I
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2156
To provide financial assistance, directly and through States, to support jointly
with government entities, educational institutions, businesses, and non-
profit public and private entities, opportunities for the people of the
United States to participate in the arts and the humanities; and to
increase understanding and appreciation of the cultural heritage of the
United States.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 11, 1997
Mr. REGULA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Education and the Workforce
A BILL
To provide financial assistance, directly and through States,
to support jointly with government entities, educational
institutions, businesses, and nonprofit public and private
entities, opportunities for the people of the United States
to participate in the arts and the humanities; and to
increase understanding and appreciation of the cultural
heritage of the United States.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Cultural Education
Enhancement Act of 1997’’.
SEC. 2. AMENDMENT.
The National Foundation on the Arts and the Hu-
manities Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 951 et seq.) is amended
to read as follows:
‘‘SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
‘‘This Act may be cited as the ‘American Heritage
Administration Act of 1997’.
‘‘SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
‘‘The Congress finds the following:
‘‘(1) The encouragement and support of na-
tional progress and scholarship in cultural education,
while primarily matters for local initiative, are also
appropriate matters of concern to the Government.
‘‘(2) It is necessary and appropriate for the
Government to complement, assist, and operate pro-
grams for the advancement of cultural education,
and creative and critical thinking, by local, State,
nonprofit public and private agencies and organiza-
tions.
‘‘(3) The people of the United States should re-
ceive in school, background and preparation in the
arts and humanities to enable them to recognize and
appreciate the aesthetic dimensions of their lives and
the diversity that comprises the cultural heritage of
the United States.
‘‘SEC. 3. PURPOSE OF ACT.
‘‘The purpose of this Act is to provide financial as-
sistance for the following uses:
‘‘(1) To encourage public knowledge, under-
standing, and appreciation of the diverse cultural
heritage of the United States.
‘‘(2) To promote excellence in instruction and
in scholarship, in the arts and the humanities.
‘‘(3) To increase collaboration with Federal,
State, and local humanities, arts, and education
agencies, with arts education organizations, and with
other sectors of society, to advance cultural edu-
cation.
‘‘(4) To enhance the skills and to support the
collaboration of artists, historians, teachers, and
education administrators involved in arts education
and humanities education, and to encourage co-
operation among the members of the arts commu-
nity and among members of the humanities commu-
nity.
‘‘(5) To increase accessibility to the arts and
the humanities by providing education and instruc-
tion to all the people of the United States.
‘‘(6) To foster the development of demonstra-
tion projects, demonstration productions, and dem-
onstration workshops in arts education and in hu-
manities education, to collect information on their
implementation and effectiveness, and to make such
information available to the public.
‘‘(7) To initiate and support research to im-
prove teaching and education in the arts and the hu-
manities.
‘‘(8) To support the development of teachers
and education administrators in order to improve
their ability to provide sequential arts education and
humanities education.
‘‘SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF AMERICAN HERITAGE ADMIN-
ISTRATION.
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the
executive branch an American Heritage Administration
(referred to in this Act as the ‘Administration’).
‘‘(b) HEAD OF THE ADMINISTRATION.—
‘‘(1) APPOINTMENT.—The Administration shall
be headed by a director, to be known as the Director
of the American Heritage Administration (referred
to in this Act as the ‘Director’) who shall be ap-
pointed by the President, by and with the advice and
consent of the Senate.
‘‘(2) TERM OF OFFICE.—The term of office of
the Director shall be 4 years, except that, on the ex-
piration of such term of office, the Director may
serve until the Director’s successor is appointed and
has qualified. The Director shall be eligible for re-
appointment.
‘‘(c) GENERAL POWERS.—The Director may—
‘‘(1) receive money and other property donated,
bequeathed, or devised to the Administration, with
or without a condition or restriction, including a
condition that the Director use other funds of the
Administration for the purposes of the gift, and use,
sell, or otherwise dispose of such property for the
purpose of carrying out sections 5,
‘‘(2) appoint employees, subject to the civil
service laws, as necessary to carry out this Act,
‘‘(3) use experts and consultants, including
panels of experts, who may be employed as author-
ized by section 3109 of title 5, United States Code,
‘‘(4) accept and use the services of volunteers
who are not compensated for such services and reim-
burse such volunteers for travel expenses, including
per diem, to the same extent as authorized by sec-
tion 5703 of title 5, United States Code, for persons
in the Government service serving intermittently
without compensation,
‘‘(5) make advance, progress, and other pay-
ments without regard to section 3324 of title 31,
United States Code,
‘‘(6) rent office space in the District of Colum-
bia, and
‘‘(7) make other necessary expenditures to
carry out this Act.
‘‘(d) ISSUANCE OF RULES.—The Director shall issue
rules to carry out this Act, including rules to provide for
the distribution of financial assistance to recipients in in-
stallments except in those cases in which the Director de-
termines that installment payments are not practicable. In
implementing any system of installment payments, the Di-
rector shall ensure that—
‘‘(1) not more than 2⁄3 of such assistance may
be provided at the time such application for such as-
sistance is approved, and
‘‘(2) the remainder of such assistance may not
be provided until the Director determines that the
recipient of such assistance is complying substan-
tially with this Act, and with the conditions under
which such assistance is provided to such recipient.
‘‘(e) COORDINATION OF PROGRAMS.—The Director
shall—
‘‘(1) coordinate the programs of the Adminis-
tration insofar as practicable, with existing Federal
programs and with programs undertaken by other
public and private agencies and organizations, and
‘‘(2) develop the programs of the Administra-
tion with due regard to the contribution to the objec-
tives of this Act that can be made by other Federal
agencies under existing programs.
‘‘(f) INTERAGENCY
AGREEMENTS.—The Director
may enter into interagency agreements to promote or as-
sist with the arts-related activities, and humanities-related
activities, of other Federal agencies, on a reimbursable or
nonreimbursable basis, and may use funds available to
carry out section 5 to pay the costs of such activities.
‘‘(g) TREATMENT OF GIFTS FOR PURPOSES OF THE
FEDERAL TAX LAWS.—For the purposes of Federal laws
relating to the taxation of income, gifts, and estates, any
money or other property donated, bequeathed, or devised
to the Administration shall be deemed to have been do-
nated, bequeathed, or devised to or for the use of the Unit-
ed States.