[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 7933-7934]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                REASONABLE RIGHT-OF-WAY FEES ACT OF 2003

  Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill 
(H.R. 762) to amend the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 
and the Mineral Leasing Act to clarify the method by which the 
Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture determine 
the fair market value of certain rights-of-way granted, issued, or 
renewed under these Acts.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                                H.R. 762

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

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Reasonable Right-of-Way Fees 
     Act of 2003''.

     SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION OF FAIR MARKET RENTAL VALUE 
                   DETERMINATIONS FOR PUBLIC LANDS AND FOREST 
                   SERVICE RIGHTS-OF-WAY.

       (a) Linear Rights-of-Way Under Federal Land Policy and 
     Management Act.--Section 504 of the Federal Land Policy and 
     Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1764) is amended by adding 
     at the end the following new subsection:
       ``(k) Determination of Fair Market Value of Linear Rights-
     of-Way.--(1) Effective upon the issuance of the rules 
     required by paragraph (2), for purposes of subsection (g), 
     the Secretary concerned shall determine the fair market 
     rental for the use of land encumbered by a linear right-of-
     way granted, issued, or renewed under this title using the 
     valuation method described in paragraphs (2), (3), and (4).
       ``(2) Not later than one year after the date of enactment 
     of the Reasonable Right-of-Way Fees Act of 2003, and in 
     accordance with subsection (k), the Secretary of the Interior 
     shall amend section 2803.1-2 of title 43, Code of Federal 
     Regulations, as in effect on the date of enactment of such 
     Act, to revise the per acre rental fee zone value schedule by 
     State, county, and type of linear right-of-way use to reflect 
     current values of land in each zone. The Secretary of 
     Agriculture shall make the same revisions for linear rights-
     of-way granted, issued, or renewed under this title on 
     National Forest System lands.
       ``(3) The Secretary concerned shall update annually the 
     schedule revised under paragraph (2) by multiplying the 
     current year's rental per acre by the annual change, second 
     quarter to the second quarter (June 30 to June 30) in the 
     Gross National Product Implicit Price Deflator Index 
     published in the Survey of Current Business of the Department 
     of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis.
       ``(4) Whenever the cumulative change in the index referred 
     to in paragraph (3) exceeds 30 percent, or the change in the 
     3-year average of the 1-year Treasury interest rate used to 
     determine per acre rental fee zone values exceeds plus or 
     minus 50 percent, the Secretary concerned shall conduct a 
     review of the zones and rental per acre figures to determine 
     whether the value of Federal land has differed sufficiently 
     from the index referred to in paragraph (3) to warrant a 
     revision in the base zones and rental per acre figures. If, 
     as a result of the review, the Secretary concerned determines 
     that such a revision is warranted, the Secretary concerned 
     shall revise the base zones and rental per acre figures 
     accordingly.''.
       (b) Rights-of-Way Under Mineral Leasing Act.--Section 28(l) 
     of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 185(l)) is amended by 
     inserting before the period at the end the following: ``using 
     the valuation method described in section 2803.1-2 of title 
     43, Code of Federal Regulations, as revised pursuant to 
     section 504(k) of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act 
     of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1764(k))''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Arizona (Mr. Renzi) and the gentlewoman from Guam (Ms. Bordallo) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Renzi).
  Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
Wyoming (Mrs. Cubin).
  Mrs. CUBIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this 
time.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 762, the Reasonable 
Right-of-Way Fees Act of 2003, which I introduced February 13, 2003.

                              {time}  1330

  This bill will help to facilitate the deployment of critical 
infrastructure to States that are made up largely of Federal lands, 
such as Wyoming and almost every western State. While exploring ways to 
bring advanced telecommunications services and pipeline infrastructure 
to Wyoming, I found that Federal land management agencies were 
considering ways which would actually discourage deployment of critical 
infrastructure. The Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest 
Service had started down a road to abandon a commonsense right-of-way 
fee schedule that had been in place for many years by charging a per-
line fee for fiberoptic deployment instead of a fee based on linear 
footage of the pipe. In other words, when fiberoptics were being 
deployed to rural areas, the agencies wanted to charge a right-of-way 
fee for every single line that went down the pipe which would obviously 
make it financially impossible to deploy fiberoptics to rural areas. My 
bill ensures that rights-of-way fees are reasonable and that private 
users of public lands pay a fair price for that privilege.
  This bill creates a policy that protects the value of our Federal 
lands and at the same time helps to ensure that these Federal lands 
continue to be available to a multitude of compatible uses. This bill 
will not increase the environmental impact of the rights-of-way 
corridors, nor will it reduce any environmental monitoring. I am 
confident as we work to place the Reasonable Right-of-Way Fee Act into 
law that there is little public interest in turning our Federal lands 
into roadblocks on the information superhighway or along the path of 
any of our Nation's critical infrastructures.
  Ms. BORDALLO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Ms. BORDALLO. Mr. Speaker, investigations conducted by the Department 
of the Interior's Inspector General and the General Accounting Office 
have provided ample evidence that the right-of-way fees currently being 
charged by the Federal land management agencies are far below fair 
market values. States, local governments, and private individuals all 
charge significantly more than the Federal Government for rights-of-way 
across lands that they own. This undercharging for the use of Federal 
public lands means that large corporations, who stand to make vast 
profits from the use of those lands, are not being required to pay the 
American people a fair rate of return for that privilege.
  As a result, we share, the gentlewoman from Wyoming's desire to 
correct this problem. This legislation will

[[Page 7934]]

require the agencies to review their existing fee schedules and the 
land valuations which underlie them to ensure that they represent 
current values. In addition, Mr. Speaker, this measure will ensure that 
once these new fees have been promulgated, they will be adjusted 
annually for inflation. This approach is a significant improvement over 
the status quo and should move us closer to a system that adequately 
compensates the taxpayers for the use of their lands.
  We would like to thank the gentlewoman from Wyoming (Mrs. Cubin) for 
her willingness to work together on this legislation, and we do support 
H.R. 762.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Miller of Florida). The question is on 
the motion offered by the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Renzi) that the 
House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 762.
  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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