[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 56 (Tuesday, April 8, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H2874-H2875]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   REQUIRING SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE TO PAY COSTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL 
   REVIEWS WITH RESPECT TO CONVEYANCES UNDER EDUCATION LAND GRANT ACT

  Mr. HAYWORTH. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 108) to amend the Education Land Grant Act to require the 
Secretary of Agriculture to pay the costs of environmental reviews with 
respect to conveyances under that Act.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                                H.R. 108

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. COSTS OF REVIEWS FOR CONVEYANCES UNDER EDUCATION 
                   LAND GRANT ACT.

        Section 202 of the Education Land Grant Act (16 U.S.C. 
     479a) is amended by adding at the end the following:
       ``(f) Costs of Review.--The Secretary shall pay the costs 
     of all action required under section 102(2)(C) of the 
     National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 
     4332(2)(C)) with respect to any conveyance under this 
     section.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Arizona (Mr. Hayworth) and the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands 
(Mrs. Christensen) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Hayworth).
  Mr. HAYWORTH. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Madam Speaker, H.R. 108, which amends the Education Land Grant Act to 
require the Secretary of Agriculture to pay the costs of environmental 
reviews, is an important piece of legislation for many schools, many 
school districts, but most of all for many students across the United 
States of America.
  Currently the new Education Land Grant Act enacted in the 106th 
Congress allows the Forest Service to convey up to 80 acres of its land 
to school districts to renovate, expand, or construct school 
facilities. The act requires that land conveyed is identified for 
disposal in the particular forest's plan and that the conveyance cost 
of the survey is borne by the applicant. The Forest Service has 
determined this cost to be $10 per acre.
  However, both conveyance of land under this act and the forest plan 
amendment require an environmental analysis under the National 
Environmental Policy Act known as NEPA. Presently the Education Land 
Grant Act and the interim Forest Service manual fail to indicate who 
bears the cost of the environmental analysis.
  Madam Speaker, this is the crucial point today. In implementing this 
law, the Forest Service staff has administratively determined that 
schools that apply for a conveyance under this act would need to pay 
for various administrative costs, analyses, and environmental 
compliance assessment. In fact, Madam Speaker, the interim directive 
that has now finally been distributed states various costs to be borne 
by school districts, and, I quote now, ``Nominal costs includes the 
nominal fee of $10 per acre conveyed, plus all costs directly 
associated with the project that the Forest Service may incur to 
evaluate and process a school district's request to acquire National 
Forest Service lands under ELGA, such as, costs associated with 
National Environmental Policy Act compliance, document preparation, 
surveys, posting of property monuments, markers, or posts, and 
recordation.''
  In fact, another memo mentioned that even staff time, that even staff 
time used to process requests will need to be paid by school districts.
  Madam Speaker, my colleagues, what we have here is a disconnection. 
In the 106th Congress this body passed the new Education Land Grant Act 
unanimously. The other body did likewise. It was signed into law by 
President Clinton in his final days of office. Here we have a textbook 
example of elected officials, constitutional officers, doing their job. 
As the author of the new Education Land Grant Act, it was never my 
intent for a governmental bureaucracy to determine administratively 
that they were going to charge the rural school districts of America 
for their staff time. Indeed, Madam Speaker, if I am not mistaken, 
anyone in the employment of the United States Government serves the 
people, and here we have an administrative directive saying we are 
going to charge school district X staff time for Federal workers to 
work on this. This is a disconnection between the intent of Congress, 
the assent of the executive branch, and the execution by a bureaucracy.
  Madam Speaker, the costs associated with the conveyance under ELGA 
are truly minimal to the Forest Service, a drop in the bucket for that 
agency. Here is the problem: Those same costs can prove absolutely 
prohibitive to school districts seeking to expand their facility. 
Indeed, Madam Speaker, the intent of the legislation was to offer this 
land at minimal costs to school districts, and our studies have borne 
out that in 44 of our 50 States this will have a positive impact 
primarily for rural districts, but the entire intent of the legislation 
was to allow those rural districts to focus their financial resources 
where they are best used, helping teachers teach and helping children 
learn, not to be caught up in a bureaucratic morass that would prove to 
be prohibitive to those districts.
  So this particular piece of legislation, Madam Speaker, H.R. 108, 
will require the Forest Service to accept the full cost of the 
environmental analysis required by NEPA for these small land 
conveyances. This would free local school districts from burdensome 
administrative costs, allow them to spend funds again on what is most 
important, what goes on in the classroom for their students.
  The Education Land Grant Act was initially passed by this Congress 
for the purpose of aiding local school districts. This legislation will 
simply direct the Forest Service to pay for any environmental analysis 
costs, allowing the Act to achieve its original intent of improving 
communities and benefiting school children across the United States.
  Madam Speaker, I would ask my colleagues to join me in support of 
this legislation.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  (Mrs. CHRISTENSEN asked and was given permission to revise and extend 
her remarks.)
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Madam Speaker, H.R. 108 would require the Secretary 
of Agriculture to pay the costs of environmental reviews conducted 
pursuant to the Educational Land Grant Act. The majority and my 
colleague have already clearly and very passionately explained the 
bill, and we have no objection. So we support H.R. 108.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. HAYWORTH. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from the Virgin 
Islands (Mrs. Christensen) for her favorable comments.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

[[Page H2875]]

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Hayworth) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 108.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of 
those present have voted in the affirmative.
  Mr. HAYWORTH. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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