[House Report 115-84]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
115th Congress } { Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
1st Session } { 115-84
======================================================================
R. JESS BROWN UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE
_______
April 6, 2017.--Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be
printed
_______
Mr. Shuster, from the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure,
submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany H.R. 455]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, to whom
was referred the bill (H.R. 455) to designate the United States
courthouse located at 501 East Court Street in Jackson,
Mississippi, as the ``R. Jess Brown United States Courthouse'',
having considered the same, report favorably thereon without
amendment and recommend that the bill do pass.
CONTENTS
Page
Purpose of Legislation........................................... 2
Background and Need for Legislation.............................. 2
Hearings......................................................... 2
Legislative History and Consideration............................ 2
Committee Votes.................................................. 2
Committee Oversight Findings..................................... 2
New Budget Authority and Tax Expenditures........................ 3
Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate........................ 3
Performance Goals and Objectives................................. 3
Advisory of Earmarks............................................. 3
Duplication of Federal Programs.................................. 4
Disclosure of Directed Rule Makings.............................. 4
Federal Mandate Statement........................................ 4
Preemption Clarification......................................... 4
Advisory Committee Statement..................................... 4
Applicability of Legislative Branch.............................. 4
Section-by-Section Analysis of Legislation....................... 4
Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported............ 5
PURPOSE OF LEGISLATION
H.R. 455 designates the United States courthouse located at
501 East Court Street in Jackson, Mississippi, as the ``R. Jess
Brown United States Courthouse''.
BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION
H.R. 455 designates the United States courthouse located at
501 East Court Street in Jackson, Mississippi, as the ``R. Jess
Brown United States Courthouse''.
Mr. R. Jess Brown was a civil rights lawyer who worked
against segregationist laws and was credited in the 1950s with
filing the first civil rights suit in Mississippi. Mr. Brown, a
native of Muskogee, Oklahoma, attended Illinois State
University, Indiana University, and the Texas Southern
University Law School. In the 1960s he was one of only four
African-American lawyers in Mississippi, and one of three who
took civil rights cases. In 1962, he worked on behalf of James
Meredith, whose successful lawsuit allowed him to be the first
African-American student to enroll at the University of
Mississippi.
By the time of James Meredith's case, Mr. Brown already had
an established history of litigating for civil rights
stretching back to 1948, when he sued on behalf of African-
American teachers in Jackson, Mississippi who sought equal pay
with their white colleagues.
Later, Mr. Brown worked with the NAACP Legal Defense and
Educational Fund in fighting discrimination in transportation
and other public accommodations in the 1960s. Mr. R. Jess Brown
died December 31, 1989, due to cancer.
HEARINGS
No hearings were held on H.R. 455.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY AND CONSIDERATION
On January 11, 2017, Congressman Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS)
introduced H.R. 455, a bill to designate the United States
courthouse located at 501 East Court Street in Jackson,
Mississippi, as the ``R. Jess Brown United States Courthouse''.
On March 29, 2017, the Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure met in open session and ordered the bill
reported favorably to the House by voice vote with a quorum
present.
COMMITTEE VOTES
Clause 3(b) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of
Representatives requires each committee report to include the
total number of votes cast for and against on each record vote
on a motion to report and on any amendment offered to the
measure or matter, and the names of those members voting for
and against. There were no recorded votes taken in connection
with consideration of H.R. 455.
COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS
With respect to the requirements of clause 3(c)(1) of rule
XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the
Committee's oversight findings and recommendations are
reflected in this report.
NEW BUDGET AUTHORITY AND TAX EXPENDITURES
Clause 3(c)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of
Representatives does not apply where a cost estimate and
comparison prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget
Office under section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of
1974 has been timely submitted prior to the filing of the
report and is included in the report. Such a cost estimate is
included in this report.
CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE COST ESTIMATE
With respect to the requirement of clause 3(c)(3) of rule
XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and section
402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the Committee has
received the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 455 from the
Director of the Congressional Budget Office:
U.S. Congress,
Congressional Budget Office,
Washington, DC, April 4, 2017.
Hon. Bill Shuster,
Chairman, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
reviewed H.R. 455, a bill to designate the United States
Courthouse located at 501 East Court Street in Jackson,
Mississippi, as the ``R. Jess Brown United States Courthouse,''
as ordered reported by the House Committee on Transportation
and Infrastructure on March 29, 2017.
CBO estimates that enacting this legislation would have no
significant effect on the federal budget and would not affect
direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go
procedures do not apply. CBO estimates that enacting the
legislation would not increase net direct spending or on-budget
deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods
beginning in 2028.
The bill contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and
would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal
governments.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Matthew
Pickford.
Sincerely,
Keith Hall.
PERFORMANCE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
With respect to the requirement of clause 3(c)(4) of rule
XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the
performance goal and objective of this legislation is to
designate the United States courthouse located at 501 East
Court Street in Jackson, Mississippi, as the ``R. Jess Brown
United States Courthouse''.
ADVISORY OF EARMARKS
Pursuant to clause 9 of rule XXI of the Rules of the House
of Representatives, the Committee is required to include a list
of congressional earmarks, limited tax benefits, or limited
tariff benefits as defined in clause 9(e), 9(f), and 9(g) of
rule XXI of the Rules of the House of Representatives. No
provision in the bill includes an earmark, limited tax benefit,
or limited tariff benefit under clause 9(e), 9(f), or 9(g) of
rule XXI.
DUPLICATION OF FEDERAL PROGRAMS
Pursuant to clause 3(c)(5) of rule XIII of the Rules of the
House of Representatives, the Committee finds that no provision
of H.R. 455 establishes or reauthorizes a program of the
federal government known to be duplicative of another federal
program, a program that was included in any report from the
Government Accountability Office to Congress pursuant to
section 21 of Public Law 111-139, or a program related to a
program identified in the most recent Catalog of Federal
Domestic Assistance.
DISCLOSURE OF DIRECTED RULE MAKINGS
Pursuant to section 3(i) of H. Res. 5, 115th Cong. (2017),
the Committee finds that enacting H.R. 455 does not direct the
completion of a specific rule making within the meaning of
section 551 of title 5, United States Code.
FEDERAL MANDATE STATEMENT
The Committee adopts as its own the estimate of federal
mandates prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget
Office pursuant to section 423 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform
Act (Public Law 104-4).
PREEMPTION CLARIFICATION
Section 423 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974
requires the report of any Committee on a bill or joint
resolution to include a statement on the extent to which the
bill or joint resolution is intended to preempt state, local,
or tribal law. The Committee states that H.R. 455 does not
preempt any state, local, or tribal law.
ADVISORY COMMITTEE STATEMENT
No advisory committees within the meaning of section 5(b)
of the Federal Advisory Committee Act are created by this
legislation.
APPLICABILITY OF LEGISLATIVE BRANCH
The Committee finds that the legislation does not relate to
the terms and conditions of employment or access to public
services or accommodations within the meaning of section
102(b)(3) of the Congressional Accountability Act (Public Law
104-1).
SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS OF LEGISLATION
Section 1. Designation
Section 1 designates the United States courthouse located
at 501 East Court Street in Jackson, Mississippi, as the ``R.
Jess Brown United States Courthouse''.
Section. 2. References
Section 2 deems any reference in a law, map, regulation,
document, paper, or other record of the United States to the
federal building and United States courthouse referred to in
section 1 as a reference to the ``R. Jess Brown United States
Courthouse''.
CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE BILL, AS REPORTED
H.R. 455 makes no changes in existing law.