104TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 2941
AN ACT
To improve the quantity and quality of the quarters
of land management agency field employees, and
for other purposes.
104TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 2941
AN ACT
To improve the quantity and quality of the quarters of land
management agency field employees, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE AND TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the
‘‘National Park Service Administrative Reform Act of
1996’’.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for
this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title and table of contents.
Sec. 2. National Park Service Housing Improvement Act.
Sec. 3. Minor boundary revision authority.
Sec. 4. Authorization for certain park facilities to be located outside of units
of the National Park System.
Sec. 5. Elimination of unnecessary congressional reporting requirements.
Sec. 6. Senate confirmation of the Director of the National Park Service.
Sec. 7. National Park System Advisory Board authorization.
Sec. 8. Challenge cost-share agreement authority.
Sec. 9. Cost recovery for damage to national park resources.
SEC. 2. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE HOUSING IMPROVEMENT
ACT.
(a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this section are—
(1) to develop where necessary an adequate
supply of quality housing units for field employees of
the National Park Service within a reasonable time
frame;
(2) to expand the alternatives available for con-
struction and repair of essential government hous-
ing;
(3) to rely on the private sector to finance or
supply housing in carrying out this section, to the
maximum extent possible, in order to reduce the
need for Federal appropriations;
(4) to provide increased opportunities for the
ownership of housing by field employees, together
with the equity and tax benefits associated with
home ownership;
(5) to ensure that adequate funds are available
to provide for long-term maintenance needs of field
employee housing; and
(6) to eliminate unnecessary government hous-
ing and locate such housing as is required in a man-
ner such that primary resource values are not im-
paired.
(b) GENERAL AUTHORITY.—To enhance the ability
of the Secretary of the Interior (hereinafter in this section
referred to as ‘‘the Secretary’’), acting through the Direc-
tor of the National Park Service, to effectively manage
units of the National Park System, the Secretary is au-
thorized where necessary and justified to make available
employee housing, on or off the lands under the adminis-
trative jurisdiction of the National Park Service, and to
rent or lease such housing to field employees of the Na-
tional Park Service at rates based on the reasonable value
of the housing in accordance with requirements applicable
under section 5911 of title 5, United States Code.
(c) REVIEW
AND
REVISION
OF
HOUSING
CRI-
TERIA.—Upon the enactment of this Act, the Secretary
shall review and revise the existing criteria under which
housing is provided to employees of the National Park
Service. The review and revision shall include consider-
ation of the following criteria:
(1) Required occupancy (whether and under
what circumstances the National Park Service re-
quires, as a condition of employment, that an em-
ployee live at a particular site or in a specific geo-
graphic area). For each instance in which occupancy
is required, full consideration shall be given to the
concept of adequate response time.
(2) Availability and adequacy of non-Federal
housing in the geographic area, including consider-
ation of the degree of isolation (the time and dis-
tance that separate other potential housing from the
workplace of a National Park Service employee).
(3) Category of employment (seasonal or per-
manent).
(d) SUBMISSION OF REPORT.—A report detailing the
results of the revisions required by subsection (c) shall be
submitted to the Committee on Resources of the House
of Representatives and the Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources of the Senate not later than 180 days
after the date of the enactment of this Act. The report
shall include justifications for keeping, or for changing,
each of the criteria or factors used by the Department of
the Interior with regard to the provision of housing to em-
ployees of the National Park Service.
(e) REVIEW OF CONDITION OF AND COSTS RELATING
TO HOUSING.—Using the revised criteria developed under
subsection (c), the Secretary shall undertake a review, for
each unit of the National Park System, of existing govern-
ment-owned housing provided to employees of the National
Park Service. The review shall include an assessment of
the physical condition of such housing and the suitability
of such housing to effectively carry out the missions of
the Department of the Interior and the National Park
Service. For each unit of such housing, the Secretary shall
determine whether the unit is needed and justified. The
review shall include estimates of the cost of bringing each
such unit that is needed and justified into usable condition
that meets all applicable legal housing requirements or,
if the unit is determined to be obsolete but is still war-
ranted to carry out the missions of the Department of the
Interior and the National Park Service, the cost of replac-
ing the unit.
