H.R.5839

            I 

116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION H. R. 5839 

To amend title 54, United States Code, to authorize the provision of technical 
assistance under the Preserve America Program and to direct the Sec-
retary of the Interior to enter into partnerships with communities adja-
cent to units of the National Park System to leverage local cultural 
heritage tourism assets. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 10, 2020 
Mr. YOUNG (for himself and Mr. CASE) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 
To amend title 54, United States Code, to authorize the 

provision of technical assistance under the Preserve 
America Program and to direct the Secretary of the 
Interior to enter into partnerships with communities ad-
jacent to units of the National Park System to leverage 
local cultural heritage tourism assets. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1

tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Explore America Act 4

of 2019’’. 5

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2 

•HR 5839 IH

SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 1

The purposes of this Act are— 2

(1) to strengthen economic development across 3

the United States by supporting cultural heritage 4

tourism and historic preservation activities through 5

the Preserve America Program; and 6

(2) to encourage the Director of the National 7

Park Service to partner with gateway communities 8

(including Native American communities and Na-9

tional Heritage Areas) to leverage local cultural and 10

historic heritage tourism assets. 11

SEC. 3. PRESERVE AMERICA GRANT PROGRAM. 12

(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Section 311102 of title 54, 13

United States Code, is amended— 14

(1) in subsection (d)— 15

(A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘and 16

the Secretary of Commerce’’ after ‘‘Council’’; 17

and 18

(B) by adding at the end the following: 19

‘‘(3) ADVISORY ROLE OF SECRETARY OF COM-20

MERCE.—The Secretary of Commerce shall advise 21

the program with respect to job creation, economic 22

growth, and tourism policy and promotion.’’; and 23

(2) by adding at the end the following: 24

‘‘(f) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 25

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3 

•HR 5839 IH

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For any fiscal year for 1

which funds are not made available to provide grants 2

under this section, to the extent practicable, the pro-3

gram shall, in lieu of the grants, provide technical 4

assistance to the eligible entities described in sub-5

section (a) for projects that meet the eligibility re-6

quirements described in subsection (b), as identified 7

on the list of projects prepared by the Secretary in 8

accordance with subsection (d). 9

‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—The Secretary may take 10

into account the availability of staff resources at the 11

Department of the Interior, the Council, and the De-12

partment of Commerce for purposes of determining 13

the number of projects that are provided technical 14

assistance under this subsection. 15

‘‘(3) FORM.—The form of technical assistance 16

under paragraph (1) may include technical assist-17

ance provided by— 18

‘‘(A) the Director, with respect to— 19

‘‘(i) best practices in visitor services; 20

‘‘(ii) the conduct of research, inven-21

tories, and surveys; 22

‘‘(iii) the documentation of historic re-23

sources; and 24

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4 

•HR 5839 IH

‘‘(iv) the interpretation and promotion 1

of cultural and heritage assets; 2

‘‘(B) the Council, with respect to historic 3

preservation initiatives and best practices in 4

stewardship; and 5

‘‘(C) the Secretary of Commerce, with re-6

spect to economic development and job creation 7

resources.’’. 8

(b) PROGRAM METRICS.—Chapter 3111 of title 54, 9

United States Code, is amended— 10

(1) by redesignating section 311105 as section 11

311106; and 12

(2) by inserting after section 311104 the fol-13

lowing: 14

‘‘§ 311105. Reports 15

‘‘(a) METRICS.—Not later than 180 days after the 16

date of enactment of the Explore America Act of 2019, 17

the Secretary, in consultation with the Council and the 18

Secretary of Commerce, shall develop specific metrics to 19

measure the effectiveness of the program, including— 20

‘‘(1) the economic impact of the program on 21

local communities (including Native American com-22

munities and National Heritage Areas); and 23

‘‘(2) the effect of the program on efforts to pre-24

serve heritage resources. 25

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5 

•HR 5839 IH

‘‘(b) GRANTEE REPORT.—Not later than 2 years 1

after the date on which a grantee receives a grant or tech-2

nical assistance under this chapter, the grantee shall sub-3

mit to the Secretary a report that— 4

‘‘(1) describes the outcome of the project that 5

was provided a grant or technical assistance under 6

this chapter; and 7

‘‘(2) based on the metrics developed under sub-8

section (a), assesses— 9

‘‘(A) the accomplishments of the project; 10

and 11

‘‘(B) the impact of the project on the com-12

munity in which the project was carried out. 13

‘‘(c) ANNUAL REPORTS.—The Secretary shall submit 14

an annual report to the appropriate committees of Con-15

gress that includes data provided by grantees to dem-16

onstrate the economic impact of the program.’’. 17

(c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec-18

tions for chapter 3111 of title 54, United States Code, 19

is amended by striking the item relating to section 311105 20

and inserting the following: 21

‘‘311105. Reports. 
‘‘311106. Authorization of appropriations.’’. 

