II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1617

To promote preservation and public awareness of the history of the Underground Railroad by providing financial assistance, to the Freedom Center

in Cincinnati, Ohio.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

SEPTEMBER 22, 1999

Mr. DEWINE (for himself, Mr. VOINOVICH, and Mr. MCCONNELL) introduced

the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee

on Energy and Natural Resources

A BILL

To promote preservation and public awareness of the history

of the Underground Railroad by providing financial assistance, to the Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Underground

5 Railroad Freedom Center Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—
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1 (1) the National Underground Railroad Free2 dom Center (hereinafter ‘‘Freedom Center’’) was

3 founded in 1995;

4 (2) the objectives of the Freedom Center are to

5 interpret the history of the Underground Railroad

6 through development of a national cultural institu7 tion in Cincinnati, Ohio, that will house an interpre8 tive center, including museum, educational, and re9 search facilities, all dedicated to communicating to

10 the public the importance of the quest for human

11 freedom which provided the foundation for the his12 toric and inspiring story of the Underground Rail13 road;

14 (3) the city of Cincinnati has granted exclusive

15 development rights for a prime riverfront location to

16 the Freedom Center;

17 (4) the Freedom Center will be a national cen18 ter linked through state-of-the-art technology to Un19 derground Railroad sites and facilities throughout

20 the United States and to a constituency that reaches

21 across the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Car22 ibbean and beyond; and

23 (5) the Freedom Center has reached an agree24 ment with the National Park Service to pursue a

25 range of historical and educational cooperative ac-
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1 tivities related to the Underground Railroad, includ2 ing but not limited to assisting the National Park

3 Service in the implementation of the National Un4 derground Railroad Network to Freedom Act.

5 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—

6 (1) to promote preservation and public aware7 ness of the history of the Underground Railroad;

8 (2) to assist the Freedom Center in the develop9 ment of its programs and facilities in Cincinnati,

10 Ohio; and

11 (3) to assist the National Park Service in the

12 implementation of the National Underground Rail13 road Network to Freedom Act (16 U.S.C. 469l).

14 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

15 In this Act:

16 (1) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

17 the Secretary of the Interior.

18 (2) PROJECT BUDGET.—The term ‘‘project

19 budget’’ means the total amount of funds expended

20 by the Freedom Center on construction of its facil21 ity, development of its programs and exhibits, re22 search, collection of informative and educational ac23 tivities related to the history of the Underground

24 Railroad, and any administrative activities necessary

25 to the operation of the Freedom Center, prior to the
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1 opening of the Freedom Center facility in Cin2 cinnati, Ohio.

3 (3) FEDERAL SHARE.—The term ‘‘Federal

4 share’’ means an amount not to exceed 20 percent

5 of the project budget and shall include all amounts

6 received from the Federal Government under this

7 legislation and any other Federal programs.

8 (4) NON-FEDERAL SHARE.—The term ‘‘non9 Federal share’’ means all amounts obtained by the

10 Freedom Center for the implementation of its facili11 ties and programs from any source other than the

12 Federal Government, and shall not be less than 80

13 percent of the project budget.

14 (5) THE FREEDOM CENTER FACILITY.—The

15 term ‘‘the Freedom Center facility’’ means the facil16 ity, including the building and surrounding site,

17 which will house the museum and research institute

18 to be constructed and developed in Cincinnati, Ohio,

19 on the site described in section 4(c).

20 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

21 (a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—From sums appro22 priated pursuant to the authority of subsection (d) in any

23 fiscal year, the Secretary is authorized and directed to pro24 vide financial assistance to the Freedom Center, in order
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1 to pay the Federal share of the cost of authorized activities

2 described in section 5.

3 (b) EXPENDITURE ON NON-FEDERAL PROPERTY.—

4 The Secretary is authorized to expend appropriated funds

5 under subsection (a) of this section to assist in the con6 struction of the Freedom Center facility and the develop7 ment of programs and exhibits for that facility which will

8 be funded primarily through private and non-Federal

9 funds, on property owned by the city of Cincinnati, Ham10 ilton County, and the State of Ohio.

11 (c) DESCRIPTION OF THE FREEDOM CENTER FACIL12 ITY SITE.—The facility referred to in subsections (a) and

13 (b) will be located on a site described as follows: a 2-block

14 area south of new South Second, west of Walnut Street,

15 north of relocated Theodore M. Berry Way, and east of

16 Vine Street in Cincinnati, Ohio.

17 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

18 are authorized to be appropriated $16,000,000 for the 4

19 fiscal year period beginning October 1, 1999. Funds not

20 to exceed that total amount may be appropriated in 1 or

21 more of such fiscal years. Funds shall not be disbursed

22 until the Freedom Center has commitments for a min23 imum of 50 percent of the non-Federal share.

24 (e) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Notwithstanding any

25 other provision of law, funds appropriated to carry out the
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1 provisions of this Act shall remain available for obligation

2 and expenditure until the end of the fiscal year succeeding

3 the fiscal year for which the funds were appropriated.

4 (f) NPS EMPLOYEES.—The Secretary is authorized

5 to use employees of the National Park Service to carry

6 out any agreement entered into between the Freedom Cen7 ter and the Secretary with respect to activities authorized

8 under section 5.

9 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Freedom Center may engage

11 in any activity related to its objectives addressed in section

12 2(a), including, but not limited to, construction of the

13 Freedom Center facility, development of programs and ex14 hibits related to the history of the Underground Railroad,

15 research, collection of information and artifacts and edu16 cational activities related to the history of the Under17 ground Railroad, and any administrative activities nec18 essary to the operation of the Freedom Center.

19 (b) PRIORITIES.—The Freedom Center shall give pri20 ority to—

21 (1) construction of the Freedom Center facility;

22 (2) development of programs and exhibits to be

23 presented in or from the Freedom Center facility;

24 and
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1 (3) providing assistance to the National Park

2 Service in the implementation of the National Un3 derground Railroad Network to Freedom Act (16

4 U.S.C. 469l).

5 SEC. 6. APPLICATION.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Freedom Center shall submit

7 an application to the Secretary at such time, in such man8 ner, and containing or accompanied by such information

9 as the Secretary may reasonably require. Each application

10 shall—

11 (1) describe the activities for which assistance

12 is sought;

13 (2) provide assurances that the non-Federal

14 share of the cost of activities of the Freedom Center

15 shall be paid from non-Federal sources, together

16 with an accounting of costs expended by the Free17 dom Center to date, a budget of costs to be incurred

18 prior to the opening of the Freedom Center facility,

19 an accounting of funds raised to date, both Federal

20 and non-Federal, and a projection of funds to be

21 raised through the completion of the Freedom Cen22 ter facility.

23 (b) APPROVAL.—The Secretary shall approve the ap24 plication submitted pursuant to subsection (a) unless such

25 application fails to comply with the provisions of this Act.
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1 SEC. 7. REPORTS.

2 The Freedom Center shall submit an annual report

3 to the appropriate committees of the Congress not later

4 than January 31, 2000, and each succeeding year there5 after for any fiscal year in which Federal funds are ex6 pended pursuant to this Act. The report shall—

7 (1) include a financial statement addressing the

8 Freedom Center’s costs incurred to date and pro9 jected costs, and funds raised to date and projected

10 fundraising goals;

11 (2) include a comprehensive and detailed de12 scription of the Freedom Center’s activities for the

13 preceding and succeeding fiscal years; and

14 (3) include a description of the activities taken

15 to assure compliance with this Act.

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