Public Law 94-458

by the 94th Congress of the United States

94^TH UNITED STATES CONGRESS
2^ND SESSION

An Act
To amend the Act approved August 18, 1970, providing for improvement in the administration of the National Park System by the Secretary of the Interior and clarifying authorities applicable to the National Park System, and for other purposes.

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Public Law 94-458
94th Congress

Oct. 7, 1976

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[S. 3430]

An Act

To amend the Act approved August 18, 1970, providing for improvement in the administration of the National Park System by the Secretary of the Interior and clarifying authorities applicable to the National Park System, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,National Park System.
Administration; authority clarification.
16 USC 1a-2. That section 3 of the Act approved August 18, 1970 (84 Stat. 825; 16 U.S.C. 1a-1 et seq.), is amended as follows:

(1) In subsection (e), after “within an area of the national park system,” insert “, as long as such activity does not jeopardize or unduly interfere with the primary natural or historic resource of the area involved,”.

(2) At the end of subsection (g), change the period to a semicolon and add the following new subsections:

“(h)Regulations.
16 USC 1a-2. promulgate and enforce regulations concerning boating and other activities on or relating to waters located within areas of the National Park System, including waters subject to the jurisdiction of the United States: Provided, That any regulations adopted pursuant to this subsection shall be complementary to, and not in derogation of, the authority of the United States Coast Guard to regulate the use of waters subject to the jurisdiction of the United States;

“(i)U.S. Park Police, meals and lodging. provide meals and lodging, as the Secretary deems appropriate, for members of the United States Park Police and other employees of the National Park Service, as he may designate, serving temporarily on extended special duty in areas of the National Park System, and for this purpose he is authorized to use funds appropriated for the expenses of the Department of the Interior.”.

Sec. 2. Such Act of August 18, 1970, is further amended by adding the following new sections:

“Sec. 5. Section 11 of the Act of May 26, 1930 (46 Stat. 383; 16 U.S.C. 17j), is amended to read as follows:

“ ‘Sec. 11.Employees, traveling expenses. In the administration of the National Park System, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized, under regulations prescribed by him, to pay (a) the traveling expenses of employees, including the costs of packing, crating, and transporting (including draying) their personal property, upon permanent change of station of such employees and (b) the traveling expenses as aforesaid of dependents of deceased employees (i) to the nearest housing reasonably available and of a standard not less than that which is vacated, and to include compensation for not to exceed sixty days rental cost thereof, in the case of an employee who occupied Government housing and the death of such employee requires that housing to be promptly vacated, and (ii) to the nearest port of entry in the conterminous forty-eight States in the case of an employee whose last permanent station was outside the conterminous forty-eight States.’.

“Sec. 6.Legislative jurisdiction, relinquishment.
16 USC 1a-2. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of the Interior may relinquish to a State, or to a Commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States, part of the legislative jurisdiction of the United States over National Park System lands or interests therein in that State, Commonwealth, territory, or possession: Provided,Proposed agreement, submittal to congressional committees. That prior to consummating any such relinquishment, the Secretary shall submit the proposed agreement to the Committees on Interior and Insular Affairs of the United States Congress, and shall not finalize such agreement until sixty calendar days after such submission shall have elapsed. Relinquishment of legislative jurisdiction under this section may be accomplished (1) by filing with the Governor (or, if none exists, with the chief executive officer) of the State, Commonwealth, territory, or possession concerned a notice of relinquishment to take effect upon acceptance thereof, or (2) as the laws of the State, Commonwealth, territory, or possession may otherwise provide. The Secretary shall diligently pursue the consummation of arrangements with each State, Commonwealth, territory, or possession within which a unit of the National Park System is located to the end that insofar as practicable the United States shall exercise concurrent legislative jurisdiction within units of the National Park System.

“Sec. 7.Unifrom allowance.
16 USC 1a-4. Notwithstanding subsection 5901(a) of title 5, United States Code (80 Stat. 508), as amended, the uniform allowance for uniformed employees of the National Park Service may be up to $400 annually.

