I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 266
To amend title 36, United States Code, to grant a Federal charter to the
National Lighthouse Museum.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY10, 2023
Ms. M
ALLIOTAKISintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend title 36, United States Code, to grant a Federal
charter to the National Lighthouse Museum.
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 ‘‘National Lighthouse 4
Museum Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. NATIONAL LIGHTHOUSE MUSEUM. 6
Part B of subtitle II of title 36, United States Code, 7
is amended by inserting after chapter 1519 the following 8
new chapter: 9
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‘‘CHAPTER 1520—NATIONAL LIGHTHOUSE 1
MUSEUM 2
‘‘Sec.
‘‘152001. Organization.
‘‘152002. Purposes.
‘‘152003. Operation of museum.
‘‘152004. Membership.
‘‘152005. Governing body.
‘‘152006. Powers.
‘‘152007. Restrictions.
‘‘152008. Duty to maintain corporate and tax-exempt status.
‘‘152009. Records and inspection.
‘‘152010. Service of process.
‘‘152011. Liability for acts of officers and agents.
‘‘152012. Annual report.
‘‘152013. Definitions.
‘‘§ 152001. Organization 3
‘‘(a) F
EDERALCHARTER.—The National Lighthouse 4
Museum, incorporated in New York, is a federally char-5
tered corporation. 6
‘‘(b) E
XPIRATION OFCHARTER.—If the corporation 7
does not comply with any provision of this chapter, the 8
charter granted by this chapter expires. 9
‘‘§ 152002. Purposes 10
‘‘The purposes of the corporation are as provided in 11
its constitution and bylaws and include the following pur-12
poses: 13
‘‘(1) To collect, preserve, and interpret objects 14
related to the history and technology of lighthouses 15
and lightships located, in the past or present, at 16
sites throughout the United States. 17
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‘‘(2) To research, document, and disseminate 1
information on the history and technology of Amer-2
ican lighthouses. 3
‘‘(3) To create and maintain an archive of arti-4
facts and materials related to American lighthouses. 5
‘‘(4) To foster research of American lighthouse 6
history. 7
‘‘(5) To serve as a contact point for public in-8
quiry and assistance with respect to American light-9
house history, research, education, collections, and 10
programs. 11
‘‘(6) To celebrate America’s lighthouse heritage 12
through educational programs, publications, films, 13
festivals, living history, lighthouse trails, con-14
ferences, and other such offerings. 15
‘‘(7) To support other existing and future light-16
house museums, organizations, and sites. 17
‘‘(8) To establish partnerships with other orga-18
nizations to attain the above goals. 19
‘‘(9) To engage in any lawful act or activity 20
necessary to further the purposes of the corporation 21
under this section. 22
‘‘§ 152003. Operation of museum 23
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—The corporation shall operate a 24
museum to be known as the National Lighthouse Museum 25
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at the site of the former United States Lighthouse Service 1
General Depot located at what is now known as St. 2
George, Staten Island, New York. 3
‘‘(b) S
TORAGEFACILITY.—The corporation shall op-4
erate a storage facility located at or near the site described 5
in subsection (a) for the care, conservation, and mainte-6
nance of artifacts in the collection of the corporation. 7
‘‘(c) S
UPPORT TOOTHERMUSEUMS.—The corpora-8
tion shall provide support to other museums that interpret 9
the history of aids to navigation in the United States. 10
‘‘(d) D
ESIGNATION OFCOLLECTION.—The collection 11
of artifacts of the National Lighthouse Museum shall be 12
known as the National Lighthouse Collection. 13
‘‘(e) E
XCLUSIVERIGHT.—The corporation shall have 14
the sole and exclusive right to use, in carrying out its pur-15
poses, the name ‘National Lighthouse Museum’ and the 16
sole and exclusive right to the use of its corporate seal, 17
emblems, and badges as adopted by the corporation. 18
‘‘§ 152004. Membership 19
‘‘Eligibility for membership in the corporation and 20
the rights and privileges of members are as provided in 21
the constitution and bylaws of the corporation. 22
