[Senate Report 109-314]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 557
109th Congress Report
SENATE
2d Session 109-314
======================================================================
PRESERVATION OF JAPANESE AMERICAN WORLD WAR II CONFINEMENT SITES
_______
July 31, 2006.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Domenici, from the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources,
submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany 1492]
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was
referred the Act (H.R. 1492) to provide for the preservation of
the historic confinement sites where Japanese Americans were
detained during World War II, and for other purposes, having
considered the same, reports favorably thereon with amendments
and recommends that the Act, as amended, do pass.
The amendments are as follows:
1. On page 2, strike lines 15 through 20 and insert the
following
``(b) Grants.--
``(1) Criteria.--The Secretary, after consultation
with State, local, and tribal governments, other public
entities, educational institutions, and private
nonprofit organizations (including organizations
involved in the preservation of historic confinement
sites), shall develop criteria for making grants under
paragraph (2) to assist in carrying out subsection (a).
``(2) Provision of grants.--Not later than 180 days
after the date on which funds are made available to
carry out this Act, the Secretary shall, subject to the
availability of appropriations, make grants to the
entities described in paragraph (1) only in accordance
with the criteria developed under that paragraph''.
2. On page 3, line 21, strike ``25 percent'' and insert
``50 percent''.
PURPOSE OF THE MEASURE
The purpose of H.R. 1492 is to direct the Secretary of the
Interior to create a partnership and grant program within the
National Park Service in order to identify, protect, and
acquire locations where Japanese-Americans were confined during
World War II.
BACKGROUND AND NEED
H.R. 1492 seeks to preserve structures and locations
associated with the unjust detention of Japanese-American
citizens and resident aliens during World War II.
During World War II, the United States confined tens of
thousands of its Japanese-American citizens in relocation
camps. The action was spurred by President Roosevelt's
Executive Order 9066, signed in February, 1942, two months
after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Roosevelt's order
gave the Secretary of War the authority to exclude ``any and
all persons'' from areas of the country considered vital for
national security. In response to the order, the War Department
removed 113,000 people of Japanese ancestry, more than 2/3 of
whom were American citizens, from their homes on the West Coast
and relocated them to camps in the Nation's interior.
Surprisingly, this unjust treatment did not dampen the
devotion that many of the Japanese-Americans felt towards the
United States. Thousands of young men from the camps signed up
to fight in the U.S. Armed Forces. They distinguished
themselves in combat. In fact, the 100th Battalion of the 442nd
Regiment, a unit composed primarily of Japanese-Americans,
became the most decorated unit of its size in American history.
To date, two relocation camps have been protected as units
of the National Park System: Manzanar National Historic Site
(California) and Minidoka National Monument (Idaho),
respectively.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
H.R. 1492 was introduced by Representatives Bill Thomas,
Matsui, and Honda on April 6, 2005 and passed by the House of
Representatives on a voice vote on November 16, 2005.
An identical bill, S. 1719, was introduced by Senators
Inouye, Bennett, and Akaka on September 19, 2005. The
Subcommittee on National Parks held a hearing on both S. 1719
and H.R. 1492 on April 6, 2006. At the business meeting on May
24, 2006, the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources ordered
H.R. 1492, as amended, favorably reported.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in open
business session on May 24, 2006, by a unanimous voice vote of
a quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass H.R. 1492, if
amended as described herein.
COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS
During consideration of H.R. 1492, the Committee adopted
two amendments to H.R. 1492. One amendment would change the
criteria for grants, requiring the Secretary to consult with a
broad group of organizations involved in preserving historic
confinement sites, instead of only the single organization
named in the original bill. The other amendment would also make
grants subject to the availability of funds and increase the
required non-Federal match from 25 percent to 50 percent.
SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS
Section 1(a) directs the Secretary to establish, in
partnership with other public and private entities, a
preservation program to preserve historic confinement sites.
