II

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2070

To provide for an Underground Railroad Educational and Cultural Program.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MAY 12, 1998

Mr. DEWINE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Labor and Human Resources

A BILL

To provide for an Underground Railroad Educational and

Cultural Program.

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

3 SECTION 1. UNDERGROUND RAILROAD EDUCATIONAL AND

4 CULTURAL PROGRAM.

5 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the

6 ‘‘Underground Railroad Educational and Cultural Act’’.

7 (b) PROGRAM ESTABLISHED.—The Secretary of

8 Education, in consultation and cooperation with the Sec9 retary of the Interior, is authorized to make grants to 1

10 or more nonprofit educational organizations that are es-
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1 tablished to research, display, interpret, and collect arti2 facts relating to the history of the Underground Railroad.

3 (c) GRANT AGREEMENT.—Each nonprofit edu4 cational organization awarded a grant under this section

5 shall enter into an agreement with the Secretary of Edu6 cation. Each such agreement shall require the organiza7 tion—

8 (1) to establish a facility to house, display, and

9 interpret the artifacts related to the history of the

10 Underground Railroad;

11 (2) to demonstrate substantial private support

12 for the facility through the implementation of a pub13 lic-private partnership between a State or local pub14 lic entity and a private entity for the support of the

15 facility, which private entity shall provide matching

16 funds for the support of the facility in an amount

17 equal to 4 times the amount of the contribution of

18 the State or local public entity, except that not more

19 than 20 percent of the matching funds may be pro20 vided by the Federal Government;

21 (3) to create an endowment to fund any and all

22 shortfalls in the costs of the on-going operations of

23 the facility;

24 (4) to establish a network of satellite centers

25 throughout the United States to help disseminate in-
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1 formation regarding the Underground Railroad

2 throughout the United States, if such satellite cen3 ters raise 80 percent of the funds required to estab4 lish the satellite centers from non-Federal public and

5 private sources;

6 (5) to establish the capability to electronically

7 link the facility with other local and regional facili8 ties that have collections and programs which inter9 pret the history of the Underground Railroad; and

10 (6) to submit, for each fiscal year for which the

11 organization receives funding under this section, a

12 report to the Secretary of Education that contains—

13 (A) a description of the programs and ac14 tivities supported by the funding;

15 (B) the audited financial statement of the

16 organization for the preceding fiscal year;

17 (C) a plan for the programs and activities

18 to be supported by the funding as the Secretary

19 may require; and

20 (D) an evaluation of the programs and ac21 tivities supported by the funding as the Sec22 retary may require.

23 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

24 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section

25 $6,000,000 for fiscal year 1999, $6,000,000 for fiscal year
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1 2000, $6,000,000 for fiscal year 2001, $3,000,000 for fis2 cal year 2002, and $3,000,000 for fiscal year 2003.

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