(f) AUTHORIZATION FOR HOUSING AGREEMENTS.—
For those units of the National Park System for which
the review required by subsections (c) and (e) has been
completed, the Secretary is authorized, pursuant to the
authorities contained in this Act and subject to the appro-
priation of necessary funds in advance, to enter into hous-
ing agreements with housing entities under which such
housing entities may develop, construct, rehabilitate, or
manage housing, located on or off public lands, for rent
or lease to National Park Service employees who meet the
housing eligibility criteria developed by the Secretary pur-
suant to this Act.
(g) JOINT PUBLIC-PRIVATE SECTOR HOUSING PRO-
GRAMS.—
(1) LEASE TO BUILD PROGRAM.—Subject to the
appropriation of necessary funds in advance, the
Secretary may—
(A) lease Federal land and interests in
land to qualified persons for the construction of
field employee quarters for any period not to
exceed 50 years; and
(B) lease developed and undeveloped non-
Federal land for providing field employee quar-
ters.
(2) COMPETITIVE LEASING.—Each lease under
paragraph (1)(A) shall be awarded through the use
of publicly advertised, competitively bid, or competi-
tively negotiated contracting procedures, except that
a lease to a field employee housing cooperative may
be awarded noncompetitively if construction on the
leased land is then competitively bid or competitively
negotiated.
(3) TERMS
AND
CONDITIONS.—Each lease
under paragraph (1)(A)—
(A) shall stipulate whether operation and
maintenance of field employee quarters is to be
provided by the lessee, field employees or the
Federal Government;
(B) shall require that the construction and
rehabilitation of field employee quarters be done
in accordance with the requirements of the Na-
tional Park Service and local applicable building
codes and industry standards;
(C) shall contain such additional terms and
conditions as may be appropriate to protect the
Federal interest, including limits on rents the
lessee may charge field employees for the occu-
pancy of quarters, conditions on maintenance
and repairs, and agreements on the provision of
charges for utilities and other infrastructure;
and
(D) may be granted at less than fair mar-
ket value if the Secretary determines that such
lease will improve the quality and availability of
field employee quarters available.
(4) CONTRIBUTIONS BY UNITED STATES.—The
Secretary may make payments, subject to appropria-
tions, or contributions in kind either in advance of
or on a continuing basis to reduce the costs of plan-
ning, construction, or rehabilitation of quarters on
or off Federal lands under a lease under this sub-
section.
(5) THIRD
PARTY
PARTICIPATION.—A lease
under this subsection may include provision for par-
ticipation by a third party, when third party pres-
ence is needed or required, and approved by the Sec-
retary.
(h) RENTAL GUARANTEE PROGRAM.—
(1) GENERAL AUTHORITY.—Subject to the ap-
propriation of necessary funds in advance, the Sec-
retary may enter into a lease to build arrangement
as set forth in subsection (g) with further agreement
to guarantee the occupancy of field employee quar-
ters constructed or rehabilitated under such lease. A
guarantee made under this subsection shall be in
writing.
(2) LIMITATIONS.—The Secretary may not
guarantee—
(A) the occupancy of more than 75 percent
of the units constructed or rehabilitated under
such lease; and
(B) at a rental rate that exceeds the rate
based on the reasonable value of the housing in
accordance with requirements applicable under
section 5911 of title 5, United States Code.
In no event shall outstanding guarantees be in ex-
cess of $3,000,000.
(3) RENTAL TO GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES.—A
guarantee may be made under this subsection only
if the lessee agrees to permit the Secretary to utilize
for housing purposes any units for which the guar-
antee is made.
(4) FAILURE
TO
MAINTAIN
A
SATISFACTORY
LEVEL
OF
OPERATION
AND
MAINTENANCE.—The
lease shall be null and void if the lessee fails to
maintain a satisfactory level of operation and main-
tenance.
(i) JOINT DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY.—The Sec-
retary may use authorities granted by statute in combina-
tion with one another in the furtherance of providing
where necessary and justified affordable field employee
housing.
