[Senate Report 115-302]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                      Calendar No. 516
115th Congress    }                                     {       Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session       }                                     {      115-302

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



 
            THURGOOD MARSHALL'S ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDY ACT

                                _______
                                

                 July 16, 2018.--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. 1645]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was 
referred the bill (S. 1645) 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. 1645 is to authorize the Secretary of the 
Interior to conduct a special resource study of Public School 
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.

                          LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

    S. 1645 was introduced by Senators Cardin and Van Hollen on 
July 27, 2017. The Subcommittee on National Parks held a 
hearing on S. 1645 on February 14, 2018.
    In the 114th Congress, similar legislation, 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. The Committee on Energy and Natural 
Resources ordered S. 610 favorably reported on July 30, 2015 
(S. Rept. 114-129).
    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources met in open 
business session on May 17, 2018 and ordered S. 1645 favorably 
reported.

                        COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

    The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in 
open business session on May 17, 2018, by a majority voice vote 
of a quorum present recommends that the Senate pass S. 1645. 
Senator Lee asked to be recorded as voting no.

                      SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

Section 1. Short title

    Section 1 contains the short title.

Section 2. Definitions

    Section 2 contains definitions.

Section 3. Special resource study

    Section 3(a) 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.
    Subsection (b) requires the study to evaluate the national 
significance of the study area; determine the suitability and 
feasibility of designating the study area as a unit of the 
National Park System; identify alternatives for the 
preservation, protection, and interpretation of the study area; 
consult with interested government entities, private and non-
profit organizations or other interested individuals; and 
identify cost estimates for any Federal acquisition, 
development, interpretation, operation, and maintenance 
associated with the alternatives.
    Subsection (c) requires the study to be conducted in 
accordance with applicable law.
    Subsection (d) requires the Secretary to submit a report on 
the study's findings and conclusions, and provide 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 the costs of this measure has 
been provided by the Congressional Budget Office:
    S. 1645 would direct the National Park Service (NPS) to 
conduct a special resource study of P.S. 103 elementary school 
in West Baltimore, Maryland, where former Supreme Court Justice 
Thurgood Marshall attended as a child. As part of that study, 
the NPS would determine the suitability and feasibility of 
designating the site as a unit of the National Park System.
    Based on the costs of similar studies, CBO estimates that 
implementing S. 1645 would cost less than $500,000; such 
spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated 
funds.
    Enacting S. 1645 would not affect direct spending or 
revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
    CBO estimates that enacting S. 1645 would not increase net 
direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four 
consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029.
    S. 1645 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Janani 
Shankaran. The estimate was reviewed 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. 1645. 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. 1645, as ordered reported.

                   CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING

    S. 1645, 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 Department of the Interior at 
the February 14, 2018, hearing on S. 1645 follows:

Statement of P. Daniel Smith, Deputy Director, Exercising the Authority 
    of the Director of the National Park Service, Department of the 
                                Interior

    Chairman Daines, Ranking Member King, and members of the 
Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to provide the 
Department of the Interior's views on S. 1645, 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 recognizes that P.S. 103, the elementary 
school that Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall attended, 
would be an appropriate subject for a National Park Service 
special resource study. However, we do not support enactment of 
S. 1645 at this time. In order to focus resources on reducing 
the National Park Service's $11.6 billion deferred maintenance 
backlog and addressing other critical national park needs, no 
increase in funding is requested for special resource studies 
in the Administration's FY 2019 budget. Currently, the National 
Park Service is conducting 22 previously authorized studies to 
determine if areas have potential for inclusion in the National 
Park System as new units, national heritage areas, national 
trails, or wild and scenic rivers. Under these circumstances, 
we believe it would be unwise to authorize a new special 
resource study.
    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. 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 my statement. I would be 
pleased to answer any questions you or other members of the 
Subcommittee 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 bill S. 1645 as ordered 
reported.

                                  [all]