NCC News, December 1986

Appropriations for 1987

Congress failed to enact any of its regu­lar thirteen appropriations bills for fis­cal 1987. Thus the “Continuing Resolu­tion” combines the thirteen bills into one that will provide funding for all federal programs until September 30, the end of the 1987 fiscal year. NCC provided testimony at six appropriations hear­ings. Since budget cuts and not in­ creases seem to be the order of the day, some of the following represented real victories. The Continuing Resolution provides:

• National Endowment for the Human­ities. The FY’87 budget for NEH is almost $139 million, a small increase over the $132 million received in 1986.
• Historic Preservation. FY’87 appro­priations are close to current funding levels, with $20 million for the state historic preservation programs, $4.2 million for the National Trust for His­toric Preservation, and $1.5 million for the Advisory Committee on His­toric Preservation.
• National Historical Publications and Records Commission. The NHPRC’s grants program has been funded for FY’87 at $4 million, despite the fact that for the last six years the Adminis­tration has recommended zero fund­ing for NHPRC grants.
• National Archives. The FY’87 budget for the National Archives is $100.3 million. Although this includes a small increase over FY’86 for operating ex­penses, inflationary costs will absorb most of the increase.
• Library of Congress. The Library of Congress has been appropriated $235.399 million for  FY’87. This is a $14 million increase over the amount received in 1986, including the sup­plemental appropriation. Although $3.5 million of the increase is for renovations, this appropriation en­sures that the Library will be open in the evenings and on weekends and will be able to maintain its pre-1986 acquisitions and cataloging programs.

James Madison Memorial Fellowship Program Established

Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), who is a member of the National Com­mission on the Bicentennial of the Unit­ed States Constitution, introduced on October 2 an amendment to the Con­tinuing Resolution legislation that estab­lishes a new fellowship program in con­ nection with next year’s celebration of the Bicentennial of the Constitution.

The purpose of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Program is to en­courage graduate study of the Ameri­can Constitution and its roots, its forma­tion, its principles, and its development. The James Madison Memorial Fellow­ship Foundation, which will administer the program, is authorized to award fellowships of $12,000 a year to gradu­ate students who are preparing for ca­reers as junior and senior high school social studies and American history teachers and to full-time teachers re­ turning to school for graduate degrees with an emphasis on the Constitution. The Continuing Resolution appropriat­ed $20 million to implement the pro­ gram, with $10 million available on No­vember 1, 1987.

Federal Policy on Historic Preservation Issues

Thanks primarily to the work of Pres­ervation Action, historic preservation credits are among the few business tax incentives to be included in the tax reform act. Although the rehabilitation credits are reduced to 20 percent for certified rehabilitation of historic build­ings and 10 percent for nonhistoric buildings built before 1936 and al­ though the “passive loss” provision could limit the usefulness of the credits, the retention of rehab credits is a victory for historic preservation.

In the last days of the 99th Congress, a provision regarding entrance fees for some National Parks was adopted as a part of the Continuing Resolution. Al­though legislation was introduced in the Senate last year to adopt entrance fees and to appropriate funds raised from the fees for the preservation of natural and cultural resources in the parks, par­allel legislation was never introduced in the House. Some of the key supporters of the National Park Service in the House felt that the fees would not end up being used for special and much needed resource preservation projects, but would simply be used to off-set the general cost of running the parks or would be funneled into the US Trea­sury’s General Fund. The provision, which is for only one year and which will not apply to all of the National Parks, provides caps of $3 and $5 for single visit permits and provides for annual admission permits for each individual park unit for a reasonable fee, not to exceed $15. All funds from entrance fees will be transferred to the General Fund of the Treasury of the United States. However, the legislation pro­ vides that $15 million of the funds col­lected shall be distributed to the individual units of the National Park System to be used for “resource protection, re­ search, interpretation, and maintenance activities related to resource protec­tion.”

The Department of Interior has re­ leased “The Secretary of the Interior’s 20th Anniversary Report on the Nation­al Historic Preservation Act,” which was produced pursuant to the requirements of section 504 of the National Historic Preservation Act. While the report contains much useful material and information, it makes a concerted effort to justi­fy the Administration’s position of elim­inating funding for the state historic preservation program. Money to the states is frequently called “grants,” how­ever, federal programs such as the Na­tional Register of Historic Places and the tax incentive program for the reha­bilitation of historic buildings depend on the staff assistance of State Historic Preservation Offices. The report pre­sents a section-by-section analysis of the National Historic Preservation Act and includes recommendations for modify­ing the Act.