National Park Centennial Act of 2004

Bill: 108-hr-5358
Sponsor: Rep. Souder, Mark E. [R-IN-3]
Introduced: 2004-10-09 in the House
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
Subjects: Animals
Anniversaries
Appropriations
Archaeology
Archives
Arts, Culture, Religion
Checkoff
Commemorations
Commerce
Congress
Congressional investigations
Congressional reporting requirements
Cultural property
Distance education
Economics and Public Finance
Education
Elementary and secondary education
Elementary education
Endangered species
Environmental Protection
Environmental monitoring
Ethnology
Federal aid to education
Government Operations and Politics
Government publicity
Government trust funds
Habitat conservation
Historic sites
History
Income tax
Landscape protection
Maintenance and repair
Minorities
National parks
Nature conservation
Non-native species
Overhead costs
Park rangers
Pest control
Planning-programming-budgeting
Pollution measurement
Public-private partnerships
Restoration ecology
Science, Technology, Communications
Scientific education
Scientists
Secondary education
Taxation
Tourism
Water quality
Wildlife conservation

Summary:
action_date: 2004-10-09
text: 
National Park Centennial Act of 2004 - Establishes the National Park Centennial Fund (Fund) in the Treasury.
 
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow individual taxpayers to designate overpayments and contributions for the benefit of the National Park System. Allocates such amounts to the Fund (along with necessary amounts from the General Fund to the extent that such amounts are inadequate in any fiscal year) for expenditure by the Secretary of the Interior.
 
Creates within the Fund the National Park Backlog Elimination Fund, the Natural Resource Challenge Fund, and the Cultural Resource Challenge Fund.
 
Authorizes appropriations for a public awareness campaign about the Fund and the ability of taxpayers to make tax-related contributions.
 
Requires a specified percentage of Fund deposits to be used: (1) for the elimination of the backlog of unmet needs in the national parks as identified in the Facility Condition Index of the National Park Service (NPS); (2) to protect natural resources within the parks; and (3) to protect cultural resources within the parks. Requires a majority of such percentages to be distributed to those national parks that have completed comprehensive business plans under the Business Plan Initiative of the NPS.
 
Directs the Government Accountability Office annually to submit a report on the National Park System to specified congressional committees.
 
Authorizes the Secretary of Education to provide grants to elementary and secondary schools for cooperative agreements with the NPS providing distance learning and onsite education programs.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2004-11-08
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation and Public Lands.
action_date: 2004-10-09
text: Referred to the Committee on Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, 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.
action_date: 2004-10-09
text: Referred to the Committee on Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, 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.
action_date: 2004-10-09
text: Referred to the Committee on Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, 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.
action_date: 2004-10-09
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2004-10-09
text: Introduced in House