Subsection (b) authorizes a program of grants to public and
private organizations, to be administered by the Secretary of
the Interior. Grant criteria must be developed in consultation
with organizations involved in preserving historic confinement
sites. These organizations include, but are not limited to, the
Japanese American National Heritage Coalition; the Go For Broke
Educational Foundation and the Go For Broke National Veterans
Association; Japanese American Citizens League; Japanese
American National Museum; Japanese American Veterans
Association; National Asian Pacific American Bar Association;
National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium; National
Japanese American Historical Society; National Japanese
American Memorial Foundation; National Japanese American
Veterans Council; Organization of Chinese Americans; Amache
Preservation Society; Committee to Change ``Jap'' Road, TX;
Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project, WA; Denver
Central Optimists; Colorado River Indian Tribes; Friends of
California Civil Liberties Public Education Program; Gila
Reunion Committee; Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation; Japanese
American Service Committee, Chicago, IL; Japanese American
Historical Society, San Diego, CA; Japanese Cultural Center of
Hawai'i; Life Interrupted Program (Arkansas Camps); Nisei
Farmers League, CA; Poston Restoration Project; Topaz Museum
Board, UT; Tule Lake Preservation Committee; and Zavala County
Historical Commission. The Secretary is required to begin
providing grants no later than 180 days after funds are made
available.
Subsection (c) authorizes the acquisition of non-Federal
property at four confinement sites: Jerome and Rohwer
(Arkansas), Topaz (Utah), and Honouliuli (Hawai'i). This
subsection declares that this Act is not a designation and will
not affect private property.
Subsection (d) requires a 50-percent non-Federal match for
grants provided under subsection (1)(b) of this Act.
Subsection (e) states that the sunset date for this Act
would be 2 years after the last grant funds are spent.
Section 2 defines terms.
Section 3 stipulates that real property can be acquired
only from willing sellers.
COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS
The following estimate of the cost of this measure has been
provided by the Congressional Budget Office:
H.R. 1492--An act to provide for the preservation of the historic
confinement sites where Japanese Americans were detained during
World War II, and for other purposes
Summary: H.R. 1492 would direct the National Park Service
(NPS) to provide grants to nonfederal entities to restore and
preserve sites associated with the internment of Japanese
Americans during World War II. The grants would be used for up
to 50 percent of the costs of protecting significant sites,
including those to identify, acquire, and interpret them. For
this purpose, the act would authorize the appropriation of $38
million. Assuming appropriation of the authorized amount, CBO
estimates that implementing H.R. 1492 would cost $38 million
over the 2007-2011 period.
Enacting this legislation would not affect direct spending
or revenues. H.R. 1492 contains no intergovernmental or
private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates
Reform Act (UMRA) and would impose no costs on state, local, or
tribal governments.
Estimated cost to the Federal Government: The estimated
budgetary impact of H.R. 1492 is shown in the following table.
The costs of this legislation fall within budget function 300
(natural resources for environment). For this estimate, CBO
assumes that the authorized amount would be appropriated over
the next five years and paid to nonprofit organizations and
other entities as needed.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By fiscal year, in millions of dollars--
--------------------------------------------
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHANGES IN SPENDING SUBJECT TO APPROPRIATION
Estimated Authorization Level...................................... 6 10 10 8 4
Estimated Outlays.................................................. 4 10 10 8 6
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Intergovernmental and private-sector impact: H.R. 1492
contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as
defined in UMRA and would impose no costs on state, local, or
tribal governments.
Previous CBO estimate: On May 24, 2005, CBO transmitted a
cost estimate for H.R. 1492 as ordered reported by the House
Committee on Resources on May 18, 2005. The two versions of the
legislation are similar and the estimated costs over five years
are the same. Our cost estimates reflect different assumptions
about when the legislation would be enacted. (The previous CBO
estimate assumed enactment near the start of fiscal year 2006;
thus, it showed estimated costs beginning in 2006 instead of
2007.)
Estimate prepared by: Federal costs: Matthew Pickford;
Impact on state, local, and tribal governments: Marjorie
Miller; Impact on the private sector: Tyler Kruzich.
