1.This Act may be cited as the
Action Plan for Public Lands and
Education Act of 2011
.
2.The Congress finds as follows:
(1)The Acts enabling the people of territories
of the American West to form their constitutions and State governments and
providing for the admission of such States into the Union on equal footing with
the original States included a common provision of which the following example
is typical: That 5 percent of the proceeds of the sales of public land lying
within said State, which shall be sold by the United States subsequent to the
admission of said State into the Union, after deducting all the expenses
incident to the same, shall be paid to the said State, to be used as a
permanent fund, the interest of which only shall be expended for the support of
the common schools within said State.
(2)Western States, as a group, are falling
behind in education funding as measured by growth of real per pupil
expenditures from 1979 to 2007.
(3)Nine of the 10 States with the lowest real
growth in per pupil expenditures are Western States.
(4)The growth rate of real per pupil
expenditures in the 13 Western States is substantially less than the rate in
the 37 other States (56 percent versus 92 percent).
(5)One effect of less funding for public
education in the West is higher pupil-per-teacher ratios.
(6)Nine of the 12 States with the largest
pupil-per-teacher ratios are Western States.
(7)On average, the 13 Western States have 3
more students per classroom than the 37 other States.
(8)Over the next 10 years, the rate of
enrollment growth is projected to be much higher in Western States than in
other States.
(9)On average, the rate of enrollment growth
in Western States is projected to increase dramatically, while the rate of
enrollment growth of most other States will see minimal growth or
decrease.
(10)The State and local taxes of Western States
as a percentage of personal income are as high as or higher than other
States.
(11)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.
(12)The Federal Government is the source and
potential solver of the problem because of the enormous amount of untaxed land
the Federal Government owns in Western States.
(13)All States east of an imaginary vertical
line from Montana to New Mexico have, on average, 4.1 percent of their land
federally owned, while the Western States on average have 51.9 percent of their
land federally owned.
(14)The plain language of these enabling Acts
proclaims that the public land shall be sold by the United States subsequent to
the admission of the States into the Union.
(15)The United States honored those Acts by
selling public land within the Western States until the passage of the Federal
Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, wherein Congress declared that the
policy of the United States was to retain public land in Federal ownership and
management.
(16)The United States has broken its solemn
compact with the Western States and breached its fiduciary duty to the school
children who are designated beneficiaries of the sale of Federal land under the
terms of the respective enabling Acts of the Western States.
(17)The current shortfall in funding public
education in the Western States requires immediate Congressional action to
remedy the above-described discriminatory Federal land policy and prevent the
further disadvantaging of the school children of the Western States.
(18)The most efficient and cost effective
remedy now available to the United States is to grant to the Western States 5
percent of the remaining Federal land located within each State, authorizing
each State to select such land from the unappropriated public land within the
boundaries of the State to satisfy the grant.
3.Quantity grants
to western states for education improvement
(a)Instead of receiving, for the support of the common
schools, 5 percent of the proceeds of the sales of federally owned land lying
within the Western States which have not been sold by the United States as of
January 1, 2011, grants of land are hereby made to the Western States. The
amount of land granted to each State shall be equal to 5 percent of the number
of acres of federally owned land within the State as of January 1, 2011.
(b)
(1)Each Western State shall select from the unappropriated
public lands within the borders of the State in such manner as the legislature
of the State may provide, land equal in acreage to 5 percent of the federally
owned land in the State as of January 1, 2011.
(2)Calculation of
acreage and notification of stateThe Secretary shall calculate
the exact acreage of federally owned land in each Western State as of January
1, 2011, and designate the unappropriated public land, as defined herein,
eligible for selection by the State. The Secretary shall communicate to each of
the Western States the respective acreage calculation and designation of land
eligible for selection not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of
this Act.
(c)Application of
Certain LawSelection and transfer of land under this Act shall
not be considered a major Federal action for the purposes of section 102(2)(C)
of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.
(d)Mineral and Oil
and Gas Rights
(1)All mineral, oil, and gas rights to the land selected by
the Western States under this Act shall become the property of the relevant
Western State unless the Federal lessee of the selected land is making royalty
payments to the United States from production of minerals, oil, or gas,
whereupon the particular leasehold interest shall remain in the ownership of
the United States until the leasehold interest terminates. After that
termination; the mineral, oil, and gas rights shall become the property of the
relevant Western State.
(2)Selection of
surface rightsWestern States may select only the surface of
eligible land if the land is located on subsurface mineral, oil, or gas
deposits that are generating royalty, rental or bonus payments to United
States. The entire mineral, oil, and gas estate shall become the property of
the Western State upon expiration or termination of production in paying
quantities from the Federal lease.
(e)All land selected by each of the Western States shall be
held in trust by the State agency empowered to sale or lease such lands, the
proceeds of which shall be used as a permanent fund, the interest of which
shall only be expended for the support of public education.
(f)In
this Act:
(1)The term
Western States means 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 or the Secretary of
Agriculture, as appropriate.
(3)The term
State educational agency means the agency of the State primarily
responsible for the supervision of education.
(4)The term
federally owned land means all land held in the name of the United
States or any agency thereof, including land held in trust, United States
military reservations, Indian Reservations and any other land used for Federal
purposes.
(5)The term
unappropriated public lands means any and all land under the
management and control of the Bureau of Land Management or United States Forest
Service, excluding land that is—
(A)held in trust as
the part of an Indian Reservation;
(B)located within a
United States military reservation;
(C)a unit of the
National Park System;
(D)a Wildlife
Refuge;
(E)a Wilderness Area
designated by Congress;
(F)a National
Historic Site;
(G)a National
Monument;
(H)a National Natural
Landmark;
(I)an Area of
Critical Environmental Concern; or
(J)a Wilderness Study
Area.