[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2945 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2945

     To amend the Land and Water Conservation Fund for purposes of 
  establishing a Community Recreation and Conservation Endowment with 
                 certain escrowed oil and gas revenues.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 8, 1997

Mr. Duncan (for himself and Mr. Hansen) introduced the following bill; 
            which was referred to the Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To amend the Land and Water Conservation Fund for purposes of 
  establishing a Community Recreation and Conservation Endowment with 
                 certain escrowed oil and gas revenues.

    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 ``Community Recreation and 
Conservation Endowment Act of 1997''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Congress finds that:
            (1) The Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 
        enbodied a visionary concept--that a portion of the proceeds 
        from Outer Continental Shelf mineral leasing revenues and the 
        depletion of a nonrenewable natural resource should result in a 
        legacy of public places accessible for public recreation and 
        benefit from resources belongings to all people, of all 
        generations, and the enhancement of the most precious and most 
        renewable natural resource of any nation, healthy and active 
        citizens.
            (2) The States and local governments were to occupy a 
        pivotal role in accomplishing the purposes of the Land and 
        Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 and the Act originally 
        provided an equitable portion of funds to the States, and 
        through them, to local governments.
            (3) However, because of competition for limited federal 
        monies and the need for an annual appropriation, this original 
        intention has been abandoned and, in recent years, the States 
        have not received an equitable proportion of funds.
            (4) Nonetheless, with population growth and urban sprawl, 
        the demand for recreation areas and open spaces, at the state 
        and local level, remains a high priority for our citizens.
            (5) A new vision is called for--a vision that encompasses a 
        multi-level national network of parks, recreation areas, open 
        space preserves and greenways that reaches across the country 
        to touch all communities. National parks are not enough; the 
        federal government alone cannot accomplish this. A bold 
        national vision, backed by realistic national funding support, 
        to stimulate state, local and private sector, as well as 
        federal efforts, is the only way to effectively address our 
        ongoing recreation and open space conservation needs.
            (6) On June 19, 1997, the United States Supreme Court held 
        in United States v. Alaska (No. 84 original) that the United 
        States retains title to lands underlying the tidal waters off 
        the State of Alaska's North Slope.
            (7) As a result of the Supreme Court decision, 
        approximately $1,600,000,000 in escrowed oil and gas lease sale 
        revenues are to be received by the United States. These funds 
        are double the amount included by the Congressional Budget 
        Office in revenue estimates for the concurrent resolution on 
        the budget.
            (8) By placing these escrowed funds in an interest bearing 
        account a permanent source of monies for state and local 
        recreation and conservation acquisition, planning and 
        development can be established.
    (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to revitalize state, local 
and private commitments envisioned in the Land and Water Conservation 
Fund Act of 1965 by creating a new Community Recreation and 
Conservation Endowment with the escrowed oil and gas lease sale 
revenues received by the United States pursuant to the Supreme Court 
decision in United States v. Alaska to provide funding for state, local 
and urban recreation and conservation needs.

SEC 3. COMMUNITY RECREATION AND CONSERVATION ENDOWMENT.

    Section 6 of the Land and Water Conservation Act of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 
460l-8) is amended by inserting the following new subsection at the 
beginning:
    ``(a) Community Recreation and Conservation Endowment.--
            ``(1) Special account.--Notwithstanding any other provision 
        of law, all escrowed oil and gas revenues and interest received 
        by the United States pursuant to the June 19, 1997 Supreme 
        Court decision in United States v. Alaska shall be deposited in 
        a special account in the Treasury of the United States, to be 
known as the `Community Recreation and Conservation Endowment Account', 
for use pursuant to the provisions of this section.
            ``(2) Investment of special account.--All funds deposited 
        as principal in the Community Recreation and Conservation 
        Endowment Account shall earn interest in the amount determined 
by the Secretary of the Treasury. Such interest shall be added to the 
principal of the account and be expended according to the provisions of 
this section.
            ``(3) Expenditure of special account.--Interest on the 
        Community Recreation and Conservation Endowment Account shall 
        be available without further appropriation at the beginning of 
        each fiscal year for expenditure by the Secretary of the 
        Interior (hereinafter referred to as the `Secretary') for 
        purposes of providing monies to the states according to the 
        provisions of this section.''.

SEC. 4. GENERAL AUTHORITY.

    Section 6 of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (16 
U.S.C. 460l-8) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsections (a) through (h) as 
        subsections (b) through (i) respectively;
            (2) by striking the first sentence of subsection (b) (as so 
        redesignated) and replacing with ``The Secretary is authorized 
        to provide financial assistance to the States from interest 
        earned on the Community Recreation and Conservation 
        Endowment.''; and
            (3) by adding the following new sentence at the end of 
        subsection (b) (as so redesignated): ``Absent some compelling 
        and annually documented reason to the contrary acceptable to 
        the Secretary, each State (other than an area treated as a 
        State under section 6(c)(6)) shall make available as grants to 
        local governments and other qualified recipients, at least one-
        half of the average annual State apportionment, or an 
        equivalent amount made available from other sources.''.

SEC. 5. APPORTIONMENT.

    Section 6(c) of the Land and Water Conservation Fund (16 U.S.C. 
460l-8(c)) (as so redesignated) is amended--
            (1) by striking the first sentence of subsection (c) and 
        paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) and inserting the following:
    ``(c) Apportionment Among States; Notification.--Interest earned on 
the Community Recreation and Conservation Endowment shall be 
apportioned annually among the several States by the Secretary, whose 
determination shall be final, in accordance with the following formula:
            ``(1) Sixty percent shall be apportioned equally among the 
        several States.
            ``(2) Twenty percent shall be apportioned on the basis of 
        the proportion which the population of each State bears to the 
        total population of the United States.
            ``(3) Twenty percent shall be apportioned on the basis of 
        the urban population in each State (as defined by Metropolitan 
        Statistical Areas).
            ``(4) The total allocation to an individual State under 
        paragraphs (1) through (3) shall not exceed 10 percent of the 
        total amount allocated to the several States in any one 
        year.''; and
            (2) by redesignating paragraphs (4) and (5) of subsection 
        (c) (as so redesignated) as paragraphs (5) and (6) 
        respectively.

SEC. 6. FUNDS FOR INDIAN TRIBES.

    Section 6(c)(6) of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 
(16 U.S.C. 460l-8(c)(6)) (as so redesignated) is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(A)'' after ``(6)''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
            ``(B) For the purposes of paragraph (1), all federally 
        recognized Indian tribes and Alaska Native Village Corporations 
        (as defined in section 3(j) of the Alaska Native Claims 
        Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1602(j)) shall be treated 
        collectively as one State, and shall receive shares of the 
        apportionment under paragraph (1) in accordance with a 
        competitive grant program established by the Secretary by rule. 
        Such rule shall ensure that in each fiscal year no single tribe 
        or Village Corporation receives more than 10 percent of the 
        total amount made available to all tribes and Village 
        Corporations pursuant to the apportionment under paragraph (1). 
        Funds received by an Indian tribe or Village Corporation under 
        this subparagraph may be expended only for the purposes 
        specified in paragraphs (1) and (3) of subsection (b). Receipt 
        in any given year of an apportionment under this section shall 
        not prevent an Indian tribe or Village Corporation from 
        receiving grants for other purposes under than regular 
        apportionment of the State in which it is located.''.
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