[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1484 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1484

    To direct the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the 
  Interior to convey certain Federal lands to the State of Nevada in 
    fulfillment of the Nevada Statehood Enabling Act, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 19, 2015

  Mr. Amodei introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To direct the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the 
  Interior to convey certain Federal lands to the State of Nevada in 
    fulfillment of the Nevada Statehood Enabling Act, 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 ``Honor the Nevada Enabling Act of 
1864 Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Federal Government controls over 80 percent of all 
        of the land within the State of Nevada, which is a greater 
        percentage than any other State.
            (2) The paucity of State land and privately controlled land 
        in Nevada severely constrains the size and diversity of 
        Nevada's economy.
            (3) The Federal Government promised all new States, in 
        their statehood enabling Act contracts, that it would dispose 
        of federally controlled public lands within the borders of 
        those States.
            (4) The Federal Government has honored this promise with 38 
        States.
            (5) The Federal Government has failed to honor this promise 
        with, and continues to control significant percentages of the 
        land within, the States of Alaska, Arizona, California, 
        Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and 
        Washington.
            (6) The United States Supreme Court has declared that 
        statehood enabling Act contracts are ``solemn compacts'' with 
        enforceable rights and obligations.
            (7) Nevada could generate significant net revenue for the 
        benefit of its lands and people if it were afforded the 
        opportunity to manage an expanded State-controlled land 
        portfolio.
            (8) A transfer of federally administered land to Nevada can 
        be accomplished in phases.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS IN THIS ACT.

    In this Act:
            (1) The term ``identified Federal lands'' means all lands 
        within the State of Nevada that are owned, managed, or 
        controlled by the Federal Government acting through the 
        Secretary of Agriculture or the Secretary of the Interior, 
        excluding the following:
                    (A) Components of the National Wilderness 
                Preservation System, National Park System, and National 
                Wildlife Refuge System.
                    (B) National Conservation Areas.
                    (C) National Monuments designated pursuant to the 
                Act of June 6, 1908 (commonly known as the Antiquities 
                Act of 1906).
                    (D) Lands designated as Areas of Critical 
                Environmental Concern for Protection of Desert Tortoise 
                by the Bureau of Land Management.
                    (E) Lands allocated as Herd Management Areas for 
                Wild Horses and Burros.
                    (F) Lands withdrawn and reserved for use by the 
                Department of Defense or the Department of Energy.
                    (G) Federally recognized Indian reservations and 
                lands administered or held in trust by the Bureau of 
                Indian Affairs.
                    (H) Bureau of Reclamation lands not identified as 
                surplus.
            (2) The term ``Secretary concerned'' means--
                    (A) the Secretary of Agriculture, with respect to 
                identified Federal lands administered by that 
                Secretary; and
                    (B) the Secretary of the Interior, with respect to 
                identified Federal lands administered by that 
                Secretary.
            (3) The term ``select beneficiaries'' means any of the 
        following:
                    (A) Public elementary and secondary education.
                    (B) Public higher education.
                    (C) Public specialized education.
                    (D) Public mental and medical health services.
                    (E) Social, senior, and veterans services.
                    (F) Public programs for recovery plan development 
                and implementation for candidate and threatened or 
                endangered species.
                    (G) Political subdivisions of the State of Nevada, 
                but only with respect to payment for services and 
                infrastructure on conveyed identified Federal lands 
                that would otherwise be financed through property taxes 
                or other revenues available to a political subdivision 
                of the State.
            (4) The term ``State'' means the State of Nevada.

SEC. 4. CONVEYANCE OF IDENTIFIED FEDERAL LANDS TO THE STATE OF NEVADA.

