HR1492NOV18

TheWeekInCongress.com

Week Ending November 18, 2005

H.R.1492 To provide for the preservation of the historic confinement sites where Japanese Americans were detained during World War II, and for other purposes.

BRIEF

The bill would create a program within the National Park Service that would locate and acquire historic confinement sites where Japanese-Americans were confined during WW II.

The Secretary of Interior would work with citizens, governments, non-profits and educational institutions to carryout the program.

The Japanese-American national Heritage Coalition is authorized to make grants to State and local governments and others to carry out the program. A 25% non-Federal match of funds is required. Federal funds could be used to acquire non-Federal property related to the program.

The sites authorized under the bill are Gila River, Granada, Heart Mountain, Jerome, Manzanar, Minidoka, Poston, Rohwer, Topaz, and Tule Lake. Other sites in Hawaii are included.

Sponsor: Representative William M. Thomas (R-CA-22^nd)

Vote: Passed House without objection November 17, 2005.

Cost to the taxpayers: $38 million for a two year effort.

MORE INFORMATION

BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION

Two years after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 that called for all people of Japanese ancestry residing on the west coast, most of whom were American citizens, to be placed in relocation camps (1942-1945). This action represented the largest forced relocation in U.S. history--over 120,000 Japanese-American citizens and Japanese aliens were uprooted from their homes and interned in sites throughout the country. While there are two units in the National Park System that preserve and interpret the internment period (Manzanar National Historic Site and Minidoka Internment National Monument) there are many who believe that other internment sites should also be preserved whether or not they become a unit of the National Park System. With the passage of time, much of the sites' physical infrastructure has been lost. In addition, those persons with memories of the confinement are increasingly being lost.

H.R. 1492 would direct the Secretary of the Interior to establish a 25% matching grant program within the National Park Service to support partnerships with governmental and nongovernmental organizations to identify, protect, interpret and restore historic confinement sites. The bill expressly makes 10 internment sites eligible for the grant program; they are the relocation centers that are known as Gila River, Granada, Heart Mountain, Jerome, Manzanar, Minidoka, Poston, Rohwer, Topaz, and Tule Lake. The bill also makes other confinement sites eligible for the grant program if they are determined by the Secretary to be historically significant. The bill would also authorize $38 million to conduct the grant program. Examples of such other historically significant sites include, but are not limited to, any of the assembly centers or U.S. Department of Justice or military installations where people were detained pursuant to Executive Order 9066 during World War II.

The Committee recognizes that H.R. 1492 grants the Secretary of the Interior the authority to approve additional historic confinement sites, and therefore these too would then be eligible for funds under the Act. Examples of sites that may be approved include, but are not limited to, any of the assembly centers, the Crystal City World War II Alien Family Internment Camp in Texas, or the Gordon Hirabayashi Recreation Site in Arizona. Grants would be made subject to agreements with the Secretary of the Interior assuring that funds will be used consistent with the purposes of the Act. Further, any property acquired using federal grants under the Act will be subject to agreements or easements in perpetuity that ensure the use of such lands are also consistent with the purposes of the Act.

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