[Senate Report 115-36]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 50
115th Congress } { Report
SENATE
1st Session } { 115-36
======================================================================
JAMES K. POLK PRESIDENTIAL HOME STUDY ACT
_______
May 3, 2017.--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. 99]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was
referred the bill (S. 99) to require the Secretary of the
Interior to study the suitability and feasibility of
designating the James K. Polk Home in Columbia, Tennessee, as a
unit of the National Park System, 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. 99 is to require the Secretary of the
Interior to study the suitability and feasibility of
designating the James K. Polk Home in Columbia, Tennessee, as a
unit of the National Park System.
BACKGROUND AND NEED
James K. Polk, the 11th president of the United States,
lived in Columbia, Tennessee, from 1819 until 1824. Nominated
as the first ``dark-horse'' presidential candidate, his program
of westward expansion helped him win the election. True to his
campaign pledge to serve a single term in office, he returned
to Tennessee in 1849. President Polk died three months later.
During his term of office, he led the nation through the
Mexican War, completing the push to the Pacific Ocean.
In 1961, the James K. Polk Home in Columbia, Tennessee, was
designated as a National Historic Landmark. In April 2015, the
National Park Service (NPS) completed a reconnaissance survey
of the home and determined that the site warrants a special
resource study to analyze fully the suitability, feasibility,
and need for the NPS to manage the James K. Polk Home. The NPS
recommended that Congress consider authorizing a special
resource study for the site. The James K. Polk Home is the only
surviving residence of President Polk.
S. 99 would authorize a special resource study of James K.
Polk Home to evaluate its national significance, the
suitability and feasibility for potential designation of the
area as a unit of the National Park System, and the need for
NPS management of the resource versus management by other
public or private entities. The study is informational;
Congress would still have to act on separate legislation to
create a unit of the National Park System.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
S. 99 was introduced by Senator Alexander on January 11,
2017.
In the 114th Congress, similar legislation, S. 1483, was
introduced by Senator Alexander on June 2, 2015. The
Subcommittee on National Parks held a hearing on the bill on
June 10, 2015. The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
met in open business session on July 30, 2015, and ordered S.
1483 favorably reported as amended.
The measure was included in Amendment No. 3234, which the
Senate agreed to on April 19, 2016, as an amendment to S. 2012,
the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2016, which the Senate
passed, as amended, on April 20, 2016.
In the 115th Congress, a companion measure, H.R. 443, was
introduced in the House of Representatives by Representative
DesJarlais on January 11, 2017.
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources met in open
business session on March 30, 2017, and ordered S. 99 favorably
reported.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in
open business session on March 30, 2017, by a majority voice
vote of a quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass S.
99.
SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS
Section 1 contains the short title, the ``James K. Polk
Presidential Home Study Act.''
Section 2 (a) defines key terms.
Section 2(b)(1) and (2) directs the Secretary of the
Interior to conduct a special resource study of the James K.
Polk Home and adjacent property in Columbia, Tennessee. In
conducting the study, the Secretary shall evaluate the national
significance of the study area; determine the suitability and
feasibility of designating the study area; consider other
alternatives for preservation, protection, and interpretation
of the study area by the Federal Government, State, or local
government entities, or private and nonprofit organizations;
consult with interested parties; and identify cost estimates
for any Federal acquisition, development, interpretation,
operation, and maintenance associated with the alternatives.
Paragraph (3) directs the Secretary to conduct the study in
accordance with section 100507 of title 54, United States Code,
which sets forth criteria for NPS special resource studies.
Paragraph (4) requires the Secretary to submit a report
that describes the findings and conclusions of the study and
any recommendations to the House Committee on Natural Resources
Committee and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources 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. 99 would direct the Secretary of the Interior to study
the suitability and feasibility of designating the home of
James K. Polk in Columbia, Tennessee, as a unit of the National
Park System. Based on information from the National Park
Service, CBO estimates that carrying out the proposed study
would cost about $200,000; such spending would be subject to
the availability of appropriated funds.
Enacting S. 99 would not affect direct spending or
revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. CBO
estimates that enacting S. 99 would not increase net direct
spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive
10-year periods beginning in 2028.
S. 99 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.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Jon Sperl. The
estimate was approved 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. 99. 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. 99, as ordered reported.
CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING
S. 99, 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
Because S. 99 is similar to legislation considered by the
Committee in the 114th Congress, the Committee did not request
Executive Agency views. The testimony provided by the
Department of the Interior at the hearing before the National
Parks Subcommittee on June 10, 2015, follows:
Statement of Victor Knox, Associate Director, Park Planning, Facilities
and Lands, National Park Service, Department of the Interior
Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to present the
Department of the Interior's testimony regarding S. 1483, a
bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to study the
suitability and feasibility of designating the James K. Polk
home in Columbia, Tennessee, as a unit of the National Park
System, and for other purposes.