(j) CONTRACTS FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF FIELD
EMPLOYEE QUARTERS.—
(1) GENERAL AUTHORITY.—Subject to the ap-
propriation of necessary funds in advance, the Sec-
retary may enter into contracts of any duration for
the management, repair, and maintenance of field
employee quarters.
(2) TERMS AND CONDITIONS.—Any such con-
tract shall contain such terms and conditions as the
Secretary deems necessary or appropriate to protect
the interests of the United States and assure that
necessary quarters are available to field employees.
(k) JOINT
EMPLOYEE-AGENCY
HOUSING
PRO-
GRAMS.—
(1) SALE OF QUARTERS.—
(A) GENERAL AUTHORITY.—Notwithstand-
ing any other provision of law, the Secretary
may sell field employee quarters to field employ-
ees of the agency or a cooperative whose mem-
bership is made up exclusively of field employ-
ees of the agency.
(B) INTEREST IN LANDS.—The Secretary
may only sell a leasehold interest in lands at-
tendant to the sale of any quarters under sub-
paragraph (A).
(2) LEASE OF QUARTERS.—The Secretary may
lease Federal land to field employees of the National
Park Service or a cooperative made up of field em-
ployees of the National Park Service for purposes of
constructing employee housing.
(3) RIGHT OF FIRST REFUSAL.—The Secretary
shall have right of first refusal when any property
transferred under this subsection is for sale.
(4) COVENANTS.—The Secretary may establish
and enforce such covenants as may be appropriate to
the property, upon its sale by the Secretary under
this subsection.
(5) FAIR MARKET VALUE.—The Secretary may
sell or transfer employee quarters under this sub-
section for less than fair market value if the Sec-
retary determines that such a sale or transfer will
improve the quality of field employee quarters avail-
able and keep the quarters affordable at the salary
ranges of field employees normally occupying them.
(6) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Disposal of em-
ployee quarters under this subsection to field em-
ployees and cooperatives whose membership is made
up exclusively of field employees shall not be consid-
ered disposal of excess Federal real property under
the Federal Property and Administrative Services
Act of 1949 (40 U.S.C. 471 et seq.).
(7) 
CONTINUING
EMPLOYMENT
REQUIRE-
MENT.—An individual may occupy employee quar-
ters under this subsection only if the individual or
a member of the family of the individual is employed
at the National Park System unit with respect to
which the quarters are made available.
(8) NOTICE.—The Secretary may not take any
action authorized pursuant to this section until 180
days after the Secretary submits a report to the ap-
propriate congressional committees respecting the
authority of this subsection.
(l) LEASING OF SEASONAL EMPLOYEE QUARTERS.—
(1) GENERAL
AUTHORITY.—Subject to para-
graph (2), the Secretary may lease quarters at or
near a unit of the national park system for use as
seasonal quarters for field employees. The rent
charged to field employees under such a lease shall
be a rate based on the reasonable value of the quar-
ters in accordance with requirements applicable
under section 5911 of title 5, United States Code.
(2) LIMITATION.—The Secretary may only
issue a lease under paragraph (1) if the Secretary
finds that there is a shortage of adequate and af-
fordable seasonal quarters at or near such unit and
that—
(A) the requirement for such seasonal field
employee quarters is temporary; or
(B) leasing would be more cost effective
than construction of new seasonal field em-
ployee quarters.
(3) UNRECOVERED COSTS.—The Secretary may
pay the unrecovered costs of leasing seasonal quar-
ters under this subsection from annual appropria-
tions for the year in which such lease is made.
(m) SURVEY OF EXISTING FACILITIES.—The Sec-
retary shall—
(1) complete a condition assessment for all field
employee housing, including the physical condition of
such housing and the necessity and suitability of
such housing for the effective prosecution of the
agency mission, using existing information; and
(2) develop a agency-wide priority listing, by
structure, identifying those units in greatest need
for repair, rehabilitation, replacement, or initial con-
struction.
(n) USE OF HOUSING-RELATED FUNDS.—Expendi-
ture of any funds authorized and appropriated for new
construction, repair, or rehabilitation of housing under