[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 125 (Tuesday, October 10, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H9618-H9620]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 PROVIDING FOR CONCURRENCE BY HOUSE WITH AMENDMENT IN SENATE AMENDMENT 
                 TO H.R. 150, EDUCATION LAND GRANT ACT

  Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the 
resolution (H. Res. 621) providing for the concurrence by the House 
with an amendment in the Senate amendment to H.R. 150.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                              H. Res. 621

       Resolved, That upon the adoption of this resolution the 
     House shall be considered to have taken from the Speaker's 
     table the bill H.R. 150, with the Senate amendment thereto, 
     and to have concurred in the Senate amendment with the 
     following amendment:
       In lieu of the matter proposed to be inserted by the 
     amendment of the Senate, insert the following:

     SECTION. 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Education Land Grant Act''.

     SEC. 2. CONVEYANCE OF NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM LANDS FOR 
                   EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES.

       (a) Authority To Convey.--Upon application, the Secretary 
     of Agriculture may convey National Forest System lands for 
     use for educational purposes if the Secretary determines 
     that--
       (1) the entity seeking the conveyance will use the conveyed 
     land for a public or publicly funded elementary or secondary 
     school, to provide grounds or facilities related to such a 
     school, or for both purposes;
       (2) the conveyance will serve the public interest;
       (3) the land to be conveyed is not otherwise needed for the 
     purposes of the National Forest System; and
       (4) the total acreage to be conveyed does not exceed the 
     amount reasonably necessary for the proposed use.
       (b) Acreage Limitation.--A conveyance under this section 
     may not exceed 80 acres. However, this limitation shall not 
     be construed to preclude an entity from submitting a 
     subsequent application under this section for an additional 
     land conveyance if the entity can demonstrate to the 
     Secretary a need for additional land.
       (c) Costs and Mineral Rights.--A conveyance under this 
     section shall be for a nominal cost. The conveyance may not 
     include the transfer of mineral rights.
       (d) Review of Applications.--When the Secretary receives an 
     application under this section, the Secretary shall--
       (1) before the end of the 14-day period beginning on the 
     date of the receipt of the application, provide notice of 
     that receipt to the applicant; and
       (2) before the end of the 120-day period beginning on that 
     date--
       (A) make a final determination whether or not to convey 
     land pursuant to the application, and notify the applicant of 
     that determination; or
       (B) submit written notice to the applicant containing the 
     reasons why a final determination has not been made.
       (e) Reversionary Interest.--If at any time after lands are 
     conveyed pursuant to this section, the entity to whom the 
     lands were conveyed attempts to transfer title to or control 
     over the lands to another or the lands are devoted to a use 
     other than the use for which the lands were conveyed, without 
     the consent of the Secretary, title to the lands shall revert 
     to the United States.

  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.

[[Page H9619]]

  On June 8, 1999, the House passed H.R. 150, the Education Land Grant 
Act, by voice vote. Since that time, the bill was amended in the other 
body. However, the committee nor the author are agreeable to the 
amendments. Thus, this resolution strips the Senate amendments and 
inserts the original text as passed by the House.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 150 is a good piece of legislation that will help 
school children in rural communities throughout the country. I commend 
the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Hayworth) for his hard work on this 
bill.
  The Education Land Grant Act was designed to alleviate a problem that 
many small western communities face. These towns are often hemmed in by 
government-owned lands such as BLM land, Indian reservations, national 
forests, State land and now all over the West national monuments, 
national parks, et cetera. Since so much of the land base in these 
areas is nontaxable government land, they often find it difficult to 
afford school facilities.
  H.R. 150 was designed to help these towns and cities surrounded by or 
adjacent to Forest Service land. They would be able to buy parcels of 
land for school facilities from the Forest Service at nominal cost. We 
have the opportunity to provide communities across our great Nation 
with the ability to purchase public lands to facilitate the education 
of our youth. This is a good cause and a great idea. H.R. 150 is simply 
legislation that resolves an extremely difficult problem for rural 
school districts. I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.
  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, first of all I certainly want to 
commend my good friend the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Hayworth), the 
chief sponsor of this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 621 would have the effect of returning to the 
Senate the House-passed language in the bill H.R. 150, the Education 
Land Grant Act. The House originally passed this measure in June of 
last year and the Senate subsequently took up the bill and sent it back 
to the House in April of this year with an amendment.
  The Senate amendment is a significant change in the purpose and scope 
of H.R. 150 as passed by this body. There are a number of serious 
problems with the Senate amendment in terms of policy and its 
application. Whereas the House bill was narrowly focusing on making 
land available for schools, the Senate amendment greatly expands the 
authorized purposes, includes new detailed language on the transfers 
and reverters as well as making a number of other changes in the bill. 
It is our understanding that the administration strongly opposes the 
language of the Senate amendment.
  Given the problems with the Senate amendment, we do not object to 
disagreeing with the Senate language and returning the bill to the 
Senate with the original House-passed provisions.
  Mr. Speaker, again I want to commend my friend from Arizona for this 
legislation. I urge my colleagues to support the bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I am happy to yield such time as he may 
consume to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Hayworth), the author of 
this bill.
  (Mr. HAYWORTH asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. HAYWORTH. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Utah for 
yielding me this time. I would also ask the indulgence of those who 
join us this evening as I battle a bit of a cold.

