[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1525 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1525

 To amend the Act of May 29, 1930 (Chapter 354; 46 Stat. 482; commonly 
   known as the Capper-Cramton Act), to authorize a grant program to 
   preserve resources in the National Capital region, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 28, 2009

   Mr. Cardin (for himself, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Warner, and Mr. Webb) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
               Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Act of May 29, 1930 (Chapter 354; 46 Stat. 482; commonly 
   known as the Capper-Cramton Act), to authorize a grant program to 
   preserve resources in the National Capital region, 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. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``National Capital Region Land 
Conservation Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF GRANT PROGRAM.

    The Act of May 29, 1930 (Chapter 354; 46 Stat. 482; commonly known 
as the Capper-Cramton Act), is amended by adding at the end the 
following:

``SEC. 7. GRANT PROGRAM TO PRESERVE RESOURCES IN THE NATIONAL CAPITAL 
              REGION.

    ``(a) Establishment.--Out of amounts appropriated to carry out this 
section, the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of 
the National Park Service, is authorized to make grants to covered 
States and covered local governments to assist the acquisition of lands 
and interests therein that affect or are within the National Capital 
region and that will be used for any of the following purposes:
            ``(1) Parks.
            ``(2) Open space.
            ``(3) Green space corridors that link public lands, lands 
        subject to conservation restrictions, or a combination of such 
        lands.
            ``(4) Agriculture.
            ``(5) Forests.
            ``(6) Fish and wildlife habitat.
            ``(7) Watershed protection.
            ``(8) Historic preservation.
            ``(9) Sensitive environmental area protection.
            ``(10) Public recreation.
    ``(b) Restriction to Certain Uses.--The Secretary shall require 
that, for each grant under subsection (a), any land or interest therein 
acquired through the assistance of such grant may not be used for a 
purpose other than a purpose described in subsection (a).
    ``(c) Grant Determinations.--In determining whether to make a grant 
under subsection (a), the Secretary shall consider the following:
            ``(1) How the proposed acquisition furthers local and 
        regional planning and policy objectives.
            ``(2) The amount of non-Federal funding to be provided for 
        the proposed acquisition.
            ``(3) The relationship of the proposed acquisition to other 
        public lands and conservation areas.
            ``(4) The relative need of an area for the proposed 
        acquisition due to such area's limited or lacking quality or 
        quantity of protected resources.
            ``(5) Any impending threat to the resource under 
        consideration for protection by the proposed acquisition.
    ``(d) Matching Requirement.--Grants under subsection (a) shall be 
in an amount not to exceed 50 percent of the total cost of the 
acquisition such grant will assist, which includes costs relating to 
purchase price, appraisal, survey, title clearance, and closing. The 
non-Federal share of such cost may be in cash or in kind.
    ``(e) Applicable Laws.--Acquisitions assisted by a grant under 
subsection (a) shall be in accord with the laws of the applicable 
covered State, including any requirements for appraisal and acceptable 
title.
    ``(f) Title and Management of Lands.--Title to lands and interests 
therein acquired with the assistance of a grant under subsection (a) 
shall be held by the covered State or covered local government making 
the acquisition. Management responsibilities for the lands and 
interests may be delegated to nonprofit organizations on such terms and 
conditions deemed by the title holder to be in the public interest.
    ``(g) Relationship to Other Federal Funding.--The authority of the 
Secretary to make grants under subsection (a) is in addition to any 
other authority provided to acquire lands and interests therein for 
related purposes, except that Federal funds provided under any other 
authority may not be used for the non-Federal share required under 
subsection (d).
    ``(h) Planning Grants.--The Secretary is authorized to make grants 
to covered States, covered local governments, and nonprofit 
organizations for the purpose of planning and evaluating acquisitions 
eligible for a grant under subsection (a). The sum of the amounts of 
grants made under this subsection in a fiscal year may not exceed 5 
percent of the amount of funds appropriated to carry out this section 
in the fiscal year.
    ``(i) Administrative Costs.--Not more than 2 percent of the amount 
of funds appropriated to carry out this section in a fiscal year may be 
used for administrative costs.
    ``(j) Relationship to Other Provisions of This Act.--No requirement 
of this Act, except a requirement under this section, applies to an 
activity under this section.
    ``(k) Definitions.--In this section, the following definitions 
apply:
            ``(1) Covered local government.--The term `covered local 
        government' means a political subdivision of a covered State.
            ``(2) Covered state.--The term `covered State' means each 
        of Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of 
        Columbia, including any department or agency thereof.
            ``(3) National capital region.--The term `National Capital 
        region' means the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV 
        Metropolitan Statistical Area as such Area is defined by the 
        Office of Management and Budget's OMB Bulletin No. 09-01, dated 
        November 20, 2008, and as such Area may be revised by the 
        Office of Management and Budget from time to time.
            ``(4) Secretary.--The term `Secretary' means the Secretary 
        of the Interior, acting through the Director of the National 
        Park Service.
    ``(l) Authorization of Appropriations.--To carry out this section, 
there is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary $50,000,000 for 
each of fiscal years 2010 through 2014.''.
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