[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5238 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5238

 To repeal a requirement to reduce by 2 percent the amount payable to 
                    each State in fiscal year 2008.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 6, 2008

Mr. Pearce (for himself, Mr. Young of Alaska, Mr. Bishop of Utah, Mrs. 
Cubin, Mr. Heller of Nevada, Mrs. McMorris Rodgers, Mr. Cannon, and Mr. 
    Sali) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To repeal a requirement to reduce by 2 percent the amount payable to 
                    each State in fiscal year 2008.

    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 ``Restoring the West's Fair Share Act 
of 2008''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Congress agreed to give each State a fair share of the 
        receipts generated from mineral development on Federal lands in 
        the State. In essence, the State government and Federal 
        Government were to be partners in the mineral production that 
        takes place on Federal lands.
            (2) The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008 (Public Law 
        110-161) reduces these State receipts by as much as 2 percent 
        for fiscal year 2008.
            (3) The States have at least as much interest in public 
        lands within their borders as does the central Federal 
        Government.
            (4) The Federal Government does not pay property taxes for 
        public lands to States or localities in any form approaching 
        financial equity. As a consequence, those States in which there 
        are Federal public land holdings are denied revenues that are 
        needed for necessary public purposes, such as education, roads, 
        and hospitals. This creates a burden on private owners of 
        property. The burden is greater for private owners of property 
        in States with larger Federal public land holdings.
            (5) The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008 will have a 
        negative impact on mineral producing Western States.

SEC. 3. REPEAL OF REQUIREMENT TO DEDUCT FROM AN AMOUNT PAYABLE TO EACH 
              STATE.

    Title I of division F of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008 
is amended under the heading ``Minerals Management Service'', under the 
heading ``administrative provisions'', by striking the second sentence.
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