The Department supports enactment of this legislation with
amendments described later in this testimony. However, we
believe that priority should be given to the 33 previously
authorized studies for potential units of the National Park
System, potential new National Heritage Areas, and potential
additions to the National Trails System and National Wild and
Scenic Rivers System that have not yet been transmitted to
Congress.
S. 1483 authorizes a special resource study of the James K.
Polk home in Columbia, Tennessee. This study would determine
whether this site meets the National Park Service's criteria
for inclusion in the National Park System of national
significance, suitability, and feasibility, and need for
National Park Service management. The National Park Service
recently conducted a reconnaissance survey that preliminarily
evaluated the James K. Polk home and found that, because the
site has the potential to meet the National Park Service's
criteria for inclusion in the National Park System, further
study was warranted.
The study would also consider other alternatives for
preservation, protection, and interpretation of the resources
by the Federal government, State or local government entities,
or private and non-profit entities. Alternatives might include,
for example, the designation of the site as an affiliated area
of the National Park Service, where the National Park Service
would provide technical assistance to the site but not own or
manage it. We estimate the cost of the study to range from
$200,000 to $300,000, based on similar types of studies
conducted in recent years.
James Knox Polk was born in Mecklenberg County, North
Carolina, on November 2, 1795. In 1806, at the age of eleven,
he moved with his family to Tennessee, settling in what is now
Maury County. Samuel Polk, his father, purchased three lots in
the town of Columbia in 1816 and constructed a two-story brick
house (the present Polk Home) on the corner of West Seventh
Street and South High Street. Samuel and his wife Jane remained
in the house until their deaths in 1827 and 1852, respectively.
James K. Polk lived at the home after graduating from the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and for the next
few years as he traveled to Nashville to read law with Felix
Grundy. While living with his family and passing the bar in
1820, Polk began a successful law practice in Columbia and
campaigned for the state legislature. Though Samuel and Jane
Polk's house in Columbia was only a short-term home for James
K. Polk, it is the only extant residence associated with the
eleventh President, besides the White House, and marks the
beginning of his political career. He moved to a new home a few
blocks away when he married Sarah Childress of Murfreesboro on
January 1, 1824.
The Polk Home in Columbia remained in the family until 1862
and then changed owners several times before it was purchased
by the State of Tennessee in 1929. At the same time, a
descendant of the Polk family established the James K. Polk
Memorial Association of Nashville and the James K. Polk
Memorial Auxiliary of Columbia committed to ``operate,
maintain, preserve, and restore'' the Polk Ancestral Home and
properties, and also to ``perpetuate the memory of the eleventh
President of the United States.'' The Memorial Association
opened the home to the public in 1929.
In 1937, the State acquired the adjacent lot to the south
and reconstructed the kitchen outbuilding. In 1941, the State
bought the next-door Sisters' House; an 1818 residence
constructed by James K. Polk's brother-in-law and inhabited by
two of his sisters and their families. Additional land was
added to the site in 1953 and 1961, expanding the garden. In
1961, the Polk home was designated a National Historic
Landmark. In 2009, with private funding, the Memorial
Association purchased an 1882 church on the same block and
renovated the space into a state-of-the-art exhibit facility.
The renovated church, Polk Presidential Hall, has hosted
traveling and original exhibits related to the U.S. Presidency
and American society and culture during the Polk period. Two
privately owned commercial buildings remain on the same block
as the Polk Home, between the Polk Presidential Hall and the
reconstructed kitchen.
Although the site is owned by the State (with the exception
of Polk Presidential Hall), the Memorial Association still
administers and operates the James K. Polk Home and Museum
while owning and preserving over 1,300 artifacts and original
documents directly relating to President Polk. The Memorial
Association also offers educational programs on President Polk
to regional and national audiences. The Association has an
eight-member Board of Directors that employs one full-time
professional Executive Director and one full-time Curator of
Collections. Two paid docents staff the Sisters' House and
provide house tours and educational programs for the 10,000 to
20,000 annual visitors.
S. 1483 includes certain requirements for the study which
we recommend deleting. Specifically, we urge deleting section
3(c)(5), which would require an analysis of the effect of
designation as a unit of the National Park System on existing
commercial and recreational activities, and on activities
concerning energy production and transmission infrastructure,
and on the authority of state and local governments to manage
those activities. We also urge deleting section 3(c)(6), which
would require an identification of any authorities that would
compel or permit the Secretary of the Interior to influence or
participate in local land use decisions or place restrictions
on non-federal lands.
The purpose of conducting a special resource study is to
determine whether a resource meets the criteria for inclusion
in the National Park System and, if it does not, to provide
information on alternative means to protect the resource. We
believe that the special resource study requirements under
existing law result in a sufficient amount of information and
analysis of the effects of including a resource in the National
Park System. These additional requirements could potentially
increase the cost of the study and the time required to
complete it.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my statement. I would be
pleased to answer any questions that 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. 99, as ordered
reported.
[all]