‘‘§ 152005. Governing body 23
‘‘(a) B
OARD OFTRUSTEES.—The board of trustees 24
of the corporation and the responsibilities of the board are 25
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as provided in the constitution and bylaws of the corpora-1
tion. 2
‘‘(b) O
FFICERS.—The officers and the election of offi-3
cers of the corporation are as provided in the bylaws of 4
the corporation. 5
‘‘§ 152006. Powers 6
‘‘The corporation has only the powers provided in its 7
constitution, bylaws, and charter as granted by the Board 8
of Regents of the State of New York and in the certificate 9
of authority in any other State in which the corporation 10
is, or shall be, qualified to do business. 11
‘‘§ 152007. Restrictions 12
‘‘(a) S
TOCK ANDDIVIDENDS.—The corporation may 13
not issue stock or declare or pay a dividend. 14
‘‘(b) P
OLITICALACTIVITIES.—The corporation or a 15
trustee or officer, acting as such trustee or officer, may 16
not contribute to, support, or participate in any political 17
activity or in any manner attempt to influence legislation. 18
‘‘(c) D
ISTRIBUTION OFINCOME ORASSETS.—The in-19
come or assets of the corporation may not inure to the 20
benefit of, or be distributed to, a trustee, officer, or mem-21
ber during the life of the charter granted by this chapter. 22
This subsection does not prevent the payment of reason-23
able compensation to an officer or reimbursement for ac-24
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tual necessary expenses in amounts approved by the board 1
of trustees. 2
‘‘(d) L
OANS.—The corporation may not make a loan 3
to a trustee, officer, or employee. 4
‘‘(e) C
LAIM OFGOVERNMENTAL APPROVAL ORAU-5
THORIZATION.—The corporation may not claim congres-6
sional approval or the authority of the United States Gov-7
ernment for any of its activities. 8
‘‘§ 152008. Duty to maintain corporate and tax-ex-9
empt status 10
‘‘(a) C
ORPORATESTATUS.—The corporation shall 11
maintain its corporate status as a corporation incor-12
porated under the laws of the State of New York. 13
‘‘(b) T
AX-EXEMPTSTATUS.—The corporation shall 14
maintain its status as an organization exempt from tax-15
ation under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 16
1 et seq.). 17
‘‘§ 152009. Records and inspection 18
‘‘(a) R
ECORDS.—The corporation shall keep— 19
‘‘(1) correct and complete records of account; 20
‘‘(2) minutes of the proceedings of its members, 21
board of trustees, and committees; and 22
‘‘(3) at its principal office, a record of the 23
names and addresses of its members entitled to vote, 24
if any. 25
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‘‘(b) INSPECTION.—Any officer or trustee, or any 1
member entitled to vote (if any), or an agent or attorney 2
of such officer, trustee, or member, may inspect the 3
records of the corporation for any proper purpose at any 4
reasonable time. 5
‘‘§ 152010. Service of process 6
‘‘The corporation shall comply with the law on service 7
of process of the State of New York and in each State 8
in which it carries on activities. 9
‘‘§ 152011. Liability for acts of officers and agents 10
‘‘The corporation is liable for the acts of its officers 11
and agents acting within the scope of their authority. 12
‘‘§ 152012. Annual report 13
‘‘The corporation shall submit an annual report to 14
Congress on the activities of the corporation during the 15
prior fiscal year. The report shall be submitted at the 16
same time as the report of the audit required by section 17
10101 of this title. The report may not be printed as a 18
public document. 19
‘‘§ 152013. Definitions 20
‘‘For purposes of this chapter— 21
‘‘(1) the term ‘corporation’ means the National 22
Lighthouse Museum, Inc., incorporated in New 23
York; and 24
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‘‘(2) the term ‘State’ includes the District of 1
Columbia and the territories and possessions of the 2
United States.’’. 3
SEC. 3. CLERICAL AMENDMENT. 4
The table of chapters at the beginning of subtitle II 5
of title 36, United States Code, is amended by inserting 6
after the item relating to chapter 1519 the following new 7
item: 8
‘‘1520. National Lighthouse Museum .........................................152001.’’.
Æ
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