[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6037 Introduced in House (IH)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6037

  To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to convey to the village of 
 Santa Clara, the city of Bayard, or the county of Grant, in the State 
of New Mexico, in tracts of not less than 40 acres, at market price at 
its present state of use as agricultural grazing lands as determined by 
 the Secretary, for business and community development, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 6, 2006

  Mr. Pearce introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
     Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on 
 Resources, 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 direct the Secretary of Agriculture to convey to the village of 
 Santa Clara, the city of Bayard, or the county of Grant, in the State 
of New Mexico, in tracts of not less than 40 acres, at market price at 
its present state of use as agricultural grazing lands as determined by 
 the Secretary, for business and community development, and for other 
                               purposes.

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

SECTION 1. CONVEYANCE OF LAND.

    (a) In General.--Subject to this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture 
(hereafter in this Act referred to as the ``Secretary'') shall convey 
the lands described in subsection (b) to one or more eligible buyers 
for the purpose of business and community development.
    (b) Land Described.--The lands to be conveyed under subsection (a) 
are the following lands that were formerly part of the Fort Bayard 
Military Reservation, Grant County, New Mexico, comprising 
approximately 1499 acres, and are situated in sections:
            Township 17 South, Range 12 West, New Mexico Principal 
        Meridian.
             Section 30, all within the former Fort Bayard Military 
        Reservation (31 acres more or less).
             Section 31, all within the former Fort Bayard Military 
        Reservation (155 acres more or less).
            Township 17 South, Range 13 West, New Mexico Principal 
        Meridian.
            Section 34, all within the former Fort Bayard Military 
        Reservation (584 acres more or less).
            Section 35, all within the former Fort Bayard Military 
        Reservation less lands conveyed under other Federal authorities 
        to the Village of Central ( Santa Clara), and the State of New 
        Mexico (216 acres more or less).
            Section 36, all within the former Fort Bayard Military 
        Reservation (513 acres more or less).
    (c) Eligible Buyers.--For the purposes of this Act, eligible buyers 
are the village of Santa Clara, the city of Bayard, and the county of 
Grant, in the State of New Mexico.

SEC. 2. CONDITIONS.

    In making the conveyance under section 1, the Secretary--
            (1) shall sell the land in tracts of not less the 40 acres;
            (2) shall require as consideration for the land the market 
        price of the land in its present state of use as agricultural 
        grazing lands as determined by the Secretary;
            (3) shall protect all valid existing rights;
            (4) shall reserve easements for existing facilities such as 
        roads, telephone lines, pipelines, electric power transmission 
        lines, or other facilities or improvements in place;
            (5) shall reserve such easements for roads as the Secretary 
        of Agriculture finds necessary to assure access to lands of the 
        United States or to meet public needs; and
            (6) may contain such additional terms, conditions, 
        reservations, and restrictions as may be determined by the 
        Secretary to be necessary to protect the interests of the 
        United States.

SEC. 3. APPROVAL OF ALL PARTIES REQUIRED FOR CONVEYANCE.

    The Secretary shall not make a conveyance under this Act to any one 
of the eligible buyers, without written approval of the two 
nonacquiring eligible buyers.

SEC. 4. HISTORIC OR PREHISTORIC SITES.

    If historic or prehistoric cultural properties are located upon the 
lands to be conveyed, the Secretary shall be responsible for the costs 
and recovery of these sites and shall do so in a timely manner so as 
not to unduly restrict future use of the selected lands by the 
acquiring party. The Secretary may, at the Secretary's discretion, use 
a deed reservation to retain historic or prehistoric properties in the 
ownership of the United States instead of site recovery, if agreeable 
to the acquiring party.

SEC. 5. SALE OF MINERAL INTERESTS.

    Upon application by the acquiring party, all the undivided mineral 
interest of the United States in any parcel or tract sold pursuant to 
this Act shall be conveyed to the acquiring party or its successor in 
title by the Secretary of the Interior. In areas where the Secretary of 
the Interior determines that there is no active mineral development or 
leasing, and that the lands have no mineral value, the mineral 
interests covered by a single application shall be sold for a 
consideration of $1. In other areas the mineral interests shall be sold 
at the fair market value thereof as determined by the Secretary of the 
Interior after taking into considerations such appraisals as the 
Secretary of the Interior deems necessary or appropriate.

SEC. 6. ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.

    (a) Deposit and Payment.--Each application for a conveyance to be 
made under this Act shall be accompanied by a nonrefundable deposit to 
be applied to related administrative costs as determined by the 
Secretary of the Interior. If the conveyance is made pursuant to an 
application, the applicant shall pay to the Secretary of the Interior 
the full administrative costs, less the deposit. If a conveyance is not 
made pursuant to the application, the deposit shall constitute full 
satisfaction of such administrative costs notwithstanding that the 
administrative costs exceed the deposit.
    (b) Definition.--For the purposes of this Act, the term 
``administrative costs'' includes, in addition to other items, all 
costs that the Secretary of the Interior determines are included in a 
determination of--
            (1) the mineral character of the land in question; and
            (2) the fair market value of the mineral interest.

SEC. 7. AMOUNTS PAID INTO TREASURY.

    Amounts paid to the Secretary of the Interior under this Act shall 
be paid into the Treasury of the United States as miscellaneous 
receipts.
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