“Sec. 8.Investigation and study.
16 USC 1a-5. The Secretary of the Interior is directed to investigate, study, and continually monitor the welfare of areas whose resources exhibit qualities of national significance and which may have potential for inclusion in the National Park System. Reports to Speaker of the House and President of the Senate.At the beginning of each fiscal year, the Secretary shall transmit to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and to the President of the Senate, comprehensive reports on each of those areas upon which studies have been completed. On this same date, and accompanying such reports, the Secretary shall transmit a listing, in generally descending order of importance or merit, of not less than twelve such areas which appear to be of national significance and which may have potential for inclusion in the National Park System. Threats to resource values, and cost escalation factors shall be considered in listing the order of importance or merit. Such listing may be comprised of any areas heretofore submitted under terms of this section, and which at the time of listing are not included in the National Park System. Annual listing, transmittal to Speaker of the House and President of the Senate.The Secretary is also directed to transmit annually to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and to the President of the Senate, at the beginning of each fiscal year, a complete and current list of all areas included on the Registry of Natural Landmarks and those areas of national significance listed on the National Register of Historic places which areas exhibit known or anticipated damage or threats to the integrity of their resources, along with notations as to the nature and severity of such damage or threats. Printing as House document.Each report and annual listing shall be printed as a House document.

“Sec. 9. Section 3 of the Act of August 21, 1935 (49 Stat. 666, 667; 16 U.S.C. 461, 463), is amended to read as follows:

“ ‘Sec. 3.National Park System Advisory Board.
Establishment.
16 USC 463. (a) A general advisory board to be known as the National Park System Advisory Board is hereby established, to be composed of not to exceed eleven persons, citizens of the United States, to include but not be limited to representatives competent in the fields of history, archaeology, architecture, and natural science, who shall be appointed by the Secretary for a term not to exceed four years. The Secretary shall take into consideration nominations for appointees from public and private, professional, civic, and educational societies, associations, and institutions. The members of such board shall receive no salary but may be paid expenses incidental to travel when engaged in discharging their duties as members. It shall be the duty of such board to advise the Secretary on matters relating to the National Park System, to other related areas, and to the administration of this Act, including but not limited to matters submitted to it for consideration by the Secretary, but it shall not be required to recommend as to the suitability or desirability of surplus real and related personal property for use as an historic monument.

“ ‘(b)Termination. The National Park System Advisory Board shall continue to exist until January 1, 1990. In all other respects, it shall be subject to the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act.5 USC app. 1.’.

“Sec. 10. (a) The arrest authority relating to the National Park Service is hereby amended in the following respects:

“(1)Repeal. Section 3 of the Act of March 3, 1897 (29 Stat. 621; 16 U.S.C. 415), as supplemented; relating to certain arrest authority relative to national military parks, is hereby repealed;

“(2) The first paragraph of that portion designated ‘GENERAL EXPENSES—FOREST SERVICE’ of the Act of March 3, 1905 (33 Stat. 872; 16 U.S.C. 10, 559), as amended, relating in part to arrest authority relative to laws and regulations applicable to forest reserves and national parks, is amended by deleting the words ‘and national park service’, ‘and national parks’, and ‘or national parks’;

“(3)Repeal. Section 2 of the Act of March 2, 1933 (47 Stat. 1420; 16 U.S.C. 10a), as amended, relating to certain arrest authority for certain employees of the National Park Service, is hereby repealed; and

“(4)Repeal.
16 USC 460m-5. The second paragraph of section 6 of the Act of October 8, 1964 (78 Stat. 1041; 16 U.S.C. 460n-5), as amended, relating to certain arrest authority relative to the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, is hereby repealed.

“(b)Law and order, officers or employees to maintain.
16 USC 1a-6. In addition to any other authority conferred by law, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to designate, pursuant to standards prescribed in regulations by the Secretary, certain officers or employees of the Department of the Interior who shall maintain law and order and protect persons and property within areas of the National Park System. In the performance of such duties, the officers or employees, so designated, may—

“(1) carry firearms and make arrests without warrant for any offense against the United States committed in his presence, or for any felony cognizable under the laws of the United States if he has reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing such felony, provided such arrests occur within that system or the person to be arrested is fleeing therefrom to avoid arrest;

“(2) execute any warrant or other process issued by a court or officer of competent jurisdiction for the enforcement of the provisions of any Federal law or regulation issued pursuant to law arising out of an offense committed in that system or, where the person subject to the warrant or process is in that system, in connection with any Federal offense; and

“(3) conduct investigations of offenses against the United States committed in that system in the absence of investigation thereof by any other Federal law enforcement agency having investigative jurisdiction over the offense committed or with the concurrence of such other agency.

