H.R. 6434, a bill to amend section 7 of Public Law 100-515 (16 U.S.C. 1244 note) to promote continued use of the James J. Howard Marine Sciences Laboratory at Gateway National Recreation Area by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Under current law, the state of New Jersey manages the James J. Howard Marine Sciences Laboratory—which is located on federal lands in the Gateway National Recreation Area—under a 99-year lease agreement between the state and the National Park Service (NPS). H.R. 6434 would make the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) the lessee instead of New Jersey.

NOAA currently reimburses the state for the costs of maintaining the laboratory but not for the lease of the facility. In addition, under the current lease agreement, the state pays about $50,000 annually to the NPS. Those payments are recorded in the budget as offsetting collections and credited to the discretionary appropriation for managing the surrounding lands. Transferring the lease from the state to NOAA would eliminate those collections because payments from NOAA to the NPS would be intragovernmental; that is, the costs to NOAA for the lease payments would be equal to the collections by the NPS and would thus have no net effect on federal spending. Accordingly, CBO estimates that implementing the bill would increase net costs by about $250,000 over the 2019-2023 period.

Enacting H.R. 6434 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.

CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 6434 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029.

H.R. 6434 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.