Estimate approved by: Peter H. Fontaine, Deputy Assistant
Director for Budget Analysis.
REGULATORY IMPACT EVALUATION
In compliance with paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee makes the following
evaluation of the regulatory impact which would be incurred in
carrying out H.R. 1492. The bill is not a regulatory measure in
the sense of imposing Government-established standards or
significant economic responsibilities on private individuals
and businesses.
No personal information would be collected in administering
the program. Therefore, there would be no impact on personal
privacy.
Little, if any, additional paperwork would result from the
enactment of H.R. 1492, as ordered reported.
EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS
The views of the Administration on H.R. 1492 were included
in testimony received by the Committee at a hearing on the bill
on April 6, 2006. This testimony follows:
Statement of Sue Masica, Associate Director, National Park Service,
Department of the Interior
Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to appear
before you to present the views of the Department of the
Interior on S. 1719 and H.R. 1492, legislation to provide for
the preservation of the historic confinement sites where
Japanese Americans were detained during World War II. H.R. 1492
was passed by the House on November 16, 2005.
The Department recognizes the importance of taking steps to
more fully preserve the history of the experience of Japanese
Americans during World War II, when many were forcibly removed
from their homes and sent to live at internment camps. However,
we do not support the approach taken by S. 1719 and H.R. 1492
to preserve this history. For many years, the Department has
opposed legislation authorizing appropriations for grants for
specified non-National Park Service projects. Many of these
projects represent an important contribution to the
preservation of our Nation's history, as would be the case with
projects associated with the Japanese American internment
camps. Each time such legislation is enacted and appropriations
follow, it further reduces a limited amount of discretionary
funds available to address the priority needs of our national
parks and other programs administered by the National Park
Service. With the emphasis we have placed on fulfilling our
core mission of operating units of the National Park System and
on the President's initiative to reduce the deferred
maintenance backlog, it has become more important than ever to
avoid authorizing funding for non-National Park Service
projects that would draw funds from the National Park Service's
budget.
S. 1719 and H.R. 1492, which contain identical provisions,
would require the Secretary of the Interior to establish a
program within the National Park Service to administer grants
to public and private entities to protect, restore, interpret,
acquire and take other actions with respect to the ten
internment camps and other historically significant locations
where Japanese Americans were detained during World War II. The
grants would be made in consultation with the Japanese American
National Heritage Coalition, an umbrella organization of groups
that are involved in efforts to preserve one or more of the
Japanese American detention sites. The bill would authorize
appropriations of $38 million for this purpose.
The Department is actively involved in preserving resources
associated with the experience of Japanese Americans during
World War II and collecting and disseminating information on
this unfortunate chapter of our Nation's history. As recently
as 1990, the National Park Service had virtually no role in
preserving and interpreting this story. That changed in 1992,
when Congress (1) authorized the establishment of Manzanar
National Historic Site in central California, (2) directed the
National Park Service to conduct a National Historic Landmark
(NHL) theme study of sites associated with the detention of
Japanese Americans during World War II, and (3) authorized a
memorial in the Nation's Capital to honor Japanese American
patriotism in World War II.
Today, the National Park Service administers two of the ten
internment camps. In addition to Manzanar, the Minidoka
Relocation Center in Idaho was added as a unit of the National
Park System in 2001 following a presidential proclamation that
designated the site as Minidoka Internment National Monument.
Manzanar is a now a well-established unit; its visitor center
was opened two years ago and its annual visitation is about
78,000. Minidoka is preparing a General Management Plan and is
still under development.
In 1999, to provide the documentation needed for the NHL
theme study authorized by Congress, the National Park Service's
Western Archeological and Conservation Center published an
extensive compilation and analysis of resources associated with
these sites. This compilation, Confinement and Ethnicity: An
Overview of World War II Japanese American Relocation Sites,
has proven to be an invaluable source of information about this
subject not only for the National Park Service but also for the
many organizations that are involved in the efforts to preserve
these sites.
