[House Report 115-84]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


115th Congress    }                                           {   Report
                         HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 1st Session      }                                           {   115-84

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



 
                 R. JESS BROWN UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE

                                _______
                                

   April 6, 2017.--Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be 
                                printed

                                _______
                                

 Mr. Shuster, from the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, 
                        submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                        [To accompany H.R. 455]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, to whom 
was referred the bill (H.R. 455) to designate the United States 
courthouse located at 501 East Court Street in Jackson, 
Mississippi, as the ``R. Jess Brown United States Courthouse'', 
having considered the same, report favorably thereon without 
amendment and recommend that the bill do pass.

                                CONTENTS

                                                                   Page
Purpose of Legislation...........................................     2
Background and Need for Legislation..............................     2
Hearings.........................................................     2
Legislative History and Consideration............................     2
Committee Votes..................................................     2
Committee Oversight Findings.....................................     2
New Budget Authority and Tax Expenditures........................     3
Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate........................     3
Performance Goals and Objectives.................................     3
Advisory of Earmarks.............................................     3
Duplication of Federal Programs..................................     4
Disclosure of Directed Rule Makings..............................     4
Federal Mandate Statement........................................     4
Preemption Clarification.........................................     4
Advisory Committee Statement.....................................     4
Applicability of Legislative Branch..............................     4
Section-by-Section Analysis of Legislation.......................     4
Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported............     5

                         PURPOSE OF LEGISLATION

    H.R. 455 designates the United States courthouse located at 
501 East Court Street in Jackson, Mississippi, as the ``R. Jess 
Brown United States Courthouse''.

                  BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION

    H.R. 455 designates the United States courthouse located at 
501 East Court Street in Jackson, Mississippi, as the ``R. Jess 
Brown United States Courthouse''.
    Mr. R. Jess Brown was a civil rights lawyer who worked 
against segregationist laws and was credited in the 1950s with 
filing the first civil rights suit in Mississippi. Mr. Brown, a 
native of Muskogee, Oklahoma, attended Illinois State 
University, Indiana University, and the Texas Southern 
University Law School. In the 1960s he was one of only four 
African-American lawyers in Mississippi, and one of three who 
took civil rights cases. In 1962, he worked on behalf of James 
Meredith, whose successful lawsuit allowed him to be the first 
African-American student to enroll at the University of 
Mississippi.
    By the time of James Meredith's case, Mr. Brown already had 
an established history of litigating for civil rights 
stretching back to 1948, when he sued on behalf of African-
American teachers in Jackson, Mississippi who sought equal pay 
with their white colleagues.
    Later, Mr. Brown worked with the NAACP Legal Defense and 
Educational Fund in fighting discrimination in transportation 
and other public accommodations in the 1960s. Mr. R. Jess Brown 
died December 31, 1989, due to cancer.

                                HEARINGS

    No hearings were held on H.R. 455.

                 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY AND CONSIDERATION

    On January 11, 2017, Congressman Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS) 
introduced H.R. 455, a bill to designate the United States 
courthouse located at 501 East Court Street in Jackson, 
Mississippi, as the ``R. Jess Brown United States Courthouse''.
    On March 29, 2017, the Committee on Transportation and 
Infrastructure met in open session and ordered the bill 
reported favorably to the House by voice vote with a quorum 
present.

                            COMMITTEE VOTES

    Clause 3(b) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives requires each committee report to include the 
total number of votes cast for and against on each record vote 
on a motion to report and on any amendment offered to the 
measure or matter, and the names of those members voting for 
and against. There were no recorded votes taken in connection 
with consideration of H.R. 455.

                      COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS

    With respect to the requirements of clause 3(c)(1) of rule 
XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the 
Committee's oversight findings and recommendations are 
reflected in this report.

               NEW BUDGET AUTHORITY AND TAX EXPENDITURES

    Clause 3(c)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives does not apply where a cost estimate and 
comparison prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget 
Office under section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 
1974 has been timely submitted prior to the filing of the 
report and is included in the report. Such a cost estimate is 
included in this report.

               CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE COST ESTIMATE

    With respect to the requirement of clause 3(c)(3) of rule 
XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and section 
402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the Committee has 
received the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 455 from the 
Director of the Congressional Budget Office:

                                     U.S. Congress,
                               Congressional Budget Office,
                                     Washington, DC, April 4, 2017.
Hon. Bill Shuster,
Chairman, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
    Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has 
reviewed H.R. 455, a bill to designate the United States 
Courthouse located at 501 East Court Street in Jackson, 
Mississippi, as the ``R. Jess Brown United States Courthouse,'' 
as ordered reported by the House Committee on Transportation 
and Infrastructure on March 29, 2017.
    CBO estimates that enacting this legislation would have no 
significant effect on the federal budget and would not affect 
direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go 
procedures do not apply. CBO estimates that enacting the 
legislation would not increase net direct spending or on-budget 
deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods 
beginning in 2028.
    The bill 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.
    If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be 
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Matthew 
Pickford.
            Sincerely,
                                                        Keith Hall.

                    PERFORMANCE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

    With respect to the requirement of clause 3(c)(4) of rule 
XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the 
performance goal and objective of this legislation is to 
designate the United States courthouse located at 501 East 
Court Street in Jackson, Mississippi, as the ``R. Jess Brown 
United States Courthouse''.

                          ADVISORY OF EARMARKS

    Pursuant to clause 9 of rule XXI of the Rules of the House 
of Representatives, the Committee is required to include a list 
of congressional earmarks, limited tax benefits, or limited 
tariff benefits as defined in clause 9(e), 9(f), and 9(g) of 
rule XXI of the Rules of the House of Representatives. No 
provision in the bill includes an earmark, limited tax benefit, 
or limited tariff benefit under clause 9(e), 9(f), or 9(g) of 
rule XXI.

                    DUPLICATION OF FEDERAL PROGRAMS

    Pursuant to clause 3(c)(5) of rule XIII of the Rules of the 
House of Representatives, the Committee finds that no provision 
of H.R. 455 establishes or reauthorizes a program of the 
federal government known to be duplicative of another federal 
program, a program that was included in any report from the 
Government Accountability Office to Congress pursuant to 
section 21 of Public Law 111-139, or a program related to a 
program identified in the most recent Catalog of Federal 
Domestic Assistance.

                  DISCLOSURE OF DIRECTED RULE MAKINGS

    Pursuant to section 3(i) of H. Res. 5, 115th Cong. (2017), 
the Committee finds that enacting H.R. 455 does not direct the 
completion of a specific rule making within the meaning of 
section 551 of title 5, United States Code.

                       FEDERAL MANDATE STATEMENT

    The Committee adopts as its own the estimate of federal 
mandates prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget 
Office pursuant to section 423 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform 
Act (Public Law 104-4).

                        PREEMPTION CLARIFICATION

    Section 423 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 
requires the report of any Committee on a bill or joint 
resolution to include a statement on the extent to which the 
bill or joint resolution is intended to preempt state, local, 
or tribal law. The Committee states that H.R. 455 does not 
preempt any state, local, or tribal law.

                      ADVISORY COMMITTEE STATEMENT

    No advisory committees within the meaning of section 5(b) 
of the Federal Advisory Committee Act are created by this 
legislation.

                  APPLICABILITY OF LEGISLATIVE BRANCH

    The Committee finds that the legislation does not relate to 
the terms and conditions of employment or access to public 
services or accommodations within the meaning of section 
102(b)(3) of the Congressional Accountability Act (Public Law 
104-1).

               SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS OF LEGISLATION

Section 1. Designation

    Section 1 designates the United States courthouse located 
at 501 East Court Street in Jackson, Mississippi, as the ``R. 
Jess Brown United States Courthouse''.

Section. 2. References

    Section 2 deems any reference in a law, map, regulation, 
document, paper, or other record of the United States to the 
federal building and United States courthouse referred to in 
section 1 as a reference to the ``R. Jess Brown United States 
Courthouse''.

         CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE BILL, AS REPORTED

    H.R. 455 makes no changes in existing law.