[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 67 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 H. R. 67

   To provide temporary legal exemptions for certain land management 
   activities of the Federal land management agencies undertaken in 
                   federally declared disaster areas.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 7, 2003

Mr. Flake (for himself and Mr. Hayworth) 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 provide temporary legal exemptions for certain land management 
   activities of the Federal land management agencies undertaken in 
                   federally declared disaster areas.

    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 ``Federally Declared Disaster Area 
Exemption Act of 2003''.

SEC. 2. TEMPORARY EXEMPTION FROM CERTAIN LAWS FOR LAND MANAGEMENT 
              ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN IN FEDERALLY DECLARED DISASTER 
              AREAS.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Federal land management agency.--The term ``Federal 
        land management agency'' means the National Park Service, 
        United States Forest Service, United States Fish and Wildlife 
        Service, and the Bureau of Land Management.
            (2) Federally declared disaster area.--The term ``federally 
        declared disaster area'' means an area covered by a 
        Presidential declaration of major disaster issued under section 
        401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
        Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170).
    (b) Exemption.--Due to the extraordinary circumstances present in a 
federally declared disaster area, land management activities of the 
Federal land management agencies undertaken in the federally declared 
disaster area in response to the conditions that necessitated the 
Presidential declaration shall proceed immediately and to completion 
notwithstanding any other provision of law including, but not limited 
to, the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et 
seq.) and the National Forest Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.). 
In addition, such activities shall not be subject to the notice, 
comment, and appeal requirements of section 322 of Public Law 102-381 
(commonly known as the Appeals Reform Act; 16 U.S.C. 1612 note) or to 
judicial review by any court of the United States.
    (c) Duration.--Subsection (b) shall apply to a federally declared 
disaster area during the two-year period beginning on the date of the 
Presidential declaration and to any land management activity described 
in such subsection commenced in the area during such period.
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