[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 491 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 491

To amend the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 1966 
to prohibit the United States Fish and Wildlife Service from acquiring 
   land to establish a refuge of the National Wildlife Refuge System 
 unless at least 50 percent of the owners of the land in the proposed 
                     refuge favor the acquisition.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 20, 1997

   Mr. Ford introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 1966 
to prohibit the United States Fish and Wildlife Service from acquiring 
   land to establish a refuge of the National Wildlife Refuge System 
 unless at least 50 percent of the owners of the land in the proposed 
                     refuge favor the acquisition.

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

SECTION 1. LANDOWNER REFERENDA ON REFUGES.

    (a) In General.--Section 4 of the National Wildlife Refuge System 
Administration Act of 1966 (16 U.S.C. 668dd) is amended by adding at 
the end the following:
    ``(j) Landowner Referenda on Refuges.--
            ``(1) In general.--Before acquiring land to establish a 
        refuge of the System or preparing a final environmental 
        assessment or environmental impact statement on the proposed 
        acquisition under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 
        (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the Secretary shall--
                    ``(A) hold a public hearing on the proposed 
                acquisition in the area in which the land proposed to 
                be acquired is located; and
                    ``(B) acting through a private, independent entity, 
                conduct a referendum among owners of the land that will 
                be acquired to establish the refuge to determine 
                whether the owners favor the proposed acquisition.
            ``(2) Approval of acquisition.--The Secretary may acquire 
        land to establish a refuge of the System only if a majority of 
        owners of the land voting in the referendum favor the proposed 
        acquisition.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) takes 
effect on October 1, 1996.
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