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6 

•HR 5839 IH

SEC. 4. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE PARTNERSHIPS WITH 1

GATEWAY COMMUNITIES. 2

(a) IN GENERAL.—Subdivision 1 of division B of sub-3

title III of title 54, United States Code, is amended by 4

adding at the end the following: 5

‘‘CHAPTER 3092—PARTNERSHIPS WITH 6

GATEWAY COMMUNITIES 7

‘‘Sec. 
‘‘309201. Definitions. 
‘‘309202. Partnerships with gateway communities. 
‘‘309203. Report. 
‘‘309204. Authorization of appropriations. 

‘‘§ 309201. Definitions 8

‘‘In this chapter: 9

‘‘(1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COM-10

MITTEE.—The term ‘appropriate congressional com-11

mittee’ means— 12

‘‘(A) the Committee on Commerce, 13

Science, and Transportation of the Senate; 14

‘‘(B) the Committee on Energy and Nat-15

ural Resources of the Senate; 16

‘‘(C) the Committee on Appropriations of 17

the Senate; 18

‘‘(D) the Committee on Energy and Com-19

merce of the House of Representatives; 20

‘‘(E) the Committee on Natural Resources 21

of the House of Representatives; and 22

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7 

•HR 5839 IH

‘‘(F) the Committee on Appropriations of 1

the House of Representatives. 2

‘‘(2) GATEWAY COMMUNITY.—The term ‘gate-3

way community’ means a community adjacent to a 4

unit of the System, including a Native American 5

community or a National Heritage Area. 6

‘‘(3) HERITAGE TOURISM.—The term ‘heritage 7

tourism’ has the meaning given the term in section 8

311101. 9

‘‘§ 309202. Partnerships with gateway communities 10

‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall, to the ex-11

tent practicable, offer to enter into partnerships with gate-12

way communities to leverage heritage tourism assets to 13

strengthen local economies and create jobs in the gateway 14

communities with the goal of establishing a standardized 15

framework for partnerships throughout the System, in-16

cluding through— 17

‘‘(1) providing financial assistance to gateway 18

communities to support outreach and promotional 19

efforts; 20

‘‘(2) providing technical assistance to gateway 21

communities based on Service best practices in tour-22

ism development and visitor management, such as— 23

‘‘(A) inventorying tourism resources in the 24

gateway community; 25

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8 

•HR 5839 IH

‘‘(B) identifying historic heritage and cul-1

tural resources; 2

‘‘(C) engaging collaborative partners and 3

stakeholders; 4

‘‘(D) designing community outreach and 5

participation strategies; 6

‘‘(E) developing concept plans for trails, 7

parks, historic resources, and natural areas; 8

‘‘(F) developing sustainable tourism devel-9

opment frameworks for community planning; 10

and 11

‘‘(G) encouraging regional strategies for 12

tourism development and promotion; and 13

‘‘(3) assisting gateway communities in accessing 14

additional Federal resources available to strengthen 15

tourism assets and support economic development. 16

‘‘(b) OBTAINING FINANCIAL AND TECHNICAL AS-17

SISTANCE.—The Secretary, in consultation with stake-18

holders of System units, shall establish a process through 19

which States, units of local government, and Tribal gov-20

ernments may apply for designation as a gateway commu-21

nity to become eligible for financial and technical assist-22

ance made available under this section. 23

‘‘(c) METRICS.—The Secretary, in consultation with 24

gateway communities, shall develop metrics to measure 25

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9 

•HR 5839 IH

the impact of the financial and technical assistance pro-1

vided to gateway communities under this section. 2

‘‘§ 309203. Report 3

‘‘Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 4

of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate 5

congressional committees a report that— 6

‘‘(1) describes the efforts of the Secretary to 7

partner with gateway communities under this chap-8

ter; 9

‘‘(2) analyzes the results of the financial and 10

technical assistance using the metrics developed 11

under section 309202(c); and 12

‘‘(3) identifies— 13

‘‘(A) the next steps that should be taken to 14

improve partnerships with gateway commu-15

nities; and 16

‘‘(B) any actions that the Secretary will 17

take to improve the partnerships. 18

‘‘§ 309204. Authorization of appropriations 19

‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated such sums 20

as are necessary to carry out this chapter.’’. 21

(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of chap-22

ters for title 54, United States Code, is amended by insert-23

ing after the item relating to chapter 3091 the following: 24

‘‘3902. Partnerships with gateway communities ......................... 30921’’. 

Æ 

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