstein in the 108th Congress. The House of 
Representatives passed a similar measure in the 108th Congress, 
H.R. 4469, sponsored by Congresswoman Woolsey. The House passed 
the bill by a voice vote on September 28, 2004, although no 
further action occurred in the Senate.
    The Subcommittee on National Parks held a hearing on S. 262 
on April 28, 2005 (S. Hrg. 109-74). At its business meeting on 
September 28, 2005 the Committee on Energy and Natural 
Resources ordered H.R. 606 favorably reported.

                        COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in open 
business session on September 28, 2005, by a voice vote of a 
quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass H.R. 606 as 
described herein.

                      SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

    Section 1 entitles the bill ``Angel Island Immigration 
Station Restoration and Preservation Act''.
    Section 2 sets forth congressional findings.
    Section 3 authorizes the appropriation of $15 million to 
the Secretary of the Interior for the restoration of the Angel 
Island Immigration Station, in coordination with the Angel 
Island Immigration Station Foundation and the California 
Department of Parks and Recreation. This section also requires 
that Federal funding not exceed 50 percent of the total from 
all sources spent to restore the Angel Island Immigration 
Station.

                   COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS

    The following estimate of costs of this measure has been 
provided by the Congressional Budget Office:

H.R. 606--Angel Island Immigration Station Restoration and Preservation 
        Act

    H.R. 606 would authorize the appropriation of $15 million 
to restore the Angel Island Immigration Station, a California 
state park in the San Francisco Bay. Assuming appropriation of 
this amount, CBO estimates that the National Park Service would 
disburse the $15 million over the next three or four years as 
grants to the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation, a 
local nonprofit organization. Most of this funding would be 
used to restore the station hospital.
    H.R. 606 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.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Deborah Reis. 
This estimate was approved by Peter H. Fontaine, Deputy 
Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.

                      REGULATORY IMPACT EVALUATION

    In compliance with paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee makes the following 
evaluation of the regulatory impact which would be incurred in 
carrying out H.R. 606. The bill is not a regulatory measure in 
the sense of imposing Government-established standards or 
significant economic responsibilities on private individuals 
and businesses.
    No personal information would be collected in administering 
the program. Therefore, there would be no impact on personal 
privacy.
    Little, if any, additional paperwork would result from the 
enactment of H.R. 606, as ordered reported.

                        EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

    The views of the Administration on S. 262 were included in 
testimony received by the Committee at a hearing on the bill on 
April 28, 2005 as follows:

   Statement of Michael Soukup, Associate Director, Natural Resource 
   Stewardship and Science, National Park Service, Department of the 
                                Interior

    Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to appear 
before your committee to present the views of the Department of 
the Interior on H.R. 606, to authorize appropriations to the 
Secretary of the Interior for the restoration of the Angel 
Island Immigration Station in the State of California. This 
legislation would authorize appropriations of $15 million for 
restoration of the Angel Island Immigration Station Hospital 
and for other station facilities if excess funds remained.
    The Department commends the work that is being done to 
restore the Angel Island Immigration Station at Angel Island 
State Park and to make it more accessible to visitors. In fact, 
the National Park Service has been an active partner in that 
effort. However, we oppose this legislation. We believe it is 
inappropriate to use limited National Park Service 
appropriations to pay for restoration projects for non-National 
Park Service structures. We encourage the State of California, 
California State Parks, and the Angel Island Immigration 
Station Foundation to continue seeking other sources of funding 
for this very worthy project.
    For many years, the Department has opposed legislation 
authorizing appropriations for non-National Park Service 
construction projects. Many of these projects, like the 
restoration of the Angel Island Immigration Station, represent 
an important contribution to the preservation of our Nation's 
history. However, each time such legislation is enacted and 
appropriations follow, it further reduces a limited amount of 
discretionary funds available to address the priority needs of 
our national parks and other programs administered by the 
National Park Service. With the emphasis we have placed on the 
President's initiative to reduce the deferred maintenance 
backlog, it has become more important than ever to avoid 
authorizing funding for non-National Park Service projects that 
would likely draw funds from the National Park Service's 
budget.
    Angel Island is located in San Francisco Bay, not far from 
Alcatraz Island. The Federal Government built the Angel Island 
Immigration Station in Winslow Cove and operated it between 
1910 and 1940 to enforce the Chinese Exclusion Act. Over one 
million new arrivals to the United States, including Russians, 
Chinese, Japanese, Hispanics, and others, were processed 
through the immigration station, although some never set foot 
on the island.
    The most poignant history associated with Angel Island is 
that of detained Chinese immigrants. Angel Island is often 
referred to as the ``Ellis Island of the West,'' although 
unlike Ellis Island, where immigrants typically spent one day, 
many of the Chinese immigrants were detained for weeks, months 
or even years. The Chinese Exclusion Act, in effect from 1882 
until 1943, required Chinese immigrants to go to extra lengths 
to prove that they met the necessary requirements to be allowed 
to stay. Over 100 poems carved by detainees on walls of the 
Detention Barracks, expressing the fear, hopes, and despair of 
those with uncertain futures, provide a first-hand historical 
commentary on the plight of these immigrants.
    The immigration station was closed in 1940 after a fire 
destroyed the Administration Building and American policy 
shifted in support of China in World War II. The U.S. Army used 
the buildings during World War II for internment of prisoners. 
The Army later vacated the site, and it fell into disrepair. 
Angel Island, which also had other military installations, was 
declared surplus to Federal needs and transferred to the State 
of California for park purposes in 1963. Today, on the 13-acre 
site, only the Detention Barracks, Hospital, Power House, Pump 
House and Mule Barn remain intact, and only the Detention 
Barracks is open to visitors. Angel Island State Park is 
reached by ferry and used for sightseeing, hiking, picnicking, 
educational trips, and limited camping.

    The Secretary of the Interior designated the Angel Island 
Immigration Station as a National Historic Landmark in 1997. In 
late 1998, Congress appropriated $100,000 for the National Park 
Service to evaluate the feasibility and desirability of 
preserving and interpreting sites within Golden Gate National 
Recreation Area, including Angel Island Immigration Station, 
that are related to immigration; we are continuing to work to 
complete this study. A few months later, the National Park 
Service, California State Parks, and the Angel Island 
Immigration Station Foundation formed a partnership consortium 
to undertake two major projects: (1) develop a restoration and 
interpretation strategy for restoration work at the Angel 
Island Immigration Station, and (2) explore the feasibility of 
developing a Pacific Coast Immigration Museum to provide 
interpretation and education related to immigration and 
migration to the West Coast. The consortium's efforts led to 
securing $15 million in state funds and $1 million in grants 
and donations for restoration work on the immigration station.
    The National Park Service has also contributed technical 
assistance and managed contracts for reports that were 
completed in 2002--an Historic Structures Report, Building 
Condition Assessments, a Poem Preservation Study, and Cultural 
Landscape Report for the immigration station. These reports 
were intended to serve as baseline studies to guide 
preservation and use decisions. In addition, in 2000, the Angel 
Island Immigration Station received a $500,000 grant for 
conservation work through the National Park Service's Save 
America's Treasures program.
    As a follow through on the consortium's agenda, the 
National Park Service has also been the conduit for 
appropriations from Congress of $280,000 in FY 2002 and 
$385,000 in FY 2004 for in-depth feasibility studies for the 
Pacific Coast Immigration Museum.
    As the activities listed above show, the National Park 
Service is playing an active role in promoting the 
commemoration of immigration history on the West Coast, which 
is unquestionably a nationally significant story, by working in 
partnership with the State of California and the Angel Island 
Immigration Station Foundation. We are proud of the work the 
Service is doing toward planning and promoting the restoration 
of the immigration station and the Pacific Coast Immigration 
Museum, as these two entities will make an important 
contribution to the understanding of immigration history in 
this part of the country--and they will be significant 
additions to the historical attractions within Golden Gate 
National Recreation Area. However, we do not believe it is 
appropriate for the National Park Service budget to be used as 
a major funding source for the restoration of the Angel Island 
Immigration Station, a state property.
    Mr. Chairman, that completes my statement. I would be happy 
to answer any questions you or the other members of the 
committee may have.

                        CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

    In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee notes that no 
changes in existing law are made by the Act H.R. 606, as 
ordered reported.

                                  
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