[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 125 (Thursday, September 18, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9600-S9601]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 
                                  1998

  The Senate continued with the consideration of the bill.


                           Amendment No. 1240

  (Purpose: To make a technical correction to title 31 of the United 
         States Code relating to payments for entitlement land)

  Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk making a 
technical correction to title 31 of the United States Code relating to 
payments for entitlement land on behalf of Senator Stevens.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Washington [Mr. Gorton] for Mr. Stevens, 
     proposes an amendment numbered 1240.

  Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that further 
reading of the amendment be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment is as follows:

       Insert at the appropriate place:
       Sec.  . Payments for Entitlement Land.--Section 
     6901(2)(A)(i) of title 31, United States Code, is amended by 
     inserting ``(other than in Alaska)'' after ``city'' the first 
     place such term appears.

  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, the Department of the Interior has 
interpreted a provision I sponsored in the 1996 lands bill. This 
interpretation reduces monies intended to go to Alaska's unorganized 
borough as a payment

[[Page S9601]]

in lieu of taxes [PILT] by over $950,000. I offer an amendment to the 
Interior appropriations bill to correct this.
  After many years of working on this issue, the Congress last year 
enacted my proposal to qualify the unorganized borough in the State of 
Alaska for PILT. This provision of law--section 1033 of P.L. 104-333--
made clear that ``any area in Alaska that is within the boundaries of a 
census area used by the Secretary of Commerce in the decenniel 
census,'' and which did not qualify for PILT under the existing clause, 
would qualify for a PILT. The only entity in Alaska that would qualify 
under this provision is Alaska's unorganized borough. The Department--
through the Solicitor--has correctly interpreted that the unorganized 
borough qualifies, but has incorrectly calculated the amount the 
unorganized borough should receive under the 1996 amendment.
  PILT payments are generally calculated based on population and land 
acreage. The 1996 amendment specified that the unorganized borough's 
entire population and entire acreage would be used in the calculation. 
The Secretary has not counted the entire population in the unorganized 
borough in calculating the borough's PILT allocation. Specifically, the 
Department has not counted the population of certain cities which have 
federal lands within the unorganized borough.
  According to the Regional Solicitor's May 30, 1997 opinion, if the 
population of each city within the unorganized borough were counted as 
intended by the 1996 provision, the State would be entitled to 
$3,362,339. If in Alaska the cities within the unorganized borough are 
calculated separately, according to the opinion, the payments to the 
cities would be $78,557 and the payment for the unorganized borough 
would be $2,333,764. These two payments total $2,412,321, $950,018 less 
than the $3,362,339 the unorganized borough should be receiving.
  The amendment today would clarify that the population of the cities 
within the unorganized borough in Alaska should be counted in 
calculating the PILT allocation for the unorganized borough, and not 
separately, as intended by the provision in the 1996 lands bill.
  Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, this does make a correction in connection 
with bill payments to Alaska which I believe is appropriate and I 
believe has been cleared.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the amendment.
  The amendment (No. 1240) was agreed to.
  Mr. REID. I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mr. GORTON. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.


                           Amendment No. 1241

  Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk on behalf 
of myself and Senator Byrd and ask for its immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Washington [Mr. Gorton], for himself and 
     Mr. Byrd, proposes an amendment numbered 1241.

  Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that further 
reading of the amendment be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment is as follows:
       On page 11, line 11, strike ``$43,053,000'' and insert 
     ``$42,053,000''.
       On page 15, line 25, strike ``$1,249,409,000'' and insert 
     ``$1,250,429,000''.
       On page 17, line 8, strike ``$167,894,000'' and insert 
     ``$173,444,000''.
       On page 17, line 18, strike ``$1,000,000'' and insert 
     ``$5,000,000''.
       On page 18, line 7, strike ``$125,690,000'' and insert 
     ``$126,690,000''.
       On page 28, line 22, strike ``$1,527,024,000'' and insert 
     ``$1,529,024,000''.
       On page 64, line 16, strike ``$1,346,215,000'' and insert 
     ``$1,341,045,000''.
       On page 65, line 18, strike ``$160,269,000'' and insert 
     ``$154,869,000''.
       On page 79, line 20, strike ``$627,357,000'' and insert 
     ``$629,357,000''.

  Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, this is a managers amendment that shifts 
money between a number of accounts in order to address a number of 
outstanding issues relating to this bill. This amendment is fully 
offset by reductions from elsewhere in the bill so that the bill 
remains in compliance with its allocation. This proposal has been 
cleared with Senator Byrd and I urge its adoption.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I am in agreement with the Chairman's 
remarks, and appreciate his cooperation in developing this amendment. I 
believe this will help move us further along toward completion of this 
bill. I support the amendment.
  Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that an 
explanation of the effect of this amendment be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

       The effect of this amendment is as follows:
       --$200,000 for accessibility improvements at the FitzGerald 
     Tennis Center at Rock Creek Park;
       --$1,000,000 for recreation development at Franklin Lake 
     Dam on the Homochitto National Forest;
       --$2,000,000 for tribal community colleges;
       --$2,000,000 for bank stabilization at Shiloh National 
     Military Park;
       --transfers $700,000 from National Park Service 
     construction for Gettysburg National Military Park to the 
     operations account for Gettysburg NMP, as well as providing 
     an additional $220,000 for Gettysburg NMP operations; the net 
     effect of these adjustments as well as funding in the 
     Committee reported bill through the special parks initiative 
     is a total increase for Gettysburg NMP of $1,052,000 above 
     the budget request;
       --$2,000,000 for transportation fuel cells;
       --$1,000,000 for land acquisition at Cumberland Island 
     National Seashore;
       --$100,000 for the North Country Trail;
       --$4,000,000 for the Oklahoma City bombing memorial; and
       --$50,000 for special resource studies to conduct a study 
     assessing the suitability and feasibility of designating the 
     Charleston School District, in Charleston, AR, the first 
     public school district integrated in 1954 pursuant to the 
     Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education, as a 
     unit of the National Part system, to interpret and 
     commemorate the development of the Civil Rights movement in 
     the United States. Such study shall be prepared as a part of 
     the study of Central High School in Little Rock, AR, 
     identified in the Senate report (S. Rpt. 105-56) accompanying 
     H.R. 2107, and shall be completed within one year after the 
     date of enactment.
       The offsets for these purposes come from increases provided 
     above the budget request. The offsets are:
       --$1,000,000 from Fish and Wildlife Service Construction 
     (emergency projects)
       --$5,170,000 from National Forest System, including 
     $4,300,000 from recreation and $870,000 from wildlife habitat 
     management;
       --$6,400,000 from Forest Service Construction.

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