Park Professionals Protection Act

        [Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2650 Introduced in House (IH)]

108th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2650

To prohibit the study or implementation of any plan to privatize,
divest, or transfer any part of the mission, function, or
responsibility of the National Park Service.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

June 26, 2003

Mr. Rahall (for himself, Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Udall of New Mexico, Mr.
Rodriguez, and Mr. Hoyer) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To prohibit the study or implementation of any plan to privatize,
divest, or transfer any part of the mission, function, or
responsibility of the National Park Service.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. PARK PROFESSIONALS PROTECTION.

(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Park Professionals
Protection Act''.
(b) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) The National Park System is recognized throughout the
world as a model for the conservation and enjoyment of natural,
scenic, recreational, cultural, and historic resources.
(2) The National Park System would never have achieved such
status, nor could the system maintain such status, without the
professionalism, dedication, and passion of the men and women
of the National Park Service.
(3) Current plans to privatize thousands of jobs within the
National Park Service ignore the unique contributions made by
the men and women of the National Park Service and threaten to
undermine the entire National Park System.
(4) Scarce park operations and maintenance resources are
being diverted to pay private consultants to study the current
privatization scheme. According to the National Park Service,
these studies cost approximately $3000 for each position
proposed to be privatized.
(5) Despite the millions of taxpayer dollars diverted to
these studies, not a single report has been published
documenting any cost savings to be generated by the
privatization of park operations.
(6) The current privatization scheme raises serious
questions regarding the ability of temporary workers, provided
by the lowest bidder, to adequately fulfill the
responsibilities of professional National Park Service
employees in the areas of conservation, interpretation,
emergency fire and rescue, and homeland security.
(7) The current privatization scheme appears to affect
minority employees disproportionately, threatening to
significantly reduce the number of minority employees within
the National Park Service.
(8) Pendency of the current privatization scheme is having
detrimental impacts on the morale of current employees and is
discouraging high quality candidates from applying for
positions within the National Park Service.
(c) Prohibition.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the
Secretary is prohibited from studying or implementing any plan to
privatize, divest, or transfer any part of what is, as of the date of
the enactment of this section, the mission, function, or responsibility
of the National Park Service.
(d) Reallocation of Funds.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
law, the Secretary shall withhold any funds currently dedicated to the
activities prohibited under subsection (c) and shall reallocate those
funds to the operations and maintenance accounts within the National
Park Service
(e) No Effect on Certain Plans.--Nothing in this section shall
effect the authority, as of the date of the enactment of this section,
of a National Park Service Superintendent to develop and implement
concessions management plans and commercial services plans covering, in
whole or in part, the area managed by that Superintendent.
(f) Secretary Defined.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of the Interior and any person employed by the Secretary of the
Interior in any capacity.
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