[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1233 Referred in House (RFH)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 1233


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 27, 1994

    Referred jointly to the Committees on the Judiciary and Natural 
                               Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
To resolve the status of certain lands in Arizona that are subject to a 
 claim as a grant of public lands for railroad purposes, and for other 
                               purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Arizona Wilderness Land Title 
Resolution Act of 1994''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) the Act entitled ``An Act granting Lands to aid in the 
        Construction of a Railroad and Telegraph Line from the States 
        of Missouri and Arkansas to the Pacific Coast'', approved July 
        27, 1866 (14 Stat. 292), granted a right-of-way in Arizona to 
        the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad Company, together with 
        certain alternate sections of public lands on both sides of the 
        right-of-way;
            (2) patents were not issued to some of the lands in the 
        grant described in paragraph (1);
            (3) as successors in interest to the Atlantic and Pacific 
        Railroad Company, the Santa Fe Pacific Railroad, and Perrin 
        Properties, Inc., a California corporation--
                    (A) claim rights to approximately 14,632.72 acres 
                of the lands described in paragraph (1); and
                    (B) applied to the Secretary of the Interior for a 
                patent to the lands;
            (4) the Secretary of the Interior denied the application 
        for the patent, which was filed in the name of the Santa Fe 
        Railroad Company for the benefit of Perrin Properties, Inc., on 
        the ground that the claim had been extinguished by failure to 
        record the claim in accordance with the Act entitled ``An Act 
        to require the recordation of scrip, lieu selection, and 
        similar rights'', approved August 5, 1955 (69 Stat. 534; 43 
        U.S.C. 274 note) (commonly known as the ``Recordation Act'');
            (5) on appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the 
        District of Columbia Circuit ruled in Santa Fe Pacific Railroad 
        Company, et al. v. Secretary of the Interior, 830 F.2d 1168 
        (D.C. Cir. 1987), that such Act was not applicable and did not 
        bar the issuance of a patent;
            (6) ultimate resolution of the question of the title to the 
        14,632.72 acres may require years of additional litigation;
            (7) the Arizona Wilderness Act of 1984 (Public Law 98-406) 
        designated certain lands in the Prescott National Forest in 
        Arizona as components of the National Wilderness Preservation 
        System established by the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et 
        seq.), including the Apache Creek Wilderness and the Juniper 
        Mesa Wilderness;
            (8) the 14,632.72 acres are in the Prescott National Forest 
        and comprise large portions of the Apache Creek and Juniper 
        Mesa Wilderness areas; and
            (9) if the 14,632.72 acres are patented to private owners, 
        the creation of a checkerboard ownership pattern over the 
        wilderness areas will effectively preclude management of the 
        areas as wilderness.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to resolve the status of the title to the approximately 
        14,632.72 acres in the Prescott National Forest described in 
        section 3(c);
            (2) to ensure that the lands are permanently retained in 
        Federal ownership; and
            (3) to preserve the integrity of the Apache Creek and 
        Juniper Mesa Wilderness areas consistent with the Arizona 
        Wilderness Act of 1984 (Public Law 98-406).

SEC. 3. RESOLUTION OF STATUS OF LANDS.

    (a) Payment by the Secretary of the Treasury.--
            (1) Payment.--Subject to subsection (b), the Secretary of 
        the Treasury shall pay to Perrin Properties, Inc., the sum of 
        $3,854,000 from the permanent judgment appropriation 
        established pursuant to section 1304 of title 31, United States 
        Code.
            (2) Interest.--No funds shall be made available for the 
        payment of interest on the amounts payable under paragraph (1).
    (b) Conditions of Payment.--The Secretary of the Treasury shall 
make the payment described in subsection (a) if the Attorney General of 
the United States notifies the Secretary of the Treasury that the 
appellants in Santa Fe Pacific Railroad Company, et al. v. Secretary of 
the Interior, 830 F.2d 1168 (1987), and Perrin Properties, Inc., have 
executed in forms satisfactory to the Attorney General all documents 
necessary--
            (1) to dismiss with prejudice all litigation involving the 
        title to the lands described in subsection (c); and
            (2) to release and quitclaim to the United States all 
        right, title, and interest of the appellants and of Perrin 
        Properties, Inc., arising out of the Act entitled ``An Act 
        granting Lands to aid in the Construction of a Railroad and 
        Telegraph Line from the States of Missouri and Arkansas to the 
        Pacific Coast'', approved July 27, 1866 (14 Stat. 292), in and 
        to lands in the Prescott National Forest.
    (c) Description of Lands.--The lands described in this subsection 
are the approximately 14,632.72 acres of land in the Prescott National 
Forest in Arizona described in the decision by the Interior Board of 
Land Appeals, Santa Fe Pacific Railroad Co., No. 82-449, 72 IBLA 197 
(April 19, 1983).
    (d) Management of Lands.--Upon the execution of documents and 
dismissal of the litigation as described in subsection (b), the lands 
described in subsection (c) shall be managed in accordance with the 
laws, rules, and regulations pertaining to the National Forest System. 
Lands described in subsection (c) that lie within the boundaries of a 
wilderness area, as designated on or before the date of enactment of 
this Act, shall also be managed in accordance with the applicable 
provisions of the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.).

            Passed the Senate June 24 (legislative day, June 7), 1994.

            Attest:

                                                MARTHA S. POPE,

                                                             Secretary.