[Senate Report 115-302]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 516
115th Congress } { Report
SENATE
2d Session } { 115-302
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THURGOOD MARSHALL'S ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDY ACT
_______
July 16, 2018.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Ms. Murkowski, from the Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources, submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 1645]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was
referred the bill (S. 1645) to authorize the Secretary of the
Interior to conduct a special resource study of P.S. 103 in
West Baltimore, Maryland, and for other purposes, having
considered the same, reports favorably thereon without
amendment and recommends that the bill do pass.
PURPOSE
The purpose of S. 1645 is to authorize the Secretary of the
Interior to conduct a special resource study of Public School
103 in West Baltimore, Maryland.
BACKGROUND AND NEED
One of the nation's leading lawyers and a hero of the Civil
Rights movement, Justice Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993), was
born, raised, and educated in Baltimore, Maryland. As a young
attorney for the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People, he began his fight to desegregate public
schools in Baltimore. He ultimately argued and won the seminal
Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education, which ended
the policy of segregation in public schools. Marshall was
appointed to the United States Supreme Court in 1967 by
President Johnson and served until October 1991. Justice
Marshall was the first African American to serve on the Supreme
Court.
The elementary school Justice Marshall attended as a child,
Public School 103, still stands in the Upton neighborhood of
West Baltimore. A story is told that a young Thurgood Marshall
studied the United States Constitution in the basement of the
building while serving detention. As a segregated school, P.S.
103 tells the story of racial segregation in America and marks
the academic beginning of one of the country's foremost legal
minds and a pioneer of the civil rights movement.
This legislation would authorize the National Park Service
(NPS) to undertake a special resource study of P.S. 103, and
any other resources in the neighborhood surrounding P.S. 103,
that relate to the early life of Thurgood Marshall, to evaluate
whether this site meets the NPS's criteria of national
significance, suitability, and feasibility for potential
designation of the area as a unit of the NPS, and the need for
NPS management of the resource versus management by state or
local government entities or other private or non-profit
organizations.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
S. 1645 was introduced by Senators Cardin and Van Hollen on
July 27, 2017. The Subcommittee on National Parks held a
hearing on S. 1645 on February 14, 2018.
In the 114th Congress, similar legislation, S. 610, was
introduced by Senators Cardin and Mikulski on February 27,
2015. The Subcommittee on National Parks held a hearing on the
bill on June 10, 2015. The Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources ordered S. 610 favorably reported on July 30, 2015
(S. Rept. 114-129).
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources met in open
business session on May 17, 2018 and ordered S. 1645 favorably
reported.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in
open business session on May 17, 2018, by a majority voice vote
of a quorum present recommends that the Senate pass S. 1645.
Senator Lee asked to be recorded as voting no.
SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS
Section 1. Short title
Section 1 contains the short title.
Section 2. Definitions
Section 2 contains definitions.
Section 3. Special resource study
Section 3(a) directs the Secretary of the Interior to
conduct a special resource study of Public School 103 and any
other resources in the neighborhood surrounding P.S. 103 that
relate to the early life of Thurgood Marshall.
Subsection (b) requires the study to evaluate the national
significance of the study area; determine the suitability and
feasibility of designating the study area as a unit of the
National Park System; identify alternatives for the
preservation, protection, and interpretation of the study area;
consult with interested government entities, private and non-
profit organizations or other interested individuals; and
identify cost estimates for any Federal acquisition,
development, interpretation, operation, and maintenance
associated with the alternatives.
Subsection (c) requires the study to be conducted in
accordance with applicable law.
Subsection (d) requires the Secretary to submit a report on
the study's findings and conclusions, and provide any
recommendations, to the House Natural Resources Committee and
the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee within three
years after the funds are made available to carry out the
study.
COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS
The following estimate of the costs of this measure has
been provided by the Congressional Budget Office:
S. 1645 would direct the National Park Service (NPS) to
conduct a special resource study of P.S. 103 elementary school
in West Baltimore, Maryland, where former Supreme Court Justice
Thurgood Marshall attended as a child. As part of that study,
the NPS would determine the suitability and feasibility of
designating the site as a unit of the National Park System.
Based on the costs of similar studies, CBO estimates that
implementing S. 1645 would cost less than $500,000; such
spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated
funds.
Enacting S. 1645 would not affect direct spending or
revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
CBO estimates that enacting S. 1645 would not increase net
direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four
consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029.
S. 1645 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Janani
Shankaran. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss,
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 S. 1645. 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 S. 1645, as ordered reported.
CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING
S. 1645, as ordered reported, does not contain any
congressionally directed spending items, limited tax benefits,
or limited tariff benefits as defined in rule XLIV of the
Standing Rules of the Senate.
executive communications
The testimony provided by the Department of the Interior at
the February 14, 2018, hearing on S. 1645 follows:
Statement of P. Daniel Smith, Deputy Director, Exercising the Authority
of the Director of the National Park Service, Department of the
Interior
Chairman Daines, Ranking Member King, and members of the
Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to provide the
Department of the Interior's views on S. 1645, to authorize the
Secretary of the Interior to conduct a special resource study
of P.S. 103 in West Baltimore, Maryland, and for other
purposes.
The Department recognizes that P.S. 103, the elementary
school that Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall attended,
would be an appropriate subject for a National Park Service
special resource study. However, we do not support enactment of
S. 1645 at this time. In order to focus resources on reducing
the National Park Service's $11.6 billion deferred maintenance
backlog and addressing other critical national park needs, no
increase in funding is requested for special resource studies
in the Administration's FY 2019 budget. Currently, the National
Park Service is conducting 22 previously authorized studies to
determine if areas have potential for inclusion in the National
Park System as new units, national heritage areas, national
trails, or wild and scenic rivers. Under these circumstances,
we believe it would be unwise to authorize a new special
resource study.
P.S. 103 was originally built in 1877 for West Baltimore's
white immigrant population but, in 1911, it became a segregated
African-American school serving the Upton community of West
Baltimore. The school is significant for its role in the
education of Thurgood Marshall, who is best known as the lead
counsel for the landmark school desegregation case, Brown v.
Board of Education (1954) and as the first African-American
Supreme Court Justice. Thurgood Marshall attended P.S. 103 from
1st through 8th grade (1914 to 1921).
Marshall's accomplishments in systematically dismantling
the legal framework for Jim Crow segregation are the foundation
upon which the success of the Civil Rights Movement was built.
P.S. 103 is owned by the City of Baltimore and is included in
the Baltimore National Heritage Area.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my statement. I would be
pleased to answer any questions you or other members of the
Subcommittee may have.
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 bill S. 1645 as ordered
reported.
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