[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2466 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2466

 To improve the process for land exchanges with the Forest Service and 
                     the Bureau of Land Management.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 11, 1995

  Mr. Hansen introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
      Committee on Resources, and in addition to the Committee on 
Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 
 in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the 
                jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To improve the process for land exchanges with the Forest Service and 
                     the Bureau of Land Management.

    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 ``Federal Land Exchange Improvement 
Act of 1995''.

SEC. 2. LANDS ELIGIBLE FOR APPROXIMATELY EQUAL VALUE TREATMENT.

    Section 206(h)(1)(A) of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act 
of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1716(h)(1)(A)) is amended by striking out 
``$150,000'' and inserting in lieu thereof ``$500,000, adjusted 
annually on a fiscal year basis commencing in fiscal year 1997 by the 
average change over the previous fiscal year of the Consumer Price 
Index (all items--United States city average) published monthly by the 
Bureau of Labor Statistics''.

SEC. 3. USE OF FUNDS.

    Section 206(b) of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 
1976 (43 U.S.C. 1716) is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(1)'' after ``(b)''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(2)(A) Amounts received by the Secretary concerned under 
paragraph (1) shall be deposited in a special fund in the Treasury of 
the United States, subject to subparagraph (B). Such amounts shall, 
subject to the availability of appropriations, be available to the 
Secretary concerned for processing land exchanges.
    ``(B) Amounts in the fund referred to in subparagraph (A) may not 
exceed $12,000,000 at any time. Amounts received by the Secretary 
concerned under this section which, but for this subparagraph, would be 
added to such fund shall instead be covered over into the Treasury of 
the United States as miscellaneous receipts.''.

SEC. 4. EXCHANGE PROCESSING.

    Section 206(b) of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 
1976 (43 U.S.C. 1716), as amended by section 3, is further amended by 
adding at the end the following paragraph:
            ``(3)(A)(i) An environmental assessment shall be the 
        document prepared for any exchange under this Act pursuant to 
        section 102(2) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 
        (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)).
            ``(ii) Any conferencing or consultation required for an 
        exchange under this Act pursuant to section 7(a) of the 
        Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1536(a)) shall be 
        completed within 45 days after the date on which the 
        conferencing or consultation is initiated.
            ``(iii) After completion of an exchange under this Act, no 
        action may be taken on the non-Federal land acquired in an 
        exchange until the Secretary concerned has complied with 
        section 102(2) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 
        and section 7(a) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 
        concerning such action, and any necessary amendment to the land 
        management plan applicable to such land and such action.
            ``(B) The Secretary shall complete processing, and make a 
        final decision, on any exchange under this Act within one year 
        from the date of submission of the application for the 
        exchange.
            ``(C) The non-Federal land to be included in any exchange 
        under this Act shall be valued without the application of any 
        Federal or State restriction concerning an environmental value 
        or resource the protection of which is considered by the 
        Secretary concerned as a public benefit to be obtained by the 
        exchange.''.

SEC. 5. MINOR BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENTS.

    Section 206 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 
(43 U.S.C. 1716) is amended by adding at the end thereof the following:
    ``(j) Notwithstanding the other provisions of this Act and other 
applicable laws which require that exchanges of land or interests 
therein be for equal or approximately equal value, the Secretary 
concerned may dispose of lands by exchange to make such minor 
adjustments to the boundary of a unit of the public lands or the 
National Forest System as may be necessary to reflect actual conditions 
in the unit which are not of comparable character to the unit. In 
making such adjustments, the amount of land added to the unit may not 
exceed the amount of land removed from the unit.''.

SEC. 6. REMOVAL ON RESTRICTION ON EXCHANGE OF OREGON AND CALIFORNIA 
              RAILROAD GRANT LANDS ADMINISTERED BY THE SECRETARY OF 
              AGRICULTURE.

    Subsection (a) of the first section of the Act entitled ``An Act 
relating to the administrative jurisdiction of certain public lands in 
the State of Oregon, and for other purposes'', approved June 24, 1954 
(43 U.S.C. 1181g(a)), is amended by striking out the last sentence.

SEC. 7. AMENDMENT TO SISK ACT RELATING TO PRIOR USE OF LANDS TO BE 
              CONVEYED.

    The first section of the Act entitled ``An Act to facilitate 
exchanges of land under the Act of March 20, 1922(42 Stat. 465), for 
use for public schools, and for other purposes'', approved December 4, 
1967 (16 U.S.C. 484a), is amended by striking out ``on the date of 
enactment of this sentence'' and inserting in lieu thereof ``for the 
five-year period ending on the date of conveyance''.

SEC. 8. WAIVER OF PUBLIC USE REQUIREMENT FOR LANDS UNDER BANKHEAD-JONES 
              FARM TENANT ACT.

    The Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act is amended in section 32(c) (7 
U.S.C. 1011(c)) by adding at the end the following: ``The Secretary may 
waive the requirements of this paragraph that lands be sold, exchanged, 
or granted only to public authorities and agencies and only on 
condition that the property is used for public purposes after the 
Secretary consults with the head of any other Federal agency that has a 
property interest in the lands, such as a federally-owned building or 
other improvements.''.
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