[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 63 (Wednesday, May 14, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H2596]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   NEWLY ASSUMED POLICE POWERS BRUCE BABBITT AND THE BUREAU OF LAND 
                      MANAGEMENT ALLEGE TO POSSESS

  (Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to discuss the newly assumed 
police powers Bruce Babbitt and the Bureau of Land Management allege to 
possess. Although the BLM claims these regulations are merely a 
recodification of the current regulations and do not result in the 
creation of new authority, this is simply not the case. The proposed 
law enforcement regulations are an attempt to vastly, and in most cases 
unlawfully, expand BLM's law enforcement authority.
  The Constitution of the United States guarantees proper notice 
describing those actions which may subject its citizens to criminal 
punishment. However, in this case, BLM has criminalized thousands of 
minor violations of Federal, State, and local rules that previously 
were not criminal. The proposed regulations' vague references to any 
law or ordinance are not constitutionally sufficient, thus making the 
proposed regulations unlawful and, indeed, unconstitutional.
  Tomorrow, Mr. Speaker, the Subcommittee on National Parks and Public 
Lands of the Committee on Resources will bring BLM and the Department 
of the Interior before our committee and the American people to explain 
their new regulations, which have begun to put a stranglehold on the 
western part of this country. To that extent, we may never recover.

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