Union Calendar No. 439
104TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 2941
[Report No. 104–802, Part I]
A BILL
To improve the quantity and quality of the quarters
of land management agency field employees, and
for other purposes.
SEPTEMBER 17, 1996
Reported from the Committee on Resources with an
amendment
SEPTEMBER 17, 1996
Referral to the Committee on Agriculture for a period
ending not later than September 17, 1996
SEPTEMBER 17, 1996
The Committee on Agriculture discharged; committed to
the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the
Union and ordered to be printed
IB
Union Calendar No. 439
104TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 2941
[Report No. 104–802, Part I]
To improve the quantity and quality of the quarters of land management
agency field employees, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 1, 1996
Mr. HEFLEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Commit-
tee on Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, 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 com-
mittee concerned
SEPTEMBER 17, 1996
Reported from the Committee on Resources with an amendment
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
SEPTEMBER 17, 1996
Referral to the Committee on Agriculture for a period ending not later than
September 17, 1996
SEPTEMBER 17, 1996
The Committee on Agriculture discharged; committed to the Committee of the
Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on February 1, 1996]
A BILL
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 ‘‘Na-
tional 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 sup-
ply 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 housing;
(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 own-
ership;
(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 housing
and locate such housing as is required in a manner
such that primary resource values are not impaired.
(b) GENERAL AUTHORITY.—To enhance the ability of
the Secretary of the Interior (hereinafter in this section re-
ferred to as ‘‘the Secretary’’), acting through the Director
of the National Park Service, to effectively manage units
of the National Park System, and notwithstanding any pro-
vision of section 5536 of title 5, United States Code, the
Secretary is authorized where necessary and justified to
make available employee housing and essential amenities,
on or off the lands under the administrative jurisdiction
of the National Park Service, and to rent or lease such hous-
ing to field employees of the National Park Service at a
reasonable value commensurate with rent or leasing of hous-
ing of comparable value in the local community.
(c) REVIEW AND REVISION OF HOUSING CRITERIA.—
Upon the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall review
and revise the existing criteria under which housing is pro-
vided to employees of the National Park Service. The review
and revision shall include consideration of the following cri-
teria:
(1) Required occupancy (whether and under
what circumstances the Park Service requires, as a
condition of employment, that an employee live at a
particular site or in a specific geographic 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 distance
that separate other potential housing from the work-
place of a Park Service employee).
(3) Category of employment (seasonal or perma-
nent).
(4) Any other factor that the Secretary considers
appropriate.
(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
pleted, the Secretary is authorized pursuant to the authori-
ties contained in this Act, to enter into housing agreements
with housing entities under which such housing entities
may develop, construct, rehabilitate, or manage housing, lo-
cated on or off public lands, for rent or lease to National
Park Service employees who meet the housing eligibility cri-
teria developed by the Secretary pursuant to this Act.
(g) JOINT PUBLIC-PRIVATE SECTOR HOUSING PRO-
GRAMS.—
(1) LEASE TO BUILD PROGRAM.—The Secretary
may—
(A) lease Federal land and interests in land
to qualified persons for the construction of field
employee quarters and essential amenities 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 Fed-
eral 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;
(D) may provide that, upon termination of
the lease, the contractor shall abandon the quar-
ters constructed on the property subject to such
lease and thereafter ownership shall vest in the
United States or restore the property to its natu-
ral state; and
(E) may be granted at less than fair market
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 or contributions in
kind to reduce the costs of planning, construction, or
rehabilitation of quarters under a lease under this
subsection.
(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 concerned.
(h) RENTAL GUARANTEE PROGRAM.—
(1) GENERAL AUTHORITY.—The Secretary may
enter into a lease to build arrangement as set forth
in subsection (c) with further agreement to guarantee,
the occupancy of field employee quarters constructed
or rehabilitated under such lease. A guarantee made
under this subsection shall be in writing.
(2) LIMITATIONS.—The Secretary may not guar-
antee—
(A) the occupancy of more than 97 percent
of the units constructed or rehabilitated under
such lease; and
(B) a rental rate that exceeds the rates es-
tablished under subsection (j)(3).
(3) RENTAL
TO
GOVERNMENT
EMPLOYEES.—A
guarantee may be made under this subsection only if
the lessee agrees to permit the Secretary concerned to
utilize for housing purposes any units for which the
guarantee 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 maintenance.
(i) JOINT DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may use au-
thorities granted by statute in combination with one
another in the furtherance of providing where nec-
essary and justified affordable field employee housing.
(2) CONDITION.—The Secretary may condition
private development upon provision and management
of field employee housing for the Federal Government
in the affected location.
(j) CONTRACTS FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF FIELD EM-
PLOYEE QUARTERS.—
(1) GENERAL AUTHORITY.—The Secretary may
enter into contracts for the management, repair, and
maintenance of field employee quarters.
(2) TERMS AND CONDITIONS.—Any such contract
shall contain such terms and conditions as the Sec-
retary deems necessary or appropriate to protect the
interests of the United States and assure that safe, af-
fordable quarters are available to that agency’s field
employees.
(3) RENTS.—Notwithstanding any other provi-
sion of law, any such contract may provide for the
setting of rents at rates to be determined by the Sec-
retary in accordance with subsection (m)(2) of this
section and for their collection.
(k) JOINT EMPLOYEE-AGENCY HOUSING PROGRAMS.—
(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 member-
ship is made up exclusively of field employees 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 and essential amen-
ities.
(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 Secretary
determines that such a sale or transfer will improve
the quality of field employee quarters available 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 employ-
ees and cooperatives whose membership is made up