[Senate Report 114-129]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 209
114th Congress { } Report
SENATE
1st Session { } 114-129
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THURGOOD MARSHALL'S ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDY ACT
_______
September 9, 2015.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Ms. Murkowski, from the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources,
submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 610]
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was
referred the bill (S. 610) to authorize the Secretary of the
Interior to conduct a special resource study of P.S. 103 in
West Baltimore, Maryland and for other purposes, having
considered the same, reports favorably thereon without
amendment and recommends that the bill do pass.
PURPOSE
The purpose of S. 610 is to authorize the Secretary of the
Interior to conduct a special resource study of Public School
(P.S.) 103 in West Baltimore, Maryland.
BACKGROUND AND NEED
One of the nation's leading lawyers and a hero of the Civil
Rights movement, Justice Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993), was
born, raised, and educated in Baltimore, Maryland. As a young
attorney for the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People, he began his fight to desegregate public
schools in Baltimore. He ultimately argued and won the seminal
Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education, which ended
the policy of segregation in public schools. Marshall was
appointed to the United States Supreme Court in 1967 by
President Johnson and served until October 1991. Justice
Marshall was the first African American to serve on the Supreme
Court.
The elementary school Justice Marshall attended as a child,
Public School 103, still stands in the Upton neighborhood of
West Baltimore. A story is told that a young Thurgood Marshall
studied the United States Constitution in the basement of the
building while serving detention. As a segregated school, P.S.
103 tells the story of racial segregation in America and marks
the academic beginning of one of the country's foremost legal
minds and a pioneer of the civil rights movement.
This legislation would authorize the National Park Service
(NPS) to undertake a special resource study of P.S. 103, and
any other resources in the neighborhood surrounding P.S. 103
that relate to the early life of Thurgood Marshall, to evaluate
whether this site meets the NPS's criteria of national
significance, suitability, and feasibility for potential
designation of the area as a unit of the NPS, and the need for
NPS management of the resource versus management by state or
local government entities or other private or non-profit
organizations. The study is informational; Congress would still
have to act on separate legislation to establish a unit of the
National Park System.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
S. 610 was introduced by Senators Cardin and Mikulski on
February 27, 2015. The Subcommittee on National Parks held a
hearing on the bill on June 10, 2015.
Senators Cardin and Mikulski introduced a similar bill in
the 113th Congress, S. 103, on January 23, 2013.
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources met in open
business session on July 30, 2015, and ordered S. 610 favorably
reported.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in
open business session on July 30, 2015, by a majority voice
vote of a quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass S.
610.
SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS
Section 1 contains the short title, the ``Thurgood
Marshall's Elementary School Study Act.''
Section 2 contains definitions.
Section 3 directs the Secretary of the Interior to conduct
a special resource study of Public School 103 and any other
resources in the neighborhood surrounding P.S. 103 that relate
to the early life of Thurgood Marshall. Section 3(b) requires
the study to: evaluate the national significance of the site;
determine the suitability and feasibility of designating the
site as a unit of the National Park System; include cost
estimates for any necessary acquisition, development, operation
and maintenance of the site; consult with interested government
entities, private and non-profit organizations or other
interested individuals; and identify alternatives for the
management, administration and protection of the site. Section
3(c) requires that the study shall be conducted in accordance
with section 100507 of title 54, United States Code, which sets
forth criteria for National Park Service special resource
studies. Section 3(d) requires the Secretary to submit a report
that describes the findings and conclusions of the study and
any recommendations to the House Natural Resources Committee
and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee within
three years after the funds are made available to carry out the
study.
COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS
The following estimate of costs of this measure has been
provided by the Congressional Budget Office:
S. 610--Thurgood Marshall's Elementary School Study Act
S. 610 would direct the Secretary of the Interior to study
the suitability and feasibility of designating P.S. 103 in West
Baltimore, Maryland, as a unit of the National Park System
(P.S. 103 is the public school that Supreme Court Justice
Thurgood Marshall attended as a child). CBO estimates that
carrying out the proposed study would cost about $200,000; such
spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated
funds. Enacting S. 610 would not affect direct spending or
revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
S. 610 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and
would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal
governments.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Marin Burnett.
The estimate was approved by H. Samuel Papenfuss, 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 S. 610. 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. 610, as ordered reported.
CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING
S. 610, 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
June 10, 2015, Subcommittee hearing on S. 610 follows:
Statement of Victor Knox, Associate Director, Park Planning, Facilities
and Lands, National Park Service, Department of the Interior
Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, thank you for
the opportunity to provide the Department of the Interior's
views on S. 610, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to
conduct a special resource study of P.S. 103 in West Baltimore,
Maryland, and for other purposes.
The Department supports enactment of S. 610. However, we
believe that priority should be given to the 33 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 Rivers System that have not yet been transmitted to
Congress.
S. 610 authorizes a special resource study of Public School
103 and other resources in the neighborhood that relate to the
early life of Thurgood Marshall in Baltimore, Maryland. This
study would determine whether this site meets the National Park
Service's criteria for inclusion in the National Park System of
national significance, suitability, and feasibility, and need
for National Park Service management. The study would also
consider other alternatives for preservation, protection, and
interpretation of the resources by the Federal government,
State or local government entities, or private and non-profit
entities. Alternatives might include, for example, the
designation of the site as an affiliated area of the National
Park Service, where the National Park Service would provide
technical assistance to the site but not own or manage it. We
estimate the cost of the study to range from $200,000 to
$300,000, based on similar types of studies conducted in recent
years.
P.S. 103 was originally built in 1877 for West Baltimore's
white immigrant population but, in 1911, it became a segregated
African-American school serving the Upton community of West
Baltimore. The school is significant for its role in the
education of Thurgood Marshall, who is best known as the lead
counsel for the landmark school desegregation case, Brown v.
Board of Education (1954) and as the first African-American
Supreme Court Justice. Marshall's life and his life's work
began in Baltimore: it is the city where he was born in 1908,
where he began his public education, and where he won his first
civil rights cases as a young attorney. Thurgood Marshall
attended P.S. 103 from 1st through 8th grade (1914 to 1921).
Marshall's accomplishments in systematically dismantling
the legal framework for Jim Crow segregation are the foundation
upon which the success of the Civil Rights Movement was built.
P.S. 103 is owned by the City of Baltimore and is included in
the Baltimore National Heritage Area.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes our prepared statement. I
would be happy to respond to any questions about this matter.
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. 610, as ordered
reported.