[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 122 (Tuesday, September 15, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H7760-H7761]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SALE, LEASE OR EXCHANGE OF IDAHO SCHOOL LAND
Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 4166) to amend the Idaho Admission Act regarding the sale or
lease of school land.
The Clerk read as follows:
H.R. 4166
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SALE, LEASE, OR EXCHANGE OF IDAHO SCHOOL LAND.
The Act of July 3, 1890 (commonly known as the ``Idaho
Admission Act'') (26 Stat. 215, chapter 656), is amended by
striking section 5 and inserting the following:
``SEC. 5. SALE, LEASE, OR EXCHANGE OF SCHOOL LAND.
``(a) Sale.--
``(1) In general.--Except as provided in subsection (c),
all land granted under this Act for educational purposes
shall be sold only at public sale.
``(2) Use of proceeds.--
``(A) In general.--Proceeds of the sale of school land--
``(i) except as provided in clause (ii), shall be deposited
in the public school permanent endowment fund and expended
only for the support of public schools; and
``(ii)(I) may be deposited in a land bank fund to be used
to acquire, in accordance with State law, other land in the
State for the benefit of the beneficiaries of the public
school permanent endowment fund; or
``(II) if the proceeds are not used to acquire other land
in the State within a period specified by State law, shall be
transferred to the public school permanent endowment fund.
``(B) Earnings reserve fund.--Earnings on amounts in the
public school permanent endowment fund shall be deposited in
an earnings reserve fund to be used for the support of public
schools of the State in accordance with State law.
``(b) Lease.--Land granted under this Act for educational
purposes may be leased in accordance with State law.
``(c) Exchange.--
``(1) In general.--Land granted for educational purposes
under this Act may be exchanged for other public or private
land.
``(2) Valuation.--The values of exchanged lands shall be
approximately equal, or, if the values are not approximately
equal, the values shall be equalized by the payment of funds
by the appropriate party.
``(3) Exchanges with the united states.--
``(A) In general.--A land exchange with the United States
shall be limited to Federal land within the State that is
subject to exchange under the law governing the
administration of the Federal land.
``(B) Previous exchanges.--All land exchanges made with the
United States before the date of enactment of this paragraph
are approved.
``(d) Reservation for School Purposes.--Land granted for
educational purposes, whether surveyed or unsurveyed, shall
not be subject to preemption, homestead entry, or any other
form of entry under the land laws of the United States, but
shall be reserved for school purposes only.''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Utah (Mr. Hansen) and the gentleman from American Samoa (Mr.
Faleomavaega) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Hansen).
Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of legislation that is very
important to the State of Idaho. H.R. 4166, introduced by my
distinguished colleague, the gentleman from Idaho (Mr. Crapo), would
amend the Idaho Admissions Act regarding the sale or lease of school
land.
Mr. Speaker, when Idaho was granted statehood back in 1890, the U.S.
Government designated millions of acres of land within the State as an
endowment to Idaho's schoolchildren. This was a common practice at the
time, and many other western States, including my own State of Utah,
has similar provisions in their statehood act.
These State school lands are, by law, to be managed to provide
revenue for the schools. When the lands are sold or leased or whatever,
the money goes into a trust fund that produces a stream of income for
the schools. This money is very important to the schoolchildren of
Idaho.
The people of the State of Idaho have been working on ways to get
more revenue from these lands and have found ways to ensure that their
trust funds provide a better stream of income. Some of these reforms
have been implemented. However, some cannot be implemented until we
amend the Idaho Admissions Act to give them the authority to make these
changes.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4166 would amend the Idaho Admissions Act to give
the State of Idaho the flexibility they need to make these changes. The
legislation is in everyone's best interest and is in particularly the
best interest of Idaho's schoolchildren. I urge my colleagues to
support it.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
(Mr. Faleomavaega asked and was given permission to revise and extend
his remarks.)
Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from
Utah, the chairman of our Subcommittee on National Parks and Public
Lands of the Committee on Resources, for his management of this
legislation, and certainly the gentleman from Idaho (Mr. Crapo) for his
sponsorship of this bill.
Mr. Speaker, this bill, as introduced by the gentleman from Idaho,
would amend the Idaho Admissions Act to make certain changes regarding
the sale and exchange or lease of lands granted to the State of Idaho
for the benefit of schools.