“(c) The Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to—

“(1) designate officers and employees of any other Federal agency or law enforcement personnel of any State or political subdivision thereof, when deemed economical and in the public interest and with the concurrence of that agency or that State or subdivision, to act as special policemen in areas of the National Park System when supplemental law enforcement personnel may be needed, and to exercise the powers and authority provided by paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of subsection (b) of this section;

“(2)Cooperation. cooperate, within the National Park System, with any State or political subdivision thereof in the enforcement of supervision of the laws or ordinances of that State or subdivision; and

“(3) provide limited reimbursement, to a State or its political subdivisions, in accordance with such regulations as he may prescribe, where the State has ceded concurrent legislative jurisdiction over the affected area of the system, for expenditures incurred in connection with its activities within that system which were rendered pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection.

“(4) the authorities provided by this subsection shall supplement the law enforcement responsibilities of the National Park Service, and shall not authorize the delegation of law enforcement responsibilities of the agency to State and local governments.

“(d)(1)Law enforcement officer. Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, a law enforcement officer of any State or political subdivision thereof designated to act as a special policeman under subsection (c) of this section shall not be deemed a Federal employee and shall not be subject to the provisions of law relating to Federal employment, including, but not limited to, those relating to hours of work, rates of compensation, leave, unemployment compensation, and Federal benefits.

“(2) For purposes of the tort claim provisions of title 28, United States Code,5 USC 8101. a law enforcement officer of any State or political subdivision thereof shall, when acting as a special policeman under subsection (c) of this section, be considered a Federal employee.

“(3) For purposes of subchapter I of chapter 81 of title 5, United States Code, relating to compensation to Federal employees for work injuries, a law enforcement officer of any State or political subdivision thereof shall, when acting as a special policeman under subsection (c) of this section be deemed a civil service employee of the United States within the meaning of the term ‘employee’ as defined in section 8101 of title 5, and the provisions of that subchapter shall apply.

“(e) Nothing contained in this Act shall be construed or applied to limit or restrict the investigative jurisdiction of any Federal law enforcement agency other than the National Park Service, and nothing shall be construed or applied to affect any right of a State or a political subdivision thereof to exercise civil and criminal jurisdiction within the National Park System.

“Sec. 11. Section 101(a) of title I of Public Law 89-655 (80 Stat. 915; 16 U.S.C. 470a), is amended by adding thereto a new paragraph to read as follows:

“ ‘(4) to withhold from disclosure to the public, information relating to the location of sites or objects listed on the National Register whenever he determines that the disclosure of specific information would create a risk of destruction or harm to such sites or objects.’.

“Sec. 12.Program, transmittal to congressional committees. (a) Not later than January 15 of each calendar year, the Secretary of the Interior shall transmit to the Committees on Interior and Insular Affairs a detailed program for the development of facilities, structures, or buildings for each unit of the National Park System consistent with the general management plans required in subsection (b) of this section.

“(b)General management plans, transmittal to congressional committees. General management plans for the development of each unit of the National Park System, including the areas within the national capital region, shall be prepared by the Director of the National Park Service and transmitted to the Committees on Interior and Insular Affairs. Such plans shall include:

“(1) the facilities which the Director finds necessary to accommodate the health, safety, and recreation needs of the visiting public, including such facilities as he may deem appropriate to provide in accordance with the provisions of the Act of October 9, 1965 (79 Stat. 969);

“(2) the location and estimated cost of all such facilities; and

“(3) the projected need for any additional facilities required for such unit.

“(c)Concession leases and contracts, proposed awards, transmittal to congressional committees. The Secretary of the Interior shall hereafter transmit to the Committees on Interior and Insular Affairs all proposed awards of concession leases and contracts involving a gross annual business of $100,000 or more, or exceeding five years in duration (including renewals thereof), and all proposed rules and regulations relating thereto, sixty days before such awards are made or such rules and regulations are promulgated. The Act of July 14, 1956 (70 Stat. 543) is hereby repealed.Repeal.
16 USC 17b-1.”.

Approved October 7, 1976.

 

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LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

HOUSE REPORT

No. 94-1569 accompanying H.R. 11887 (Comm. on Interior and Insular Affairs).

SENATE REPORT No. 94-1190 (Comm. on Interior and Insular Affairs).
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 122 (1976):

Sept. 17, considered and passed Senate.

Sept. 21, considered and passed House, amended, in lieu of H.R. 11887.

Sept. 23, Senate agreed to House amendment.