SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Ce´sar Estrada Cha´vez was born on March
31, 1927, on a small farm near Yuma, Arizona.
(2) At age 10, Ce´sar Cha´vez and his family be-
came migrant farm workers after losing their farm
in the Great Depression.
(3) Throughout his youth and into his adult-
hood, Ce´sar Cha´vez migrated across the southwest,
laboring in the fields and vineyards, which exposed
him to the hardships and injustices of farm worker
life.
(4) Ce´sar Cha´vez’s life as an organizer and
public servant began in 1952, when he left the fields
and joined the Community Service Organization, a
community-based self-help organization. While with
the Community Service Organization, he conducted
voter registration drives and campaigns against ra-
cial and economic discrimination, and in the late
1950’s and early 1960’s served as the organization’s
national director.
(5) In 1962, Ce´sar Cha´vez founded the Na-
tional Farm Workers Association, which later be-
came the United Farm Workers of America.
(6) In founding and leading the first successful
farm workers union in American history from 1962
to 1993, Ce´sar Cha´vez achieved for tens of thou-
sands of farm workers dignity and respect, fair
wages, medical coverage, pension benefits, humane
living conditions, and countless other rights and pro-
tections.
(7) The leadership and humanitarianism of
Ce´sar Cha´vez continues to influence and inspire mil-
lions of Americans to seek social justice and civil
rights for the poor and disenfranchised in our soci-
ety.
(8) The life of Ce´sar Cha´vez and his family pro-
vides an outstanding opportunity to illustrate and
interpret the history of agricultural labor in the
West.
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF STUDY.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after the
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the
Interior shall complete a special resource study to deter-
mine appropriate methods for preserving and interpreting
certain sites located in the states of Arizona and California
and other states that are significant to the life of Ce´sar
E. Cha´vez and the farm labor movement in the western
United States.
(b) STUDY GUIDELINES.—
(1) CRITERIA.—In conducting the study au-
thorized by this Act, the Secretary shall use the cri-
teria for the study of areas for potential inclusion in
the National Park System contained in section 8 of
Public Law 91–383, as amended by section 303 of
the National Parks Omnibus Management Act of
1998 (Public Law 105–391; 112 Stat. 3501).
(2) DETERMINATION OF SITES ELIGIBLE FOR
LISTING
ON
NATIONAL
REGISTER
OF
HISTORIC
PLACES.—The Secretary shall also determine wheth-
er any of the sites meet the criteria for being listed
on the National Register of Historic Places or des-
ignation as National Historic Landmarks pursuant
to the Historic Sites Act of 1935 (Public Law 74–
292; 16 U.S.C. 461) and the National Historic Pres-
ervation Act of 1966, as amended (Public Law 89–
665; U.S.C. 470).
(c) CONSULTATION.—In preparing and conducting
the study under subsection (a), the Secretary shall consult
with the following:
(1) The Ce´sar E. Cha´vez Foundation.
(2) The United Farm Workers Union.
(3) Local and state historical associations and
societies.
(4) The State Historic Preservation Officers of
Arizona, California, and other states as determined
by the Secretary.
(d) REPORT.—Upon completion of the study required
by this Act, the Secretary shall submit the results of the
study to the Committee on Resources of the House of Rep-
resentatives and the Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources of the Senate.
(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is
authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary $300,000
to carry out this Act.
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