49–010 

Calendar No. 557 

109TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! SENATE 2d Session 109–314 

PRESERVATION OF JAPANESE AMERICAN WORLD WAR II 

CONFINEMENT SITES 

JULY 31, 2006.—Ordered to be printed 

Mr. DOMENICI, from the Committee on Energy and Natural 

Resources, submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

[To accompany 1492] 

The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was 

referred the Act (H.R. 1492) to provide for the preservation of the 

historic confinement sites where Japanese Americans were detained during World War II, and for other purposes, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon with amendments and 

recommends that the Act, as amended, do pass. 

The amendments are as follows: 

1. On page 2, strike lines 15 through 20 and insert the following 

‘‘(b) GRANTS.— 

‘‘(1) CRITERIA.—The Secretary, after consultation 

with State, local, and tribal governments, other public 

entities, educational institutions, and private nonprofit 

organizations (including organizations involved in the 

preservation of historic confinement sites), shall develop criteria for making grants under paragraph (2) 

to assist in carrying out subsection (a). 

‘‘(2) PROVISION OF GRANTS.—Not later than 180 days 

after the date on which funds are made available to 

carry out this Act, the Secretary shall, subject to the 

availability of appropriations, make grants to the entities described in paragraph (1) only in accordance with 

the criteria developed under that paragraph’’. 

2. On page 3, line 21, strike ‘‘25 percent’’ and insert ‘‘50 percent’’. 


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PURPOSE OF THE MEASURE

The purpose of H.R. 1492 is to direct the Secretary of the Interior 

to create a partnership and grant program within the National 

Park Service in order to identify, protect, and acquire locations 

where Japanese-Americans were confined during World War II. 

BACKGROUND AND NEED

H.R. 1492 seeks to preserve structures and locations associated 

with the unjust detention of Japanese-American citizens and resident aliens during World War II. 

During World War II, the United States confined tens of thousands of its Japanese-American citizens in relocation camps. The 

action was spurred by President Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066, 

signed in February, 1942, two months after the Japanese attack on 

Pearl Harbor. Roosevelt’s order gave the Secretary of War the authority to exclude ‘‘any and all persons’’ from areas of the country 

considered vital for national security. In response to the order, the 

War Department removed 113,000 people of Japanese ancestry, 

more than 2/3 of whom were American citizens, from their homes 

on the West Coast and relocated them to camps in the Nation’s interior. 

Surprisingly, this unjust treatment did not dampen the devotion 

that many of the Japanese-Americans felt towards the United 

States. Thousands of young men from the camps signed up to fight 

in the U.S. Armed Forces. They distinguished themselves in combat. In fact, the 100th Battalion of the 442nd Regiment, a unit 

composed primarily of Japanese-Americans, became the most decorated unit of its size in American history. 

To date, two relocation camps have been protected as units of the 

National Park System: Manzanar National Historic Site (California) and Minidoka National Monument (Idaho), respectively. 

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

H.R. 1492 was introduced by Representatives Bill Thomas, Matsui, and Honda on April 6, 2005 and passed by the House of Representatives on a voice vote on November 16, 2005. 

An identical bill, S. 1719, was introduced by Senators Inouye, 

Bennett, and Akaka on September 19, 2005. The Subcommittee on 

National Parks held a hearing on both S. 1719 and H.R. 1492 on 

April 6, 2006. At the business meeting on May 24, 2006, the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources ordered H.R. 1492, as 

amended, favorably reported. 

COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS

The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in open business session on May 24, 2006, by a unanimous voice vote of a 

quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass H.R. 1492, if 

amended as described herein. 

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS

During consideration of H.R. 1492, the Committee adopted two 

amendments to H.R. 1492. One amendment would change the criteria for grants, requiring the Secretary to consult with a broad 

group of organizations involved in preserving historic confinement 


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sites, instead of only the single organization named in the original 

bill. The other amendment would also make grants subject to the 

availability of funds and increase the required non-Federal match 

from 25 percent to 50 percent. 

SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

Section 1(a) directs the Secretary to establish, in partnership 

with other public and private entities, a preservation program to 

preserve historic confinement sites. 

Subsection (b) authorizes a program of grants to public and private organizations, to be administered by the Secretary of the Interior. Grant criteria must be developed in consultation with organizations involved in preserving historic confinement sites. These organizations include, but are not limited to, the Japanese American 

National Heritage Coalition; the Go For Broke Educational Foundation and the Go For Broke National Veterans Association; Japanese American Citizens League; Japanese American National Museum; Japanese American Veterans Association; National Asian 

Pacific American Bar Association; National Asian Pacific American 

Legal Consortium; National Japanese American Historical Society; 

National Japanese American Memorial Foundation; National Japanese American Veterans Council; Organization of Chinese Americans; Amache Preservation Society; Committee to Change ‘‘Jap’’ Road, TX; Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project, WA; 

Denver Central Optimists; Colorado River Indian Tribes; Friends of 

California Civil Liberties Public Education Program; Gila Reunion 

Committee; Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation; Japanese American Service Committee, Chicago, IL; Japanese American Historical 

Society, San Diego, CA; Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai’i; Life 

Interrupted Program (Arkansas Camps); Nisei Farmers League, 

CA; Poston Restoration Project; Topaz Museum Board, UT; Tule 

Lake Preservation Committee; and Zavala County Historical Commission. The Secretary is required to begin providing grants no 

later than 180 days after funds are made available. 

Subsection (c) authorizes the acquisition of non-Federal property 

at four confinement sites: Jerome and Rohwer (Arkansas), Topaz 

(Utah), and Honouliuli (Hawai’i). This subsection declares that this 

Act is not a designation and will not affect private property. 

Subsection (d) requires a 50-percent non-Federal match for 

grants provided under subsection (1)(b) of this Act. 

Subsection (e) states that the sunset date for this Act would be 

2 years after the last grant funds are spent. 

Section 2 defines terms. 

Section 3 stipulates that real property can be acquired only from 

willing sellers. 

COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS

The following estimate of the cost of this measure has been provided by the Congressional Budget Office: 

H.R. 1492—An act to provide for the preservation of the historic 

confinement sites where Japanese Americans were detained 

during World War II, and for other purposes 

Summary: H.R. 1492 would direct the National Park Service 

(NPS) to provide grants to nonfederal entities to restore and preVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:29 Aug 02, 2006 Jkt 049010 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\SR314.XXX SR314

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serve sites associated with the internment of Japanese Americans 

during World War II. The grants would be used for up to 50 percent of the costs of protecting significant sites, including those to 

identify, acquire, and interpret them. For this purpose, the act 

would authorize the appropriation of $38 million. Assuming appropriation of the authorized amount, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 1492 would cost $38 million over the 2007–2011 period. 

Enacting this legislation would not affect direct spending or revenues. H.R. 1492 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 

mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act 

(UMRA) and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments. 

Estimated cost to the Federal Government: The estimated budgetary impact of H.R. 1492 is shown in the following table. The costs 

of this legislation fall within budget function 300 (natural resources 

for environment). For this estimate, CBO assumes that the authorized amount would be appropriated over the next five years and 

paid to nonprofit organizations and other entities as needed. 

By fiscal year, in millions of dollars— 

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 

CHANGES IN SPENDING SUBJECT TO APPROPRIATION 

Estimated Authorization Level ...................................................................... 6 10 10 8 4 

Estimated Outlays ......................................................................................... 4 10 10 8 6 

Intergovernmental and private-sector impact: H.R. 1492 contains 

no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in 

UMRA and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments. 

Previous CBO estimate: On May 24, 2005, CBO transmitted a 

cost estimate for H.R. 1492 as ordered reported by the House Committee on Resources on May 18, 2005. The two versions of the legislation are similar and the estimated costs over five years are the 

same. Our cost estimates reflect different assumptions about when 

the legislation would be enacted. (The previous CBO estimate assumed enactment near the start of fiscal year 2006; thus, it showed 

estimated costs beginning in 2006 instead of 2007.) 

