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[Senate Report 110-309]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

                                                       Calendar No. 661
110th Congress                                                   Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session                                                     110-309

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            NATIONAL TROPICAL BOTANICAL GARDEN AUTHORIZATION

                                _______
                                

                 April 10, 2008.--Ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

   Mr. Bingaman, from the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, 
                        submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                         [To accompany S. 2220]

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was 
referred the bill (S. 2220) to amend the Outdoor Recreation Act 
of 1963 to authorize certain appropriations, having considered 
the same, reports favorably thereon with an amendment in the 
nature of a substitute and an amendment to the title and 
recommends that the bill, as amended, do pass.
    The amendments are as follows:
  1. Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert in 
lieu thereof the following:

SECTION 1. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR NATIONAL TROPICAL 
                    BOTANICAL GARDEN.

  Chapter 1535 of title 36, United States Code, is amended by adding at 
the end the following:

``Sec. 153514. Authorization of appropriations

  ``(a) In General.--Subject to subsection (b), there is authorized to 
be appropriated to the corporation for operation and maintenance 
expenses $500,000 for each of fiscal years 2008 through 2017.
  ``(b) Limitation.--Any Federal funds made available under subsection 
(a) shall be matched on a 1-to-1 basis by non-Federal funds.''.

  2. Amend the title so as to read: ``A bill to authorize 
appropriations for the National Tropical Botanical Garden, and 
for other purposes.''.

                                Purpose

    The purpose of S. 2220, as ordered reported, is to 
authorize appropriations for the National Tropical Botanical 
Garden, located in Hawaii and Florida.

                          Background and Need

    The National Tropical Botanical Garden (originally the 
Pacific Tropical Botanical Garden) was chartered by Congress in 
1964 to encourage and conduct research in basic and applied 
tropical botany; to foster and encourage fundamental research 
with respect to tropical plant life and to encourage research 
and study of the uses of tropical flora in agriculture, 
forestry, horticulture, medicine, and other sciences; to 
disseminate through publications and other media the knowledge 
acquired at the gardens relative to basic and applied tropical 
botany; to collect and cultivate tropical flora of every nature 
and origin and to preserve for the people of the United States 
species of tropical plant life threatened with extinction; and 
to provide a beneficial facility which will contribute to the 
education, instruction, and recreation of the people of the 
United States.
    The National Tropical Botanical Garden includes several 
separate gardens in the State of Hawaii and one in southern 
Florida. Although the Garden is Congressionally chartered, it 
has not received regular Federal funding. Since its inception 
43 years ago, the Botanical Garden has raised nearly $100 
million in funding from non-Federal sources. In recognition of 
the increased costs associated with operating the five gardens, 
S. 2220 will authorize the Botanical Garden to receive limited 
Federal funding as a match to private funding.

                          Legislative History

    S. 2220 was introduced by Senators Akaka, Inouye, and 
Martinez on October 23, 2007. The Subcommittee on National 
Parks held a hearing on S. 2220 on November 8, 2007. (S. Hrg. 
110-282.)
    At its business meeting on January 30, 2008, the Committee 
on Energy and Natural Resources ordered S. 2220 favorably 
reported, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute.

                        Committee Recommendation

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in open 
business session on January 30, 2008, by a voice vote of a 
quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass S. 2220, if 
amended as described herein.

                          Committee Amendments

    During its consideration of S. 2220, the Committee adopted 
an amendment in the nature of a substitute and an amendment to 
the title. As introduced, S. 2220 amended the Outdoor 
Recreation Act of 1963 (16 U.S.C. 460l et seq.). In lieu of 
amending that law, the substitute amendment adds a new section 
to chapter 1535 of title 36, United States Code, which is where 
the Congressional Charter for the National Tropical Botanical 
Garden is codified. The amendment also caps annual 
appropriations at no more than $500,000 and requires any 
Federal funds to be matched on a one-to-one basis with non-
Federal funds.

                           Summary of S. 2220

    S. 2220 amends chapter 1535 of title 36, United States 
Code, to add a new section which authorizes up to $500,000 to 
be appropriated for operation and maintenance expenses of the 
National Tropical Botanical Garden for each of fiscal years 
2008 through 2017. Any Federal funds must be matched with non-
Federal funds on a one-to-one basis.

                   Cost and Budgetary Considerations

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

S. 2220--A bill to authorize appropriations for the National Tropical 
        Botanical Garden

    S. 2220 would authorize the appropriation of $500,000 for 
each of fiscal years 2008 through 2017 to the National Tropical 
Botanical Garden, a nonprofit organization. The organization 
would use that funding to maintain the four gardens that it 
operates in Hawaii and Florida.
    Assuming the availability of appropriated funds, CBO 
estimates that implementing S. 2220 would cost $2.5 million 
over the next five years and $5 million through fiscal year 
2017. Enacting the legislation would not affect revenues or 
direct spending.
    S. 2220 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.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Deborah Reis. 
The estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, Deputy Assistant 
Director of the Budget Analysis Division.

                      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. 2220. 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. 2220, as ordered reported.

                   Congressionally Directed Spending

    In accordance with paragraph 4(b) of rule XLIV of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee provides the 
following information of congressionally directed spending 
items contained in S. 2220, as ordered reported:
    Section: Sec. 1; Provision: Authorization of 
Appropriations; Member: Sen. Akaka.

