RECODIFICATION OF EXISTING LAWS RELATED TO NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia: Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1950. Dating back to the mid-19th century, numerous laws have been enacted pertaining to the organization and management of the National Park System by the National Park Service.

The Service is also responsible for carrying out the Historic Sites, Buildings, and Antiquities Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, and other laws relating to the protection and preservation of sites that illustrate America's history.

Over the ensuing years, laws specifying the Service's responsibilities have been codified in various sections of title 16 of the United States Code. And as laws relating to the National Park Service were amended and new laws were added to the Code, classifications have become more cumbersome to use.

H.R. 1950 simply gathers all of these provisions pertaining to the National Park Service and restates them in a new positive law title of the United States Code. The new title 54 of the Code replaces and repeals these provisions of the former law.

All changes in existing law made by H.R. 1950 are purely technical, and they reflect the understood policy, intent, and purpose of Congress in the original enactments. These changes include corrections to remove ambiguities, contradictions, and other imperfections.

We should note that this measure was drafted by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel as part of that office's ongoing statutory responsibility to ''prepare a complete compilation, restatement, and revision of the general and permanent laws of the United States.''

I commend the Office of the Law Revision Counsel for its good work on H.R. 1950 and for its many valuable contributions to our legislative process.

Mr. Speaker, accordingly, I urge my colleagues to support the measure.