[House Report 104-760]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



104th Congress                                                   Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 2d Session                                                     104-760
_______________________________________________________________________


 
      EXCHANGE OF CERTAIN FEDERAL LANDS IN THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

_______________________________________________________________________


 September 4, 1996.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on 
            the State of the Union and ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

  Mr. Young of Alaska, from the Committee on Resources, submitted the 
                               following

                              R E P O R T

                        [To accompany H.R. 3147]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

  The Committee on Resources, to whom was referred the bill 
(H.R. 3147) to provide for the exchange of certain Federal 
lands in the State of California managed by the Bureau of Land 
Management for certain non-Federal lands, and for other 
purposes, having considered the same, report favorably thereon 
with an amendment and recommend that the bill as amended do 
pass.
  The amendment (stated in terms of the page and line number of 
the introduced bill) is as follows:
  Page 4, line 15, after the period insert ``Any patent issued 
on such Federal lands shall not be subject to section 24 of 
said Act.''.

                          PURPOSE OF THE BILL

    The purpose of H.R. 3147 is to provide for the exchange of 
certain Federal lands in the State of California managed by the 
Bureau of Land Management for certain non-Federal lands.

                  BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION

    In 1991, Congress added eight miles of the Merced River 
upstream from Lake McClure in Mariposa County, California, to 
the National Wild and Scenic River System. Lake McClure is the 
main reservoir of the Merced Irrigation District (MID). The 
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages a significant amount of 
land in the Lake McClure area.
    Soon after the wild and scenic river designation, MID and 
the BLM began to discuss a possible land transfer to enhance 
their land management objectives. MID and BLM proposed to work 
out a land exchange in which BLM would convey several scattered 
parcels of land below Lake McClure in exchange for 
approximately 160 acres of land owned by MID along the National 
Wild and Scenic River corridor. The land exchange proposal is 
contained in H.R. 3147.
    As a result of the land exchange, BLM will be able to 
consolidate its land ownership in the Merced River region, 
which is one of BLM's most important recreational areas in 
California. The land to be managed by the BLM is critical to 
providing public access for whitewater rafters on the Merced 
River and will facilitate the construction of a hiking trail 
along the river. The exchange will benefit MID by allowing it 
to consolidate its ownership of lands in the Lake McClure area.

                            COMMITTEE ACTION

    H.R. 3147 was introduced on March 21, 1996, by Congressman 
George P. Radanovich (R-CA) and later cosponsored by 
Congressman Gary A. Condit (D-CA). The bill was referred to the 
Committee on Resources, and within the Committee to the 
Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Lands. On May 30, 
1996, the Subcommittee held a hearing on H.R. 3147, where the 
Administration and a representative of MID testified in support 
of the bill. On June 27, 1996, the Subcommittee met to mark up 
H.R. 3147. The bill was ordered favorably reported without 
amendment to the Full Committee by voice vote. On July 17, 
1996, the Full Resources Committee met to consider H.R. 3147. 
An amendment to assure that any patent issued on the described 
Federal lands not be subject to section 24 of the Federal Power 
Act was offered by Mr. Radanovich, and adopted by voice vote. 
The bill as amended was then ordered favorably reported to the 
House of Representatives by voice vote in the presence of a 
quorum.

                      SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

Section 1. Findings and purpose

    Section 1 finds that the exchange of lands authorized in 
the Act will benefit the United States as well as the private 
landowners.

Section 2. Merced Irrigation District land exchange

    Section 2 allows the Secretary of Interior to convey the 
Federal lands described in the bill in exchanged for the non-
Federal lands described in the bill and applies section 206 of 
the Federal Land Policy and Management Act to the exchange of 
the described lands. The Secretary shall not exchange the lands 
unless the title to the non-Federal lands to be conveyed to the 
United States is acceptable to the Secretary.
    Paragraph (4) of the subsection 2(d) clears the way for the 
transfer of Federal lands to the irrigation district by 
revoking an existing powersite reserve and a powersite 
withdrawal affecting certain of the BLM lands proposed for 
exchange. The existing reserve was created by a 1912 public 
land order, and the withdrawal was created by operation of law 
under section 24 of the Federal Power Act. Paragraph (4) would 
revoke the powersite reserve and the withdrawal and would 
authorize the Secretary of the Interior to patent the Federal 
lands free of any reserved interest under section 24 of the 
Federal Power Act.

            COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

    With respect to the requirements of clause 2(l)(3) of rule 
XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives, and clause 
2(b)(1) of rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives, 
the Committee on Resources' oversight findings and 
recommendations are reflected in the body of this report.

                     INFLATIONARY IMPACT STATEMENT

    Pursuant to clause 2(l)(4) of rule XI of the Rules of the 
House of Representatives, the Committee estimates that the 
enactment of H.R. 3147 will have no significant inflationary 
impact on prices and costs in the operation of the national 
economy.

                        COST OF THE LEGISLATION

    Clause 7(a) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives requires an estimate and a comparison by the 
Committee of the costs which would be incurred in carrying out 
H.R. 3147. However, clause 7(d) of that Rule provides that this 
requirement does not apply when the Committee has included in 
its report a timely submitted cost estimate of the bill 
prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget Office 
under section 403 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.

                     COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XI

    1. With respect to the requirement of clause 2(l)(3)(B) of 
rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives and 
section 308(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, H.R. 
3147 does not contain any new budget authority, spending 
authority, credit authority, or an increase or decrease in tax 
expenditures. Enactment of H.R. 3147 would reduce offsetting 
receipts by less than $2000 per year.
    2. With respect to the requirement of clause 2(l)(3)(D) of 
rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the 
Committee has received no report of oversight findings and 
recommendations from the Committee on Government Reform and 
Oversight on the subject of H.R. 3147.
    3. With respect to the requirement of clause 2(l)(3)(C) of 
rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives and 
section 403 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the 
Committee has received the following cost estimate for H.R. 
3147 from the Director of the Congressional Budget Office.

               CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE COST ESTIMATE

                                     U.S. Congress,
                               Congressional Budget Office,
                                     Washington, DC, July 31, 1996.
Hon. Don Young,
Chairman, Committee on Resources,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
    Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has 
reviewed H.R. 3147, a bill to provide for the exchange of 
certain federal lands in the State of California managed by the 
Bureau of Land Management for certain nonfederal lands, and for 
other purposes. The bill was ordered reported by the House 
Committee on Resources on July 17, 1996. Enacting H.R. 3147 
would have no significant impact on the Federal Budget. 
Enacting H.R. 3147 would affect direct spending by reducing 
offsetting receipts; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures would 
apply to the bill. CBO estimates that the increased direct 
spending would total less than $2,000 per year.
    H.R. 3147 would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to 
convey about 179 acres of federal land in Mariposa County, 
California, to the Merced Irrigation District (MID). In 
exchange, MID would convey to the federal government about 160 
acres in Mariposa County along the national wild and scenic 
corridor of the Merced River. The bill also would revoke both a 
power site reserve and a previous withdrawal of federal land 
for a power project, insofar as those designations affect the 
federal lands that the bill identifies for exchange.
    Based on information from the Bureau of Land Management 
(BLM), CBO estimates that enacting the exchange would have no 
effect on the agency's administrative costs. According to MID 
and BLM, the irrigation district currently pays a small annual 
rental fee for the powersite withdrawals on the Federal land to 
the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). A portion of 
those fee receipts are distributed to the states. By enacting 
this bill, the withdrawals would be revoked, and MID would no 
longer pay a fee to FERC. We estimate that this reduction in 
offsetting receipts would total less than $2,000 per year, net 
of payments to states.
    H.R. 3147 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 
(Public Law 104-4) and would impose no significant costs on 
state, local, or tribal governments. The exchange authorized by 
this bill would be voluntary on the part of MID.
    If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be 
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contacts are Victoria V. 
Heid (for federal costs), and Marjorie Miller (for the state 
and local impact).
            Sincerely,
                                         June E. O'Neill, Director.

                    COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104-4

    H.R. 3147 contains no unfunded mandates.

                        CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

    If enacted, H.R. 3147 would make no changes in existing 
law.