[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3464 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3464

To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to make payments to Western 
                   States for education improvement.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 27, 2005

Mr. Bishop of Utah (for himself, Mr. Herger, and Mr. Cannon) introduced 
 the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Resources, 
and in addition to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, 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 authorize the Secretary of the Interior to make payments to Western 
                   States for education improvement.

    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 ``Action Plan for Public Lands and 
Education Act of 2005''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) Western States, as a group, are falling behind in 
        education funding when measured in growth of real per pupil 
        expenditures from 1979 to 1998.
            (2) Eleven of the twelve States with the lowest real growth 
        in per pupil expenditures are Western States.
            (3) The growth rate of real per pupil expenditures in the 
        13 Western States is less than half such rate in the 37 other 
        States (28 percent versus 57 percent).
            (4) One effect of less funding for public education in the 
        West is higher pupil per teacher ratios.
            (5) Ten of the twelve States with the largest pupil per 
        teacher ratios are Western States.
            (6) On average, the 13 Western States have 3 more students 
        per classroom than the 37 other States.
            (7) To make matters worse, over the next 10 years, 
        enrollment is projected to be much higher in Western States 
        than in other States.
            (8) On average, enrollment growth of Western States is 
        projected to increase dramatically while the other States 
        projected growth rate actually decreases.
            (9) The State and local taxes of Western States as a 
        percentage of personal income are as high or higher than other 
        States.
            (10) Despite the fact that Western States tax at a 
        comparable rate and allocate as much of their budgets to public 
        education as other States, Western States have lower real 
        growth in per pupil expenditures and have higher pupil per 
        teacher ratios.
            (11) The problem lies at the feet of the Federal Government 
        because of the enormous amount of land the Federal Government 
        owns in Western States.
            (12) No State east of an imaginary vertical line from 
        Montana to New Mexico has more than 14 percent of its land 
        federally-owned.

SEC. 3. PAYMENTS TO WESTERN STATES FOR EDUCATION IMPROVEMENT.

    (a) Payments.--For the purpose described in subsection (b), the 
Secretary of the Interior shall make an annual payment in fiscal year 
2006 and each subsequent fiscal year to the State educational agency of 
each eligible State in an amount determined under subsection (c).
    (b) Purpose of Payments.--The Secretary may make a payment to a 
State under this section only if the State agrees to expend the funds 
only for the purpose of education improvement.
    (c) Amount of Payments.--The amount of a payment to a State 
educational agency under this Act for a fiscal year shall be an amount 
which bears the same ratio to the total amount appropriated for 
payments under this Act for that year as the number of acres of 
federally owned property in the State bears to the total number of 
acres of federally owned property in all of the eligible States.
    (d) Application.--To receive a payment under this section, an 
eligible State shall submit an application at such time, in such 
manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may reasonably 
require.
    (e) Definitions.--In this Act:
            (1) The term ``eligible State'' includes Alaska, Arizona, 
        California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, 
        Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
            (2) The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of the 
        Interior.
            (3) The term ``State educational agency'' means the agency 
        primarily responsible for the State supervision of education.
    (f) Authorization of Appropriations.--For payments under this Act, 
there are authorized to be appropriated $4,157,803,825 for fiscal year 
2006 and each subsequent fiscal year.
                                 <all>