Estimate prepared by: Federal costs: Matthew Pickford; Impact 

on state, local, and tribal governments: Marjorie Miller; Impact on 

the private sector: Tyler Kruzich. 

Estimate approved by: Peter H. Fontaine, 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 

H.R. 1492. 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 H.R. 1492, as ordered reported. 


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EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

The views of the Administration on H.R. 1492 were included in 

testimony received by the Committee at a hearing on the bill on 

April 6, 2006. This testimony follows: 

STATEMENT OF SUE MASICA, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, 

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to appear 

before you to present the views of the Department of the 

Interior on S. 1719 and H.R. 1492, legislation to provide 

for the preservation of the historic confinement sites where 

Japanese Americans were detained during World War II. 

H.R. 1492 was passed by the House on November 16, 2005. 

The Department recognizes the importance of taking 

steps to more fully preserve the history of the experience 

of Japanese Americans during World War II, when many 

were forcibly removed from their homes and sent to live at 

internment camps. However, we do not support the approach taken by S. 1719 and H.R. 1492 to preserve this 

history. For many years, the Department has opposed legislation authorizing appropriations for grants for specified 

non-National Park Service projects. Many of these projects 

represent an important contribution to the preservation of 

our Nation’s history, as would be the case with projects associated with the Japanese American internment camps. 

Each time such legislation is enacted and appropriations 

follow, it further reduces a limited amount of discretionary 

funds available to address the priority needs of our national parks and other programs administered by the National Park Service. With the emphasis we have placed on 

fulfilling our core mission of operating units of the National Park System and on the President’s initiative to reduce the deferred maintenance backlog, it has become 

more important than ever to avoid authorizing funding for 

non-National Park Service projects that would draw funds 

from the National Park Service’s budget. 

S. 1719 and H.R. 1492, which contain identical provisions, would require the Secretary of the Interior to establish a program within the National Park Service to administer grants to public and private entities to protect, restore, interpret, acquire and take other actions with respect to the ten internment camps and other historically 

significant locations where Japanese Americans were detained during World War II. The grants would be made in 

consultation with the Japanese American National Heritage Coalition, an umbrella organization of groups that are 

involved in efforts to preserve one or more of the Japanese 

American detention sites. The bill would authorize appropriations of $38 million for this purpose. 

The Department is actively involved in preserving resources associated with the experience of Japanese Americans during World War II and collecting and disseminating information on this unfortunate chapter of our Nation’s history. As recently as 1990, the National Park ServVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:29 Aug 02, 2006 Jkt 049010 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6969 E:\HR\OC\SR314.XXX SR314

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ice had virtually no role in preserving and interpreting 

this story. That changed in 1992, when Congress (1) authorized the establishment of Manzanar National Historic 

Site in central California, (2) directed the National Park 

Service to conduct a National Historic Landmark (NHL) 

theme study of sites associated with the detention of Japanese Americans during World War II, and (3) authorized 

a memorial in the Nation’s Capital to honor Japanese 

American patriotism in World War II. 

Today, the National Park Service administers two of the 

ten internment camps. In addition to Manzanar, the 

Minidoka Relocation Center in Idaho was added as a unit 

of the National Park System in 2001 following a presidential proclamation that designated the site as Minidoka 

Internment National Monument. Manzanar is a now a 

well-established unit; its visitor center was opened two 

years ago and its annual visitation is about 78,000. 

Minidoka is preparing a General Management Plan and is 

still under development. 

In 1999, to provide the documentation needed for the 

NHL theme study authorized by Congress, the National 

Park Service’s Western Archeological and Conservation 

Center published an extensive compilation and analysis of 

resources associated with these sites. This compilation, 

Confinement and Ethnicity: An Overview of World War II 

Japanese American Relocation Sites, has proven to be an 

invaluable source of information about this subject not 

only for the National Park Service but also for the many 

organizations that are involved in the efforts to preserve 

these sites. 

