[Senate Report 111-267]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                       Calendar No. 537
111th Congress                                                   Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session                                                     111-267

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                  COLONEL CHARLES YOUNG HOME STUDY ACT

                                _______
                                

                 August 5, 2010.--Ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

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

                              R E P O R T

                         [To accompany S. 2933]

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was 
referred the bill (S. 2933) to authorize the Secretary of the 
Interior to conduct a special resource study to determine the 
suitability and feasibility of designating the Colonel Charles 
Young Home in Xenia, Ohio, as a unit of the National Parks 
System, and for other purposes, having considered the same, 
reports favorably thereon with an amendment and recommends that 
the bill, as amended, do pass.
    The amendment is as follows:
    Beginning on page 1, strike line 6 and all that follows 
through page 3, line 19, and insert the following:

SEC. 2. SPECIAL RESOURCE STUDY.

                                PURPOSE

    The purpose of S. 2933 is to authorize the Secretary of the 
Interior to conduct a special resource study to determine the 
suitability and feasibility of adding the Colonel Charles Young 
Home, in the State of Ohio, as a unit of the National Park 
System.

                          BACKGROUND AND NEED

    In 1974, the Colonel Charles Young house in Wilberforce, 
Ohio, was designated a National Historic Landmark. Charles 
Young (1864-1922) is recognized because he was the third 
African American to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at 
West Point, the highest-ranking black officer in World War I, 
and the first black military attache in American history. In 
addition to his military achievements, he was an accomplished 
musician and linguist. Young lived in this house while teaching 
at Wilberforce University from 1894 to 1898. During his service 
as a professor of science and military tactics at the 
university, he met with such men as poet Paul Laurence Dunbar 
and W.E.B. DuBois.
    Colonel Young commanded the legendary ``Buffalo Soldiers'' 
in combat in the Spanish-American War and the Mexican 
expedition against Pancho Via. In 1902, Young commanded Troop 1 
at the San Francisco Presidio and then was appointed acting 
superintendent of the Sequoia and General Grant National Parks, 
California (which at the time was administered by the War 
Department). Following his service in the West, Young was 
appointed U.S. military attache to Haiti by President Theodore 
Roosevelt. Colonel Young's experiences in the Army between 1884 
and 1922 illustrate the changing nature of race relations in 
the United States during a period spanning from the end of the 
Civil War to the beginning of the Civil Rights movement. 
Colonel Young was nationally known at the time of his death.
    Today, the home remains a meeting place for the local Omega 
Psi Phi Fraternity. In a 2008 review as part of the National 
Historic Landmarks Program of the National Park Service, the 
unoccupied structure was listed in ``threatened'' status due to 
the condition of the home.

                          LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

    S. 2933 was introduced by Senators Voinovich and Brown on 
January 20, 2010. The Subcommittee on National Parks held a 
hearing on the bill on March 21, 2010. The Committee on Energy 
and Natural Resources considered the bill and adopted an 
amendment at its business meeting on June 16, 2010. The 
Committee ordered S. 2933 favorably reported with an amendment 
at its business meeting on June 21, 2010.

                        COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in open 
business session on June 21, 2010, by a voice vote of a quorum 
present, recommends that the Senate pass S. 2933, if amended as 
described herein.

                          COMMITTEE AMENDMENT

    During the consideration of S. 2933, the Committee adopted 
an amendment that struck the Congressional findings section and 
renumbered the subsequent sections. The amendment is explained 
in detail in the section-by-section analysis, below.

                      SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

    Section 1 provides the short title as the ``Colonel Charles 
Young Home Study Act''.
    Section 2(a) authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to 
conduct a special resource study.
    Subsection (b) directs the Secretary, in conducting the 
study, to evaluate the Colonel Charles Young home to determine 
the suitability and feasibility of adding the site as a unit of 
the National Park System, including consideration of 
alternatives for the preservation, protection, and 
interpretation of the home by Federal, State, or local 
government entities or any other interested individuals, and to 
identify the costs estimates for any Federal acquisition, 
development, interpretation, operation, and maintenance 
associated with the range of management alternatives.
    Subsection (c) directs the study to be conducted in 
accordance with section 8 of Public Law 91-383, which sets 
forth requirements for National Park Service studies.
    Subsection (d) requires the Secretary to prepare and submit 
for review the results, conclusions, and recommendations of the 
study.

