[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1592 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1592

 To amend the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 to provide 
             greater protection of private property rights.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 25, 2001

 Mr. Thornberry (for himself, Mr. Jones of North Carolina, Mr. Graves, 
  Mr. DeLay, and Mr. Otter) introduced the following bill; which was 
                 referred to the Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 to provide 
             greater protection of private property rights.

    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 ``Constitutional Land Acquisition 
Act''.

SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS.

    Title I of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (16 
U.S.C. 460l-4 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

                ``protection or private property rights

    ``Sec. 14. (a) Protection of Rights in Non-Federal Property From 
Federal Acquisition of Nearby Lands.--The right of an owner of non-
Federal real property to use and enjoy that property shall not be 
diminished based on the property being--
            ``(1) within the boundaries of a Federal unit as a 
        consequence of the acquisition of lands for that unit with 
        amounts made available under this Act; or
            ``(2) adjacent to Federal lands acquired with amounts made 
        available under this Act.
    ``(b) Property Acquisition Requirements.--The amounts made 
available under this Act for Federal purposes (in this section referred 
to as the `Federal portion') may not be used to acquire any interest in 
property unless--
            ``(1) the owner of the interest concurs in the acquisition;
            ``(2) the Secretary of the department that administers the 
        acquisition certifies that--
                    ``(A) acquisition of the interest through an equal 
                value exchange of property interests is not feasible 
                and suitable;
                    ``(B) in the case of an acquisition of a fee simple 
                interest, acquisition instead of a conservation 
                easement is not feasible and suitable; and
                    ``(C) the acquisition is in accordance with 
                priorities established by the Secretary for acquisition 
                of interests in property with amounts made available 
                under this Act that are based on such factors as 
                important or special resource attributes, threats to 
                resource integrity, timely availability, owner 
                hardship, cost escalation, public recreation use 
                values, and similar considerations; and
            ``(3) acquisition of that interest is specifically approved 
        by an Act of Congress.
    ``(c) Notification to Affected Areas Required.--The Federal portion 
for a fiscal year may not be used to acquire any interest in land 
unless the Secretary administering the acquisition, by not later than 
30 days after the date of the submission of the budget for the fiscal 
year under section 1105 of title 31, United States Code, provides 
notice of the proposed acquisition--
            ``(1) in writing to each member of and each Delegate and 
        Resident Commissioner to the Congress elected to represent any 
        area in which is located--
                    ``(A) the land; or
                    ``(B) any part of any federally designated unit 
                that includes the land;
            ``(2) in writing to the Governor of the State in which the 
        land is located;
            ``(3) in writing to each State political subdivision having 
        jurisdiction over the land; and
            ``(4) by publication of a notice in a newspaper that is 
        widely distributed in the area under the jurisdiction of each 
        such State political subdivision, that includes a clear 
        statement that the Federal Government intends to acquire an 
        interest in land.
    ``(d) Prohibition on Use for Condemnation.--Amounts made available 
from the land and water conservation fund may not be used to acquire 
property by condemnation.''.

SEC. 3. CONVERSION OF PROPERTY TO OTHER USE.

    Section 6(f)(3) of such Act (16 U.S.C. 460l-8(f)(3)) is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(A)'' before ``No property''; and
            (2) by striking the second sentence and inserting the 
        following:
    ``(B) Prior to each such conversion, the Governor of the State 
shall demonstrate that--
            ``(i) no prudent or feasible alternative exists, except 
        that this clause shall not apply to any property that no longer 
        meets the criteria within the State plan under subsection (d) 
        as an outdoor conservation and recreation facility due to 
        changes in demographics, or that must be abandoned because of 
        environmental contamination that endangers public health and 
        safety; and
            ``(ii) the conversion will assure the substitution of other 
        conservation and recreation properties of at least equal fair 
        market value and reasonably equivalent usefulness and location 
        and that are consistent with such State plan.''.
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