The NHL theme study directed by Congress is nearly
complete. Based on that study, two internment camps were
designated in February as National Historic Landmarks: Tule
Lake in California, and Granada in Colorado. National Historic
Landmark designation is the highest level of historic
significance our Nation bestows on a place. As designated
sites, they are eligible for technical assistance available
through our NHL program and they have an advantage in competing
for public and private preservation grants.
In addition to its designation as a NHL, Tule Lake received
a Save America's Treasures matching grant of $200,000 in the
Interior appropriations act for Fiscal Year 2006. The grant
will be co-managed by the Tule Lake Committee for Preservation
of the Tule Lake Camp and the National Park Service and used to
stabilize the carpenters' shop and to correct drainage
problems. The National Park Service is providing historic
preservation assistance to the Bureau of Reclamation, which has
administrative jurisdiction over part of the Tule Lake
property, and to State agencies, which own the remaining part.
The National Park Service is also providing technical
assistance to Departmental bureaus and others to help preserve
Heart Mountain in Wyoming, Topaz in Utah, and Granada in
Colorado.
The National Park Service is also close to finalizing and
transmitting to Congress a special resource study of Bainbridge
Island, Washington, which was the first location from which
Japanese Americans were forcibly removed from their homes
following the issuance of Executive Order 9066, which provided
the authority for the detention of Japanese Americans. This
study, which was authorized by Congress in 2002, analyzes
different alternatives for memorializing, preserving, and
interpreting this important site. Our Pacific West Regional
Office, through the National Park Service's Preservation
Partnership programs, has also provided technical assistance to
the Bainbridge Island community to document the community's
internment experiences and the history of the Japanese on
Bainbridge. That office also provided funding to train Asian-
American students in documenting sites important to the history
of their communities.
In addition, the National Park Service, through its
National Mall and Memorial Parks unit, administers the memorial
to Japanese American Patriotism in World War II, which is
located about two blocks north of the U.S. Capitol Building.
Our National Capital Region office assisted in establishing the
memorial. We helped secure an appropriate site for the
memorial, assisted in its design, and facilitated the approval
process for it. The memorial honors the approximately 120,000
Japanese Americans who were relocated to the internment camps.
It incorporates the names and locations of the camps, as well
as the names of Japanese Americans who died in military service
to the United States during World War II.
A few examples of other activities we have engaged in
include:
Establishing a lesson plan on the War Relocation Camps of
World War 1I on the National Park Service's ``Teaching with
Historic Places'' web site;
Conducting oral history recording projects that entailed
recording the histories of internees and other individuals
associated with the World War II internment; and
Providing technical assistance to the Jerome County
Historical Society, Idaho, to copy original newspapers from
1942-1945 onto microfilm for reference and research purposes,
and technical assistance to develop methods to preserve
internment-related materials for long-term preservation.
The Department would like to continue and build on the
efforts we are already involved in on this subject. In addition
to the activities already mentioned, there are other ways the
National Park Service could enhance the role we play in
protecting resources and interpreting the history of the
Japanese American experience in World War II at a relatively
small cost. For example, working in partnership with other
entities that own and administer the internment camp sites, we
could develop a comprehensive interpretative plan for all ten
sites. We could designate a staff person to coordinate the
preservation and interpretation activities among the different
sites. Another possibility would be to publish a handbook on
the internment camps that would be available at National Park
Service bookstores. We could also develop a web-based travel
itinerary on the sites.
To summarize, we believe there are appropriate ways for the
National Park Service to expand upon its already significant
role in increasing public awareness and understanding of the
Japanese American experience during World War II. But we do not
believe it is appropriate for the National Park Service budget
to be used as a funding source for grants to non-Federal
entities to undertake costly restoration and other types of
projects at the sites of these camps. We therefore cannot
support S. 1719 and H.R. 1492.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my prepared remarks. I will be
happy to respond to questions from you or other members of the
committee.
CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW
In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee notes that no
changes in existing law are made by the act H.R. 1492, as
ordered reported.