                        Executive Communications

    The testimony provided by the National Park Service at the 
November 8, 2007 subcommittee hearing on S. 2220 follows:

    Statement of Katherine H. Stevenson, Acting Assistant Director, 
  Business Services, 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. 2220, to amend the Outdoor Recreation Act of 
1963 to authorize certain appropriations. The bill would 
authorize funding for the National Tropical Botanical Garden 
for Fiscal Year 2009 and beyond.
     The Department opposes S. 2220. We recognize the important 
contributions to scientific research, education, and 
conservation that are being made by the National Tropical 
Botanical Garden, a non-profit organization dedicated to 
discovering, saving, and studying the world's tropical plants. 
However, as critical as the Garden's work is, we believe that 
the use of limited National Park Service appropriations to fund 
the operation and maintenance costs of a private organization 
is inappropriate.
     Since the mid-1990's, legislation has been passed and 
signed into law that authorized several hundreds of millions of 
dollars in grants to be passed through the NPS budget for non-
Park System projects. Many of these bills provided support for 
very well-regarded organizations, similar to what is proposed 
in S. 2220. Each time this is done, it reduces the availability 
of NPS's limited amount of discretionary funds to address the 
needs of our national parks and other important national 
priorities. We believe funds are more appropriately directed at 
this time to reducing the long list of projects and needs that 
have been identified in our national parks.
     Furthermore, the authorization of funding provided under 
S. 2220 is permanent, as it would authorize a grant to the 
Garden each year indefinitely, which is designed to increase 
with inflation. Over time, this authorization could draw 
considerable funding from the National Park Service's budget.
     S. 2220 would amend the Outdoor Recreation Act of 1963 to 
authorize appropriations of $1 million for fiscal year 2009 and 
$500,000 for each subsequent fiscal year, adjusted for 
inflation, for the National Tropical Botanical Garden. The 
funding would be used to match public and private donations 
made for operating and maintaining the organization's five 
gardens.
     The National Tropical Botanical Garden was chartered by 
Congress in 1964 [Public Law 88-449] as the Pacific Tropical 
Botanical Garden. Its name was changed in 1988 after the Garden 
expanded to include a donated site in Florida. The organization 
is based on the island of Kauai, and currently operates five 
distinct gardens--four in Hawaii and one in Florida--and 
several preserves, which together consist of about 1,800 acres. 
This network of gardens and preserves encompasses different 
ecosystems and environmental conditions, enabling the 
organization to grow and preserve a broad range of tropical 
plants. These gardens are havens for imperiled plants and serve 
as living laboratories for staff scientists and visiting 
researchers from all over the world.
     The National Tropical Botanical Garden is currently 
involved in the work that the National Park Service has 
undertaken to catalogue and provide long-term storage of seeds 
of threatened and endangered plant species in national park 
units, in case they are needed in the future for plant 
augmentation and restoration. The National Park Service has 
entered into a cooperative agreement with the Center for Plant 
Conservation (CPC), which is associated with the Missouri 
Botanic Garden, to coordinate the collection of seeds, other 
propagules, or plant parts of threatened and endangered plants 
in national park units. The National Tropical Botanical Garden 
is one of several entities the CPC is working with to obtain 
over 80 species from five national park units in Hawaii.
     The bill as introduced would amend the Outdoor Recreation 
Act of 1963 and it is titled accordingly. There is no direct 
relationship between that Act and the National Tropical 
Botanical Garden. A free-standing authorization would be more 
appropriate legislatively and would make the purpose of the 
bill clearer.
     Mr. Chairman, that concludes my prepared remarks. I would 
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, changes in existing law made by 
the bill S. 2220 as ordered reported, are shown as follows 
(existing law proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black 
brackets, new matter is printed in italic, existing law in 
which no change is proposed is shown in roman):

     TITLE 36--PATRIOTIC AND NATIONAL OBSERVANCES, CEREMONIES, AND 
                             ORGANIZATIONS

            Subtitle II--Patriotic and National Organizations

                         PART B--ORGANIZATIONS

            CHAPTER 1535--NATIONAL TROPICAL BOTANICAL GARDEN

Sec. 153501. Organization

     (a) Federal Charter.--National Tropical Botanical Garden 
(in this chapter, the ``corporation'') is a federally chartered 
corporation.
     (b) Perpetual Existence.--Except as otherwise provided, 
the corporation has perpetual existence.

Sec. 153502. Purposes

    The purposes of the corporation are--
          (1) to establish, develop, operate, and maintain for 
        the benefit of the people of the United States an 
        educational and scientific center in the form of one or 
        more tropical botanical gardens, together with 
        facilities such as libraries, herbaria, laboratories, 
        and museums that are appropriate and necessary for 
        encouraging and conducting research in basic and 
        applied tropical botany;
          (2) to foster and encourage fundamental research 
        about tropical plant life and to encourage research and 
        study of the uses of tropical flora in agriculture, 
        forestry, horticulture, medicine, and other sciences;
          (3) to disseminate through publications and other 
        media the knowledge about basic and applied tropical 
        botany acquired at the gardens;
          (4) to collect and cultivate tropical flora of every 
        nature and origin and to preserve for the people of the 
        United States species of tropical plant life threatened 
        with extinction; and
          (5) to provide a beneficial facility that will 
        contribute to the education, instruction, and 
        recreation of the people of the United States.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *

Sec. 153514. Authorization of Appropriations

     (a) In General.--Subject to subsection (b), there is 
authorized to be appropriated to the corporation for operation 
and maintenance expenses $500,000 for each of fiscal years 2008 
through 2017.
     (b) Limitation.--Any Federal funds made available under 
subsection (a) shall be matched on a 1-to-1 basis by non-
Federal funds.

                                  
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