                   COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS

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

S. 2933--Colonel Charles Young Home Study Act

    S. 2933 would require the National Park Service (NPS) to 
conduct a special resource study of the Colonel Charles Young 
Home in Xenia, Ohio. Colonel Young was an African-American who 
served in the U.S. Army between 1884 and 1922. In the study, 
the NPS would evaluate the resources of the site and determine 
the suitability and feasibility of designating it as a unit of 
the National Park System. The NPS would have three years to 
complete the study and report to the Congress on its results.
    Based on information provided by the NPS and assuming the 
availability of appropriated funds, CBO estimates that carrying 
out the study required by S. 2933 would cost about $250,000 
over the next three years. Enacting S. 2933 would not affect 
direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go 
procedures would not apply.
    S. 2933 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 June 21, 2010, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R. 
4514, the Colonel Charles Young Home Study Act, as ordered 
reported by the House Committee on Natural Resources on June 
16, 2010. H.R. 4514 and S. 2933 are very similar, and the CBO 
cost estimates are the same.
    The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Alan Eder and 
Deborah Reis. The estimate was approved by Peter H. Fontaine, 
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 S. 2933.
    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 S. 2933, as ordered reported.

                   CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING

    S. 2933, as ordered reported, does not contain any 
congressionally directed spending items, limited tax benefits, 
or limited tariff benefits as defined in rule XLIV of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate.

                        EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

    The testimony provided by the National Park Service at the 
March 17, 2010 Subcommittee hearing on S. 2933 follows:

 Statement of Daniel N. Wenk, Deputy Director, National Park Service, 
                       Department of the Interior

    Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to appear 
before you to provide the Department of the Interior's views on 
S. 2933, a bill to authorize a special resource study to 
determine the suitability and feasibility of designating the 
Colonel Charles Young Home in Xenia, Ohio, as a unit of the 
National Park System.
    The Department supports enactment of S. 2933. However, we 
believe that priority should be given to the 47 previously 
authorized studies for potential units of the National Park 
System, potential new National Heritage Areas, and potential 
additions to the National Trails System and National Wild and 
Scenic River System that have not yet been transmitted to the 
Congress.
    S. 2933 authorizes a special resource study, in 
consultation with the Secretary of the Army, to determine the 
suitability and feasibility of designating the Colonel Charles 
Young Home as a unit of the National Park System, and to 
consider other alternatives for preservation and protection of 
the home and interpretation of the life and accomplishments of 
Colonel Young for future appreciation by the public. The bill 
also authorizes consultation and collaboration with the Ohio 
Historical Society, Central State University, Wilberforce 
University and other interested Federal, State or local 
governmental entities, private and nonprofit organizations or 
individuals in accomplishing the resource study. The home is a 
National Historic Landmark. We estimate the cost of this study 
to range from $200,000 to $250,000, based on similar types of 
studies conducted in recent years.
    Colonel Charles Young was the third African-American to 
graduate from West Point, and a distinguished African-American 
officer in the United States Army, commanding troops in combat 
in the Spanish-American War and the Mexican expedition against 
Pancho Villa. Colonel Young was one of the first military 
attaches in the United States, serving in Haiti and Liberia, 
and a pioneer of techniques in military intelligence. The 
experience of Colonel Young in the Army between 1884 and 1922 
illustrates the changing nature of race relations in the United 
States during a period spanning from the end of the Civil War 
to the beginning of the Civil Rights movement.
    Colonel Young was a friend and associate of other 
distinguished African-Americans of the period, including poet 
Paul Laurence Dunbar from nearby Dayton, Ohio; and as the 
commander of an Army unit assigned to protect and develop 
Sequoia National Park and General Grant National Park in the 
State of California, Colonel Young is recognized as the first 
African-American to be the superintendent of a National Park.
    Mr. Chairman, this concludes my prepared statement. I would 
be happy to answer any questions that you or other Committee 
members may have regarding this bill.

                        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 bill S. 2933, as 
ordered reported.

                                  
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