I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4416

To establish the Great Lakes Protection and Restoration Committee. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 20, 2004

Mr. EHLERS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Transportation 

and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 

Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 

the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL

To establish the Great Lakes Protection and Restoration 

Committee.

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 ‘‘Great Lakes Protection 

5 and Restoration Committee Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. GREAT LAKES PROTECTION AND RESTORATION 

7 COMMITTEE. 

8 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a com9 mittee to be known as the ‘‘Great Lakes Protection and 
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1 Restoration Committee’’ (hereinafter referred to in this 

2 section as the ‘‘Committee’’). 

3 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Committee is to 

4 conduct a study and report on programs established and 

5 carried out to achieve restoration goals for the Great 

6 Lakes prepared by the Governors of Great Lakes States 

7 and to make recommendations for prioritization of such 

8 goals, legislation and funding to achieve such goals, and 

9 improvement of coordination among programs and govern10 ments with respect to such goals. 

11 (c) STUDY AND REPORT.—

12 (1) STUDY.—The Committee shall conduct a 

13 study, based on restoration goals for the Great 

14 Lakes prepared by the Governors of Great Lakes 

15 States, to identify the best methods by which to pro16 tect and restore the Great Lakes. The study shall in17 clude—

18 (A) an analysis of Federal and State fund19 ing for the 10-year period ending on the date 

20 of the enactment of this Act for programs es21 tablished and carried out to achieve the restora22 tion goals, including an assessment of the suc23 cess of the programs; and 

24 (B) an analysis of the expected accomplish25 ments of such programs for the 10-year period 
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1 beginning on the date of the enactment of this 

2 Act based on existing funding levels for the pro3 grams. 

4 (2) REPORT.—Not later than one year after the 

5 date of the initial meeting of the Committee under 

6 subsection (e)(1), the Committee shall submit to the 

7 President, Congress, and the Governor of each Great 

8 Lakes State, and make available to the national 

9 Government of Canada and the Premiers of the 

10 Provinces of Ontario and Quebec, a report that in11 cludes—

12 (A) the results of the study, including a 

13 detailed statement of the findings and conclu14 sions of the Committee; 

15 (B) recommendations for the prioritization 

16 of the restoration goals for the Great Lakes 

17 prepared by the Governors of the Great Lakes 

18 States; 

19 (C) specific benchmarks for the 10-year 

20 period beginning on the date of the enactment 

21 of this Act to measure the achievement of such 

22 restoration goals; 

23 (D) recommendations for proposed Federal 

24 and State legislation for obtaining additional 
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1 authority and funding as necessary to achieve 

2 such restoration goals; 

3 (E) recommendations for methods to im4 prove coordination among existing Federal, 

5 State, local, and non-governmental programs 

6 established to achieve the restoration goals pre7 pared by the Governors of the Great Lakes 

8 States; and 

9 (F) recommendations for methods to im10 prove coordination between Federal, State, and 

11 local programs in the United States and the na12 tional Government of Canada and the Govern13 ments of the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec 

14 with respect to environmental protection and 

15 restoration activities in the Great Lakes. 

16 (d) MEMBERSHIP.—

17 (1) VOTING MEMBERS.—The Committee shall 

18 be composed of 25 voting members, of whom—

19 (A) 8 members shall be the Governors of 

20 the Great Lakes States (or designees of the 

21 Governors); 

22 (B) 13 members shall be appointed by the 

23 President, of whom—

24 (i) 1 member shall be a representative 

25 of the Department of the Interior; 
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1 (ii) 1 member shall be a representa2 tive of the Corps of Engineers; 

3 (iii) 1 member shall be a representa4 tive of the Great Lakes National Program 

5 Office of the Environmental Protection 

6 Agency; 

7 (iv) 1 member shall be a representa8 tive of the National Oceanic and Atmos9 pheric Administration; 

10 (v) 1 member shall be a representative 

11 of the Department of Agriculture; and 

12 (vi) 8 members shall be chief execu13 tives of cities, counties, or municipalities in 

14 the Great Lakes Region, of whom 1 mem15 ber shall be from each Great Lakes State; 

16 (C) 1 member shall be appointed by the 

17 Speaker of the House of Representatives; 

18 (D) 1 member shall be appointed by the 

19 minority leader of the House of Representa20 tives; 

21 (E) 1 member shall be appointed by the 

22 President pro tempore of the Senate; and 

23 (F) 1 member shall be appointed by the 

24 minority leader of the Senate. 
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1 (2) NONVOTING MEMBERS.—The Committee 

2 shall include 10 nonvoting members appointed by 

3 the President, of whom—

4 (A) 2 members shall be representatives of 

5 the environmental community; 

6 (B) 2 members shall be representatives of 

7 industry; 

8 (C) 2 members shall be representatives of 

9 the scientific community with expertise on the 

10 environmental conditions of the Great Lakes; 

11 (D) 2 members shall be representatives of 

12 Indian tribes located in the Great Lakes Re13 gion; 

14 (E) 1 member shall be a United States 

15 Commissioner of the Great Lakes Fishery Com16 mission appointed under section 3(a)(1) of the 

17 Great Lakes Fishery Act of 1956 (16 U.S.C. 

18 932(a)(1)); and 

19 (F) 1 member shall be the Chair of the 

20 United States Section of the International Joint 

21 Commission established by the Boundary Wa22 ters Treaty of 1909. 

23 (3) NONVOTING OBSERVERS.—The Committee 

24 may include nonvoting observers, including—
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1 (A) the Premiers of the Canadian Prov2 inces of Ontario and Quebec; 

3 (B) a representative of the national Gov4 ernment of Canada; and 

5 (C) a representative of the Department of 

6 State. 

7 (4) DATE OF APPOINTMENT.—The appointment 

8 of each member of the Committee shall be made not 

9 later than 90 days after the date of the enactment 

10 of this Act. 

