[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5626 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5626

To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to make grants to facilitate 
  certain acquisitions of property for conservation purposes, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 8, 2012

  Mr. Murphy of Connecticut introduced the following bill; which was 
             referred to the Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to make grants to facilitate 
  certain acquisitions of property for conservation purposes, 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 ``Clean and Beautiful Communities Act 
of 2012''.

SEC. 2. GRANTS TO FACILITATE CERTAIN ACQUISITIONS OF PROPERTY FOR 
              CONSERVATION PURPOSES.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of the Interior, acting through the 
Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program of the National 
Park Service, may make grants to facilitate the acquisition by a 
qualified organization of a qualified real property interest 
exclusively for conservation purposes, that assist in the funding of 
transactional and operational costs associated with the purchase and 
management of preserved land or a qualified real property interest 
(including easements) including--
            (1) stewardship costs, including costs of standards and 
        practices development and implementation;
            (2) land purchase transaction costs;
            (3) costs of preparing for accreditation associated with 
        land management; and
            (4) costs of due diligence, including appraisal, title, 
        survey, environmental hazard assessment, and recording costs.
    (b) Eligibility.--
            (1) In general.--A person shall be eligible for a grant 
        under this section only if the person--
                    (A) is an organization described in section 
                501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and 
                exempt from tax under section 501(a) of such Code; and
                    (B) is not a State or local government entity.
            (2) Application.--To be eligible to receive a grant under 
        subsection (a), a qualified organization shall submit to the 
        Secretary of the Interior an application at such time, in such 
        form, and containing such information as the Secretary shall 
        require.
    (c) Priority.--In making grants under this section, the Secretary 
of the Interior shall give priority to eligible persons that--
            (1) demonstrate a record of successfully acquiring and 
        competently managing a substantial portfolio of conserved 
        properties and easement holdings;
            (2) have established and diverse capital and development 
        programs;
            (3) demonstrate a record of working successfully with local 
        and State governmental stakeholders in building support for 
        conservation acquisitions and leveraging funding opportunities; 
        and
            (4) currently employ full-time or part-time staff to manage 
        their operations on a nonvoluntary basis or can demonstrate 
        capacity to employ such staff in the near-term.
    (d) Limitation.--A grant under this section may not be used to pay 
consideration for the purchase of any interest in real property.
    (e) Grant Amount and Duration.--A grant under this section shall be 
in an amount of not more than $500,000 per year for 5 years.
    (f) Matching Requirement.--The Secretary of the Interior may not 
make a grant under subsection (a) in an amount that exceeds 50 percent 
of the costs such grant is made to assist.
    (g) No Limitation on Number of Grants.--Receipt by a qualified 
organization of a grant under subsection (a) shall not preclude the 
Secretary of the Interior from making subsequent grants under 
subsection (a) to such organization.
    (h) Technical Assistance.--The Secretary of the Interior is 
authorized to provide technical assistance to qualified organizations 
with respect to acquisitions of qualified real property interests 
exclusively for conservation purposes.
    (i) Report.--Not later than 5 years after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall submit to Congress a 
report that summarizes the activities carried out under this section.
    (j) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) The terms ``conservation purpose'', ``exclusively for 
        conservation purposes'', and ``qualified organization'' have 
        the meanings such terms have in section 170(h) of the Internal 
        Revenue Code of 1986.
            (2) The term ``qualified real property interest'' has the 
        meaning given such term in section 170(h)(2) of the Internal 
        Revenue Code of 1986.
    (k) Authorization of Appropriations.--To carry out this section, 
there is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of the Interior 
$10,000,000 from the Land and Water Conservation Fund for each of 
fiscal years 2013 through 2022.
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