    (a) Conveyance Required.--As provided in this Act, the Secretary 
concerned shall convey, in phases and without consideration, to the 
State of Nevada all right, title, and interest of the United States in 
and to identified Federal lands for the purpose of permitting the State 
to use the conveyed lands to support select beneficiaries.
    (b) Condition of Conveyance.--All conveyances under this Act shall 
be subject to the condition that the State hold the identified Federal 
lands in trust for the select beneficiaries, except the State may sell, 
lease, or securitize lands acquired under this Act to cover the cost of 
management of the newly acquired lands.
    (c) Selection of Lands for Conveyance.--The State is authorized to 
select the identified Federal lands to be conveyed under this Act.
    (d) Valid Existing Rights and Uses.--All conveyances under this Act 
shall be subject to--
            (1) valid existing rights; and
            (2) valid existing uses on, permits for, and public access 
        to the conveyed lands, as in effect at the time of conveyance, 
        subject to State law.
    (e) Conveyance of Entire Interest.--For identified Federal lands 
conveyed under this Act, title to and ownership of both federally held 
surface and subsurface estate, and appurtenant federally held water 
rights, shall pass to the State.

SEC. 5. INITIAL CONVEYANCE PHASE.

    (a) Conveyance Required.--As soon as practicable after selection by 
the State, the Secretary concerned shall convey to the State pursuant 
to section 3 identified Federal lands selected by the State from the 
following categories of identified Federal lands:
            (1) Lands identified as suitable for disposal in the report 
        to Congress submitted by the Secretary of Agriculture on May 
        27, 1997, pursuant to section 390(g) of the Federal Agriculture 
        Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-127; 110 
        Stat. 1024).
            (2) Lands identified as suitable for disposal in any 
        Federal land use plan developed and approved pursuant to 
        section 202 the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 
        (43 U.S.C. 1712) or section 6 of the Forest and Rangeland 
        Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1604).
            (3) Lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management 
        pursuant to the Act of June 14, 1926 (commonly known as the 
        Recreation and Public Purposes Act; 43 U.S.C. 869 et seq.).
            (4) Lands allocated by the Secretary concerned as Solar 
        Energy Zones.
            (5) Lands leased pursuant to the mineral and geothermal 
        leasing laws under the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et 
        seq.).
            (6) Lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management as 
        linear and nonlinear rights-of-way granted to the State and 
        political subdivisions of the State.
            (7) Split estate lands, where the surface is privately held 
        and the Bureau of Land Management administers the subsurface 
        mineral estate.
            (8) Lands in the State designated for disposal by any other 
        Act of Congress.
            (9) Lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management 
        remaining within the original Central Pacific Railroad corridor 
        along Interstate Highway 80 in Northern Nevada, also known as 
        the ``checkerboard''.
    (b) Authorized Acreage.--The State is authorized to select no less 
than 7,200,000 acres from the categories of identified Federal lands 
described in subsection (a) during the initial conveyance phase.

SEC. 6. SUBSEQUENT CONVEYANCE PHASES.

    (a) Conveyance Process.--The Secretary concerned shall establish a 
process to convey to the State the remaining identified Federal lands 
not conveyed in the initial conveyance phase under section 5.
    (b) Requests for Conveyance.--During the 10-year period beginning 
upon the completion of the initial conveyance phase under section 5, 
the Secretary concerned shall convey to the State pursuant to section 
3, upon the request of the State or a political subdivision of the 
State and consistent with the process established under this section, 
identified Federal lands remaining under the control of the Secretary 
concerned.
    (c) Management of Lands Conveyed in Subsequent Conveyance Phases.--
The State shall manage identified Federal lands conveyed under this 
section for ongoing net-revenue generation and environmental health, 
function, productivity, and sustainability.

SEC. 7. STATE PAYMENTS TO POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS OF THE STATE.

    As an additional condition on conveyances under this Act, the State 
shall agree to make payments to political subdivisions of the State, 
using gross revenues derived from management of identified Federal 
lands conveyed under this Act, to replace--
            (1) revenues lost through reduced Federal payments under 
        chapter 69 of title 31, United States Code, on account of the 
        conveyance of the lands; and
            (2) revenues that would otherwise have been shared with the 
        political subdivisions by the Department of the Interior Office 
        of Natural Resources Revenue from royalties, rents, and bonuses 
        generated through energy and mineral leases on identified 
        Federal lands had the lands remained in Federal ownership.
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