                              {time}  2300

  Mr. Speaker, tonight before us is an important bipartisan bill that 
will help school districts around the country by allowing those 
districts to apply for conveyances of small tracts of Forest Service 
land at a nominal cost for the purposes of building, renovating or 
expanding school facilities.
  Currently, only school districts near Bureau of Land Management lands 
can apply for conveyances under the Recreation and Public Purposes Act, 
and modeled after that act this legislation simply adds Forest Service 
lands to the equation.
  It is worth noting, as my colleagues have before me, that H.R. 150 
unanimously passed this House by a recorded vote with 420 of us in 
attendance voting yes; not a single voice, not a single vote, Mr. 
Speaker, in opposition in June of last year.
  By unanimous consent, as was mentioned earlier, Mr. Speaker, the 
Senate passed an amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 150 
and while this was a bipartisan agreement, objections have been raised. 
They were enumerated by my good friend, the gentleman from American 
Samoa (Mr. Faleomavaega). Therefore, by disagreeing to the Senate 
amendments to H.R. 150, we can send the House-passed bill back to the 
Senate in the form of H. Res. 621 and send it directly to the President 
after the other body passes the legislation.
  To recount, this new Education Land Grant Act authorizes the 
Secretary of Agriculture to convey Forest Service lands for educational 
purposes if certain conditions are met. First, the entity seeking the 
conveyance must use the land for a public or publicly funded elementary 
or secondary school.
  Second, the conveyance must serve the public interest.
  Third, the land conveyed cannot be environmentally sensitive land and 
cannot be otherwise needed for purposes of the national forest system.
  Finally, the total acreage to be conveyed cannot exceed the amount 
reasonably necessary for the proposed use.
  Furthermore, our new Education Land Grant Act limits the amount of 
acreage to be conveyed to 80 acres. It also provides that conveyances 
under this legislation shall be for a nominal cost using the guidelines 
of the Recreation and Public Purposes Act, which allows for conveyances 
or transfers to be made at $10 per acre.
  The bill would require expedited review of applications by requiring 
the Secretary of Agriculture to acknowledge receipt of an application 
within 14 days of receiving it. A final determination about whether to 
convey the land must be made within 120 days, unless the Secretary 
submits a written notice to the applicant explaining the delay.
  Mr. Speaker, ofttimes rural school districts cannot afford the costs 
of buying land and building new school facilities. In fact, in the 
104th Congress, I introduced legislation which was signed into law that 
helped one of these aforementioned financially strapped school 
districts, the Alpine School District in Eastern Arizona. This district 
desperately needed new facilities. However, they could not afford the 
cost of acreage which was estimated to be approximately one quarter of 
a million dollars, as well as the cost of new school facilities.
  This legislation seeks to set up a national mechanism for school 
districts to apply to the Agriculture Secretary for Forest Service land 
without having to come to Congress every year to pass legislation for 
their particular school district. Indeed, Mr. Speaker, part and parcel 
of the exercise tonight is perhaps to an onlooker, Mr. Speaker, a crazy 
quilt of small applications or conveyances of land. The beauty of the 
new Education Land Grant Act is to offer a uniform mechanism that can 
be used.
  Mr. Speaker, I would point out that although it is of special 
interest in the rural West, it is important to note that this 
legislation would help school districts in 44 of our 50 States.
  The Constitution gives our Congress authority in article IV, section 
3 when it states that Congress shall have the power to dispose of and 
make needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other 
properties belonging to the United States. I mention the conditions 
unique to the West. It has been part and parcel of discussion on 
earlier legislation tonight. Private land in the West is extremely 
expensive, and while it is true most federally controlled land is 
located in the western States, we also confront a problem there: 
Rapidly growing populations. In fact, Arizona, Utah and Nevada have the 
three fastest growing States in the Nation. With less and less private 
land on which to build schools and other facilities, the West will 
increasingly need to find new solutions to growth problems. The 
Education Land Grant Act provides one of the ways we can alleviate some 
of these concerns and at the

[[Page H9620]]

same time help our children receive the education they need and 
deserve.
  Not only is there rapid growth in the West but nationwide. As has 
been part of the discussion on this floor and in other venues, many 
school districts find themselves financially strapped. We have the 
opportunity tonight, in the tradition of Justin Smith Morrill, who 
consulted with then candidate Abraham Lincoln, in the election campaign 
of 1860, for an Education Land Grant Act that allowed for conveyances 
of land for the construction and establishment of institutions of 
higher learning in the agricultural and mechanical arts, in that 
tradition that Lincoln made the centerpiece of his campaign for the 
presidency and, of course, a terrible war intervened and his 
assassination. Ultimately, the Morrill Land Grant Act was signed into 
law. Indeed, from the vantage of time we see how important that was to 
higher education in this country.
  Mr. Speaker, tonight we again have the opportunity to stand and 
deliver, and though it is virtually ignored by the fourth estate, in 
retrospect, Mr. Speaker, this legislation is of great importance 
because it enables local districts to free up their precious resources 
to help teachers teach and help children learn.
  Certainly despite our many differences, as we take a look at the 
political calendar we can agree on that basic mission. In the tradition 
of original passage last year, unanimous passage by this House, I would 
ask this House again to support this legislation now by calling for 
passage of H. Res. 621 so that this new Education Land Grant Act can 
become reality, so that we can streamline this process for the greater 
good of all America's children in our finest traditions.
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Ryan of Wisconsin). The question is on 
the motion offered by the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Hansen) that the 
House suspend the rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 621.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the resolution was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________