Lower East Side Tenement National Historic Site Act of 1994

Summary: Lower East Side Tenement National Historic Site Act of 1994 - Designates the Lower East Side Tenement at 97 Orchard Street, New York, New York, as a National Historic Site. Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to enter into a cooperative agreement with the Lower East Side Tenement Museum to assure preservation, interpretation and continuation of the Site. Requires the Museum, as a condition of the receipt of any assistance under this Act, to report annually to the Secretary of the Interior and to the Congress on the activities and expenditures for which any such assistance was used during the fiscal year preceding the report. Authorizes appropriations.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Lower East Side Tenement National 
Historic Site Act of 1994''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    As used in this Act:
            (1) The term ``historic site'' means the Lower East Side 
        Tenement National Historic Site established by section 4.
            (2) The term ``Museum'' means the Lower East Side Tenement 
        Museum, an education corporation chartered under the laws of 
        the State of New York.
            (3) The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of the 
        Interior.

SEC. 3. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds that--
            (1) the Lower East Side Tenement at 97 Orchard Street, New 
        York, New York, is an outstanding survivor of the vast number 
        of humble buildings in New York City that housed immigrants to 
        the United States during the greatest wave of immigration in 
        American history;
            (2) the Lower East Side Tenement is well suited to 
        represent a profound social movement involving great numbers of 
        unexceptional but courageous people;
            (3) between 1880 and 1921, almost three-quarters of the 
        immigrants to the United States entered the country through New 
        York Harbor, most passed through immigration stations at Ellis 
        Island and, earlier, Castle Clinton, both of which have been 
        designated as national monuments, and millions of these 
        immigrants made their way to the Lower East Side of New York 
        City;
            (4) no other single identifiable neighborhood in the United 
        States absorbed a comparable number of immigrants;
            (5) the Museum is dedicated to interpreting immigrant life 
        on the Lower East Side and its importance to United States 
        history, and is located within a neighborhood long associated 
        with the immigrant experience in America;
            (6) the tenement building at 97 Orchard Street has been 
        designated as a National Historic Landmark, has been found to 
        be historically significant, and possesses a historic fabric of 
        exceptional integrity dating from the period of peak 
        immigration to the United States; and
            (7) the National Park Service has found the Lower East Side 
        Tenement to be nationally significant and to be best protected 
        and interpreted through designation as an affiliated area of 
        the National Park System while remaining under private 
        ownership and management.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to assure the preservation, maintenance, and 
        interpretation of the Lower East Side Tenement and to 
        interpret, in the tenement and the surrounding neighborhood, 
        the themes of early tenement life, the housing reform movement, 
        and tenement architecture in the United States;
            (2) to assure the continuation at this site of the Lower 
        East Side Tenement, the preservation of which is necessary for 
        the continued interpretation of the nationally significant 
        immigrant phenomenon associated with the Lower East Side of New 
        York City and the role of the phenomenon in the history of 
        immigration to the United States; and
            (3) to enhance the interpretation of the Castle Clinton 
        National Monument and Ellis Island National Monument through 
        cooperation with the Lower East Side Tenement National Historic 
        Site.

SEC. 4. DESIGNATION OF HISTORIC SITE.

    In order to further the purposes of this Act and the Act of August 
21, 1935 (49 Stat. 666; 16 U.S.C. 461 et seq.), the Lower East Side 
Tenement at 97 Orchard Street, New York, New York, is hereby designated 
as a national historic site.

SEC. 5. COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT.

    (a) In General.--In furtherance of the purposes of this Act and the 
Act of August 21, 1935 (49 Stat. 666; 16 U.S.C. 461 et seq.), the 
Secretary may enter into a cooperative agreement with the Museum to 
effectuate the purposes of this Act.
    (b) Technical and Financial Assistance.--Any agreement entered into 
under subsection (a) may include provisions by which the Secretary will 
provide technical assistance to mark, restore, interpret, operate, and 
maintain the historic site. Such an agreement may also include 
provisions by which the Secretary will provide financial assistance to 
mark, interpret, and restore the historic site (including financial 
assistance for the making of preservation-related capital improvements 
and repairs, but not including financial assistance for other routine 
operations).
    (c) Additional Provisions.--Any agreement entered into under 
subsection (a) shall contain provisions that--
            (1) the Secretary, acting through the National Park 
        Service, shall have the right of access at all reasonable times 
        to all public portions of the property covered by such 
        agreement for the purpose of conducting visitors through such 
        property and interpreting the property to the public; and
            (2) no changes or alterations may be made in property 
        covered by the agreement except by mutual agreement between the 
        Secretary and the other parties to the agreement entered into 
        under subsection (a).

SEC. 6. REPORT.

    The Museum shall, as a condition of the receipt of any assistance 
under this Act, provide to the Secretary and to the Congress an annual 
report documenting the activities and expenditures for which any such 
assistance was used during the fiscal year preceding the report.

SEC. 7. APPROPRIATIONS.

    There is hereby authorized to be appropriated $6,400,000 to carry 
out the purposes of this Act, such sums to remain available until 
expended.
            Amend the title so as to read: ``A bill to establish the 
        Lower East Side Tenement National Historic Site.''.