I

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4448

To amend the Act establishing Lowell National Historical Park, and for

other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 18, 1994

Mr. MEEHAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Natural Resources

A BILL

To amend the Act establishing Lowell National Historical

Park, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. AMENDMENTS.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—This Act entitled ‘‘An Act to pro5 vide for the establishment of the Lowell National Histori6 cal Park in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and for

7 other purposes’’ approved June 5, 1978 (92 Stat. 290;

8 16 U.S.C. 410cc et seq.), is amended as follows:
2

•HR 4448 IH

1 (1) In section 1(b), by striking ‘‘to preserve and

2 interpret’’ and inserting ‘‘to preserve, interpret, and

3 promote’’.

4 (2) In section 103(a)(2), by striking

5 ‘‘$33,600,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$43,930,000’’.

6 (3) In section 201(b), by adding at the end

7 thereof the following new paragraph.

8 ‘‘(3) The Secretary shall submit to the Con9 gress a revised park management plan within 2

10 years after the date of enactment of this para11 graph.’’.

12 (4) In section 203, by adding at the end thereof

13 the following new subsection:

14 ‘‘(c) The Secretary, acting through the National Park

15 Service, shall assume all responsibilities for administration

16 and oversight of the loan and grant agreements under sec17 tion 303 of this Act as were previously ascribed to the

18 Commission, upon its termination.’’.

19 (5) In section 205, by adding at the end thereof

20 the following new subsections:

21 ‘‘(e) Any revenues or other assets acquired by the

22 Secretary by donation, the lease or sale of property or fees

23 for services shall be available to the Secretary, without fis24 cal year limitation, to be used for any function of the Sec25 retary authorized under this Act. The Secretary shall keep
3

•HR 4448 IH

1 financial records fully disclosing the amount and source

2 of revenues and other assets acquired by the Secretary.

3 ‘‘(f) The Secretary shall provide for audits of the fi4 nancial records of the park to be conducted not less fre5 quently than once each year in order to ensure that reve6 nues and other assets of the park are being used in a man7 ner authorized under this Act.’’.

8 (6) In section 301(i), by striking ‘‘seventeen’’

9 and inserting ‘‘twenty-two’’.

10 (7) In section 303(a), by amending paragraph

11 (1) to read as follows:

12 ‘‘(1) The loan to the corporation shall have a

13 maturity of thirty-five years. At the end of such pe14 riod, the corporation shall repay to the Secretary of

15 the Treasury (in a lump sum) for deposit in the gen16 eral fund of the Treasury the full amount of the

17 loan and any additional amounts accruing to the

18 corporation pursuant to this subsection excepting

19 principal and interest losses occasioned by loan de20 faults after all reasonable efforts at collection have

21 been completed plus those amounts expended by the

22 Corporation for reasonable administrative expenses.

23 The Commission is further authorized to renegotiate

24 the terms and conditions respecting loan repayment
4

•HR 4448 IH

1 of the agreement dated December 8, 1980, with the

2 Lowell Development and Financial Corporation.’’.

3 (8) In section 305(g), by inserting before the

4 period at the end thereof ‘‘for administration by the

5 National Park Service in accordance with the gen6 eral management plan’’.

7 (9) By adding after section 307 the following:

8 ‘‘ADVISORY COMMITTEE

9 ‘‘SEC. 308. (a) Upon the termination of the Commis10 sion on the date specified in section 301(i), the Secretary

11 shall establish a committee to be known as the Lowell Na12 tional Historical Park Advisory Committee (hereinafter in

13 this section referred to as the ‘Advisory Committee’).

14 ‘‘(b) The Advisory Committee shall be composed of

15 15 members appointed by the Secretary as follows:

16 ‘‘(1) Three members who are members of the

17 city council of Lowell, appointed from recommenda18 tions made by the mayor of Lowell.

19 ‘‘(2) Four members appointed from rec20 ommendations made by the city manager of Lowell

21 of persons who are representative of organized labor,

22 the business community, local neighborhoods, and

23 cultural institutions, and who are not elected offi24 cials.

25 ‘‘(3) One member appointed from recommenda26 tions made by the Lowell Historical Society.
5

•HR 4448 IH

1 ‘‘(4) One member appointed from recommenda2 tions made by the chancellor of the University of

3 Massachusetts at Lowell.

4 ‘‘(5) Three members appointed from rec5 ommendations made by the Governor of the Com6 monwealth of Massachusetts of persons who must be

7 employees of the Massachusetts Historical Commis8 sion, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and the

9 Massachusetts Department of Environmental Man10 agement.

11 ‘‘(6) One member appointed from recommenda12 tions made by the New England Foundation for the

13 Arts.

14 ‘‘(7) One member appointed from recommenda15 tions made by the National Trust for Historic Pres16 ervation.

17 ‘‘(8) One member qualified to serve on the

18 Commission because of his or her familiarity with

19 programs of the Department of the Interior involv20 ing national parks and historic preservation and who

21 shall be an employee of the Cultural Resources Cen22 ter of the National Park Service.

23 ‘‘(c) The Advisory Committee shall designate one of

24 its members as Chairperson.
6

•HR 4448 IH

1 ‘‘(d) Eight members of the Advisory Committee shall

2 constitute a quorum. The Advisory Committee shall act

3 and advise by affirmative vote of a majority of the mem4 bers voting at a meeting at which a quorum is present.

5 The Advisory Committee shall meet on a regular basis.

6 Notice of meetings and agenda shall be published in local

7 newspapers which have a distribution which generally cov8 ers the area affected by the park and preservation district.

9 Advisory Committee meetings shall be held at locations

10 and in such a manner as to ensure adequate public in11 volvement.

12 ‘‘(e) The Advisory Committee shall advise the Sec13 retary on the operation, maintenance, development, and

14 programming of the park and preservation district.

15 ‘‘(f) In order to provide staff support and technical

16 services to assist the Advisory Committee in carrying out

17 its duties under this Act, upon request of the Advisory

18 Committee, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to

19 detail any personnel of the National Park Service to the

20 Advisory Committee.

21 ‘‘(g) Members of the Advisory Committee shall serve

22 without compensation but shall be entitled to travel ex23 penses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, in the

24 same manner as persons employed intermittently in Gov-
7

•HR 4448 IH

1 ernment service under section 5703 of title 5, United

2 States Code.

3 ‘‘(h) The provisions of section 14(b) of the Federal

4 Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. Appendix; 86 Stat.

5 776), are hereby waived with respect to the Advisory Com6 mittee.

7 ‘‘(i) Any vacancy in the Advisory Committee shall be

8 filled in the same manner in which the original appoint9 ment was made. Any member may serve after the expira10 tion of his term until his successor is appointed.’’.

11 (b) GENERAL EFFECTIVE DATE.—Except as pro12 vided in subsection (c), the amendments made by sub13 section (a) shall take effect on the date of the enactment

14 of this Act.

15 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE OF AUTHORIZATION OF AP16 PROPRIATION.—The amendment made by subsection

17 (a)(2) shall take effect on October 1, 1994.

Æ