[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2223 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2223

  To transfer administrative jurisdiction over certain Bureau of Land 
Management land from the Secretary of the Interior to the Secretary of 
 Veterans Affairs for inclusion in the Black Hills National Cemetery, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 29, 2015

   Mr. Thune introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To transfer administrative jurisdiction over certain Bureau of Land 
Management land from the Secretary of the Interior to the Secretary of 
 Veterans Affairs for inclusion in the Black Hills National Cemetery, 
                        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 ``Black Hills National Cemetery 
Boundary Expansion Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Cemetery.--The term ``Cemetery'' means the Black Hills 
        National Cemetery in Sturgis, South Dakota.
            (2) Federal land.--The term ``Federal land'' means the 
        approximately 200 acres of Bureau of Land Management land 
        adjacent to the Cemetery, generally depicted as ``Proposed 
        National Cemetery Expansion'' on the map entitled ``Proposed 
        Expansion of Black Hills National Cemetery-South Dakota'' and 
        dated September 28, 2015.
            (3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of the Interior.

SEC. 3. TRANSFER AND WITHDRAWAL OF BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT LAND FOR 
              CEMETERY USE.

    (a) Transfer of Administrative Jurisdiction.--
            (1) In general.--Subject to valid existing rights, 
        administrative jurisdiction over the Federal land is 
        transferred from the Secretary to the Secretary of Veterans 
        Affairs for use as a national cemetery in accordance with 
        chapter 24 of title 38, United States Code.
            (2) Legal descriptions.--
                    (A) In general.--As soon as practicable after the 
                date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 
                publish in the Federal Register a notice containing a 
                legal description of the Federal land.
                    (B) Effect.--A legal description published under 
                subparagraph (A) shall have the same force and effect 
                as if included in this Act, except that the Secretary 
                may correct any clerical and typographical errors in 
                the legal description.
                    (C) Availability.--Copies of the legal description 
                published under subparagraph (A) shall be available for 
                public inspection in the appropriate offices of--
                            (i) the Bureau of Land Management; and
                            (ii) the National Cemetery Administration.
                    (D) Costs.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall 
                reimburse the Secretary for the costs incurred by the 
                Secretary in carrying out this paragraph, including the 
                costs of any surveys and other reasonable costs.
    (b) Withdrawal.--Subject to valid existing rights, for any period 
during which the Federal land is under the administrative jurisdiction 
of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the Federal land--
            (1) is withdrawn from all forms of appropriation under the 
        public land laws, including the mining laws, the mineral 
        leasing laws, and the geothermal leasing laws; and
            (2) shall be treated as property as defined under section 
        102(9) of title 40, United States Code.
    (c) Boundary Modification.--The boundary of the Cemetery is 
modified to include the Federal land.
    (d) Modification of Public Land Order.--Public Land Order 2112, 
dated June 6, 1960 (25 Fed. Reg. 5243), is modified to exclude the 
Federal land.

SEC. 4. SUBSEQUENT TRANSFER OF ADMINISTRATIVE JURISDICTION.

    (a) Notice.--On a determination by the Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs that all or a portion of the Federal land is not being used for 
purposes of the Cemetery, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall 
notify the Secretary of the determination.
    (b) Transfer of Administrative Jurisdiction.--Subject to 
subsections (c) and (d), the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall 
transfer to the Secretary administrative jurisdiction over the Federal 
land subject to a notice under subsection (a).
    (c) Decontaminaton.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall be 
responsible for the costs of any decontamination of the Federal land 
subject to a notice under subsection (a) that the Secretary determines 
to be necessary for the Federal land to be restored to public land 
status.
    (d) Restoration to Public Land Status.--The Federal land subject to 
a notice under subsection (a) shall only be restored to public land 
status on--
            (1) acceptance by the Secretary of the Federal land subject 
        to the notice; and
            (2) a determination by the Secretary that the Federal land 
        subject to the notice is suitable for--
                    (A) restoration to public land status; and
                    (B) the operation of one or more of the public land 
                laws with respect to the Federal land.
    (e) Order.--If the Secretary accepts the Federal land under 
subsection (d)(1) and makes a determination of suitability under 
subsection (d)(2), the Secretary may--
            (1) open the accepted Federal land to operation of 1 or 
        more of the public land laws; and
            (2) issue an order to carry out the opening authorized 
        under paragraph (1).
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