The NHL theme study directed by Congress is nearly 

complete. Based on that study, two internment camps 

were designated in February as National Historic Landmarks: Tule Lake in California, and Granada in Colorado. 

National Historic Landmark designation is the highest 

level of historic significance our Nation bestows on a place. 

As designated sites, they are eligible for technical assistance available through our NHL program and they have 

an advantage in competing for public and private preservation grants. 

In addition to its designation as a NHL, Tule Lake received a Save America’s Treasures matching grant of 

$200,000 in the Interior appropriations act for Fiscal Year 

2006. The grant will be co-managed by the Tule Lake 

Committee for Preservation of the Tule Lake Camp and 

the National Park Service and used to stabilize the carpenters’ shop and to correct drainage problems. The National Park Service is providing historic preservation assistance to the Bureau of Reclamation, which has administrative jurisdiction over part of the Tule Lake property, 

and to State agencies, which own the remaining part. The 

National Park Service is also providing technical assistance to Departmental bureaus and others to help preserve 

Heart Mountain in Wyoming, Topaz in Utah, and Granada 

in Colorado. 


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The National Park Service is also close to finalizing and 

transmitting to Congress a special resource study of Bainbridge Island, Washington, which was the first location 

from which Japanese Americans were forcibly removed 

from their homes following the issuance of Executive 

Order 9066, which provided the authority for the detention 

of Japanese Americans. This study, which was authorized 

by Congress in 2002, analyzes different alternatives for 

memorializing, preserving, and interpreting this important 

site. Our Pacific West Regional Office, through the National Park Service’s Preservation Partnership programs, 

has also provided technical assistance to the Bainbridge Island community to document the community’s internment 

experiences and the history of the Japanese on Bainbridge. 

That office also provided funding to train Asian-American 

students in documenting sites important to the history of 

their communities. 

In addition, the National Park Service, through its National Mall and Memorial Parks unit, administers the memorial to Japanese American Patriotism in World War II, 

which is located about two blocks north of the U.S. Capitol 

Building. Our National Capital Region office assisted in establishing the memorial. We helped secure an appropriate 

site for the memorial, assisted in its design, and facilitated 

the approval process for it. The memorial honors the approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans who were relocated to the internment camps. It incorporates the names 

and locations of the camps, as well as the names of Japanese Americans who died in military service to the United 

States during World War II. 

A few examples of other activities we have engaged in 

include: 

Establishing a lesson plan on the War Relocation Camps 

of World War 1I on the National Park Service’s ‘‘Teaching 

with Historic Places’’ web site; 

Conducting oral history recording projects that entailed 

recording the histories of internees and other individuals 

associated with the World War II internment; and 

Providing technical assistance to the Jerome County 

Historical Society, Idaho, to copy original newspapers from 

1942–1945 onto microfilm for reference and research purposes, and technical assistance to develop methods to preserve internment-related materials for long-term preservation. 

The Department would like to continue and build on the 

efforts we are already involved in on this subject. In addition to the activities already mentioned, there are other 

ways the National Park Service could enhance the role we 

play in protecting resources and interpreting the history of 

the Japanese American experience in World War II at a 

relatively small cost. For example, working in partnership 

with other entities that own and administer the internment camp sites, we could develop a comprehensive interpretative plan for all ten sites. We could designate a staff 

person to coordinate the preservation and interpretation 


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activities among the different sites. Another possibility 

would be to publish a handbook on the internment camps 

that would be available at National Park Service bookstores. We could also develop a web-based travel itinerary 

on the sites. 

To summarize, we believe there are appropriate ways for 

the National Park Service to expand upon its already significant role in increasing public awareness and understanding of the Japanese American experience during 

World War II. But we do not believe it is appropriate for 

the National Park Service budget to be used as a funding 

source for grants to non-Federal entities to undertake costly restoration and other types of projects at the sites of 

these camps. We therefore cannot support S. 1719 and 

H.R. 1492. 

Mr. Chairman, this concludes my prepared remarks. I 

will be happy to respond to questions from you or other 

members of the committee. 

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 act H.R. 1492, as ordered reported. 

Æ 


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