HR 2627
11-13-07, House Agreed to Bill by Voice Vote
Referred to Senate
Committee on Energy & Natural Resources
110th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2627
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
November 14, 2007
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources
AN ACT
To establish the Thomas Edison National Historical Park in the State
of New Jersey as the successor to the Edison National Historic Site.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Act Commemorating the LITE, or Lifetime Innovations
of Thomas Edison'.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.
(a) Findings- Congress finds the following:
(1) The Edison National Historic Site, located in West Orange, New Jersey,
is a vital part of America's national system of parks which preserves Thomas
Alva Edison's research and development laboratories, library, papers, and
artifacts, as well as his home.
(2) The Site is a national historic treasure and contains the world's largest
collection of materials related to Thomas Edison, encompassing an estimated
5,000,000 pages of documents, over 400,000 artifacts, approximately 35,000
sound recordings, and 10,000 books from Edison's personal library.
(3) Thomas Edison is one of America's greatest inventors, whose inexhaustible
energy and genius produced 1,093 patents in his lifetime, more than any
other American, including patents for the incandescent light bulb, the motion
picture camera, and the phonograph.
(4) In 1928, Thomas Edison was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for
the `development and application of inventions that have revolutionized
civilization in the last century.'
(5) In 1998, Congress again honored Thomas Edison by directing the Secretary
of the Treasury to mint a commemorative coin celebrating the 125th anniversary
of Edison's invention of the light bulb, celebrated in 2004.
(6) The Edison National Historic Site is one of America's most endangered
historic places. The National Park Service, in its General Management Plan
and Development Concept Plan, identified the need for numerous actions to
preserve, protect, restore, and enhance the Site and determined that sufficient
government funds are not likely to be appropriated to complete these necessary
actions in the foreseeable future.
(7) On November 6, 1997, the National Park Service signed an agreement with
the Thomas Alva Edison Preservation Foundation (now the Edison Preservation
Foundation), establishing a public-private partnership to jointly raise
money to fund identified improvements at the Edison National Historic Site
so as to leave the Site unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.
(b) Purposes- The purposes of this Act are--
(1) to recognize and pay tribute to Thomas Alva Edison and his innovations;
and
(2) to preserve, protect, restore, and enhance the Edison National Historic
Site to ensure public use and enjoyment of the Site as an educational, scientific,
and cultural center.
SEC. 3. THOMAS EDISON NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK.
(a) Establishment- There is established the Thomas Edison National Historical
Park as a unit of the National Park System (hereafter the `Historical Park').
(b) Boundaries- The Historical Park shall be comprised of--
(1) all property owned by the United States in the Edison National Historic
Site as well as all property authorized to be acquired by the Secretary
of the Interior for inclusion in the Edison National Historic Site before
the date of the enactment of this Act, as generally depicted on the map
entitled the `Edison National Historic Site', numbered 20003B, and dated
April 1977; and
(2) all property authorized to be acquired for inclusion in the Historical
Park by this Act or other law enacted after the date of the enactment of
this Act.
(c) Map- The map of the Historical Park shall be on file and available for
public inspection in the appropriate offices of the National Park Service.
SEC. 4. ADMINISTRATION.
(a) In General- The Secretary shall administer the Historical Park in accordance
with this Act and with the provisions of law generally applicable to units
of the National Park System, including the Acts entitled `An Act to establish
a National Park Service, and for other purposes,' approved August 25, 1916
(39 Stat. 535; 16 U.S.C. 1 et seq.) and `An Act to provide for the preservation
of historic American sites, buildings, objects, and antiquities of national
significance, and for other purposes,' approved August 21, 1935 (16 U.S.C.
461 et seq.).
(b) Acquisition of Property-
(1) REAL PROPERTY- The Secretary may acquire land or interests in land within
the boundaries of the Historical Park, from willing sellers only, by donation,
purchase with donated or appropriated funds, or exchange.
(2) PERSONAL PROPERTY- The Secretary may acquire personal property associated
with, and appropriate for, interpretation of the Historical Park.
(c) Cooperative Agreements- The Secretary may consult and enter into cooperative
agreements with interested entities and individuals to provide for the preservation,
development, interpretation, and use of the Historical Park.
(d) Repeal of Superseded Law- Public Law 87-628 (76 Stat. 428), regarding
the establishment and administration of the Edison National Historic Site,
is repealed.
(e) References- Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, paper,
or other record of the United States to the `Edison National Historic Site'
shall be deemed to be a reference to the `Thomas Edison National Historical
Park'.
SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There is authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry
out this Act.
Passed the House of Representatives November 13, 2007.
Attest:
LORRAINE C. MILLER,
Clerk.
END