11 (5) TERM.—A member shall be appointed for 

12 the life of the Committee. 

13 (6) VACANCIES.—A vacancy on the Com14 mittee—

15 (A) shall not affect the powers of the Com16 mittee; and 

17 (B) shall be filled in the same manner as 

18 the original appointment was made. 

19 (7) CHAIRPERSON AND VICE CHAIRPERSON.—

20 The Committee shall select a Chairperson from 

21 among the members of the Committee described in 

22 paragraph (1)(A) and a Vice Chairperson from 

23 among the members of the Committee appointed 

24 under clauses (i) through (v) of paragraph (1)(B). 
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1 (8) COMPENSATION.—Members of the Com2 mittee shall serve without pay. 

3 (9) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—A member of the 

4 Committee shall be allowed travel expenses, includ5 ing per diem in lieu of subsistence, in accordance 

6 with sections 5702 and 5703 of title 5, United 

7 States Code. 

8 (e) MEETINGS.—

9 (1) INITIAL.—Not later than 30 days after the 

10 date on which all members of the Committee have 

11 been appointed, the Committee shall hold the initial 

12 meeting of the Committee. 

13 (2) SUBSEQUENT.—The Committee shall meet 

14 at the call of the Chairperson. 

15 (3) QUORUM.—A majority of the voting mem16 bers of the Committee described in subsection (d)(1) 

17 shall constitute a quorum, but a lesser number of 

18 members may hold hearings. 

19 (f) POWERS.—

20 (1) HEARINGS.—The Committee may hold 

21 hearings, meet and act, take testimony, and receive 

22 evidence as the Committee considers advisable to 

23 carry out this Act. 

24 (2) INFORMATION FROM FEDERAL AGENCIES.—
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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Committee may 

2 secure directly from a Federal agency such in3 formation as the Committee considers necessary 

4 to carry out this Act. 

5 (B) PROVISION OF INFORMATION.—On re6 quest of the Chairperson of the Committee, the 

7 head of the agency shall provide the informa8 tion to the Committee. 

9 (3) POSTAL SERVICES.—The Committee may 

10 use the United States mails in the same manner and 

11 under the same conditions as other agencies of the 

12 Federal Government. 

13 (4) GIFTS.—The Committee may accept, use, 

14 and dispose of gifts or donations of services or prop15 erty. 

16 (g) STAFF.—

17 (1) APPOINTMENT.—

18 (A) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR.—The Com19 mittee may appoint and terminate an executive 

20 director. 

21 (B) OTHER STAFF.—The Chairperson of 

22 the Committee may appoint and terminate such 

23 other additional personnel as are necessary to 

24 enable the Committee to perform the duties of 

25 the Committee. 
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1 (2) COMPENSATION.—

2 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

3 subparagraph (B), the Chairperson of the Com4 mittee may fix the compensation of the execu5 tive director and other personnel without regard 

6 to the provisions of chapter 51 and subchapter 

7 III of chapter 53 of title 5, United States Code, 

8 relating to classification of positions and Gen9 eral Schedule pay rates. 

10 (B) MAXIMUM RATE OF PAY.—The rate of 

11 pay for the executive director and other per12 sonnel shall not exceed the rate payable for 

13 level V of the Executive Schedule under section 

14 5316 of title 5, United States Code. 

15 (3) DETAIL OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT EM16 PLOYEES.—

17 (A) IN GENERAL.—An employee of the 

18 Federal Government may be detailed to the 

19 Committee without reimbursement. 

20 (B) CIVIL SERVICE STATUS.—The detail of 

21 the employee shall be without interruption or 

22 loss of civil service status or privilege. 

23 (4) PROCUREMENT OF TEMPORARY AND INTER24 MITTENT SERVICES.—The Chairperson of the Com25 mittee may procure temporary and intermittent serv-
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1 ices in accordance with section 3109(b) of title 5, 

2 United States Code, at rates for individuals that do 

3 not exceed the daily equivalent of the annual rate of 

4 basic pay prescribed for level V of the Executive 

5 Schedule under section 5316 of that title. 

6 (h) TERMINATION.—The Committee shall terminate 

7 90 days after the date on which the Committee submits 

8 the report of the Committee under subsection (c)(2). 

9 (i) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 

10 (1) GREAT LAKES.—The term ‘‘Great Lakes’’ 

11 means Lake Erie, Lake Huron (including Lake 

12 Saint Clair), Lake Michigan, Lake Ontario, Lake 

13 Superior, and the connecting channels of those 

14 lakes, including the Saint Mary’s River, the Saint 

15 Clair River, the Detroit River, and the Saint Law16 rence River to the Canadian border. 

17 (2) GREAT LAKES STATE.—The term ‘‘Great 

18 Lakes State’’ means each of the States of Illinois, 

19 Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, 

20 Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. 

21 (3) GREAT LAKES REGION.—The term ‘‘Great 

22 Lakes region’’ means the region comprised of the 

23 Great Lakes States. 

24 (4) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian tribe’’ 

25 has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the 
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1 Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 

2 Act (25 U.S.C. 450b). 

3 (j) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 

5 appropriated to carry out this section $5,000,000 for 

6 fiscal year 2005. 

7 (2) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appropriated pur8 suant to the authorization of appropriations under 

9 paragraph (1) are authorized to remain available 

10 until the date of termination of the Committee under 

11 subsection (h).

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