The purpose of the exchanges, as I understand them, is to generate
additional income for Idaho's permanent endowment fund. The State of
Idaho has already modified State law in order to implement these
changes; however, the Idaho Admissions Act must also be amended in
order to conform to these changes.
Simple as that, Mr. Speaker. I urge my colleagues to support this
legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from
Idaho (Mr. Crapo), the author of the bill.
Mr. CRAPO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished chairman for
yielding me this time.
Mr. Speaker, this is a very important bill for Idaho, as has already
been said, but it is an interesting opportunity. This is an opportunity
for us to generate increased revenues for Idaho public schools, with no
tax increase and
[[Page H7761]]
with simply a reformed management of our public lands.
Before I go further, I want to give my sincere thanks to my
colleague, the gentlewoman from Idaho (Mrs. Helen Chenoweth) for her
strong support and advocacy not only for this legislation but for the
young people of Idaho, as we have fought here to make sure our policies
in Washington give us the best opportunity for our children in Idaho.
H.R. 4166 is going to provide the State of Idaho the ability to
increase funding for public education by at least $20 million, if not
much more, annually, by restructuring the management of our endowment
lands.
In 1890, when Idaho was made a State, about 3\1/2\ million acres of
land as a permanent endowment were given to the State to help the
children throughout this century and beyond. Today, that endowment has
a value of about $2.7 billion, with an accompanying endowment fund
worth about another $700 million, a total value of about $3.4 billion.
And yet, after evaluation, our Governor found its return was only about
3.3 percent, just barely keeping up with the rate of inflation. If that
rate of performance could be increased by just 1 percent, it could
generate as much as $30 million of extra dollars for Idaho
schoolchildren.
Because of that, Idaho's Governor Phil Batt appointed a Governor's
Committee on Endowment Fund Investment Reform to look into what could
be done. And that committee, chaired by Doug Dorn, reviewed the current
structure of our endowment lands and evaluated what simple commonsense
approaches we could find to improve the performance for our school
children without raising taxes.
{time} 1615
H.R. 4166 is one of the reforms that this committee has suggested. I
again have to give credit to Governor Batt, to the gentlewoman from
Idaho (Mrs. Chenoweth) and to the others who have worked so hard to
make this legislation a reality today. The changes that are proposed
allow Idaho to manage its resources in a more effective way that will
benefit the school children of Idaho and give us the ability to more
clearly strengthen our future.
Mr. Speaker, it is a privilege to be the sponsor of this legislation.
I encourage all of my colleagues here in the House to support this
legislation.
Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the
distinguished gentlewoman from Idaho (Mrs. Chenoweth).
(Mrs. CHENOWETH asked and was given permission to revise and extend
her remarks.)
Mrs. CHENOWETH. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Utah
for yielding time, and I want to thank my colleague from Idaho for his
outstanding leadership on this issue that is very, very important to
our State. As my colleague from Idaho moves to other endeavors this
next year, we will miss his leadership in this body.
I rise right now in wholehearted support for H.R. 4166, a bill to
amend the Idaho Admission Act. The most important commodity that we
have, Mr. Speaker, is our Nation's children. By providing our children
with the best possible education, we provide our Nation with a future
that will allow it to continue to be a leader, the leader of the free
world. But that future rests on our children and the kind of work that
we can do for them today. H.R. 4166 takes a positive step in that
direction in our State.
H.R. 4166 amends the 1890 Idaho Admission Act so that Idaho can
better invest the funds gained from the leasing of the State's 2.5
million acres of endowment lands. This change could provide as much as
$30 million more for Idaho schools, for construction, for hiring new
teachers or wiring classrooms for the Internet without raising new
taxes.
As my colleague from Idaho has previously stated, this proposal has
been thoroughly debated by all parties and passed nearly unanimously in
the Idaho legislature. This bipartisan effort will give education in
Idaho a boost without raising taxes. Clearly Idaho's children are the
winners here.
I wish to thank the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Hansen) and the
gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young) as well as the gentleman from
California (Mr. Miller), the gentleman from American Samoa (Mr.
Faleomavaega) and the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio) for agreeing
to allow this bill to come to the floor in an expedited manner. Most
importantly I would like to thank Governor Batt for his diligent
efforts on behalf of Idaho's children. Without his vision on how to
gain more money for Idaho's schools and without raising taxes on the
State's taxpayers, we would not be here.
I urge all of my colleagues to support this very valuable piece of
legislation, valuable to our State.
Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I
yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaHood). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Hansen) that the House suspend
the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 4166.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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