[House Report 104-9]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



104th Congress                                                   Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 1st Session                                                      104-9
_______________________________________________________________________


 
 CONVEYANCE OF LANDS TO CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS IN BUTTE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

                                _______


January 27, 1995.--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. 440]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Resources, to whom was referred the bill 
(H.R. 440) to provide for the conveyance of lands to certain 
individuals in Butte County, California, having considered the 
same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend 
that the bill do pass.

                          purpose of the bill

    H.R. 440 provides for the conveyance, without compensation, 
of about 30 acres of lands in Butte County, California, to some 
16 parties previously considered to be the land's owners.

                  background and need for legislation

    The lands affected by H.R. 440 are located in an area known 
as Stephens Ridge. Prior to 1992, this land was considered to 
be outside the boundaries of the Plumas National Forest and 
held in private ownership. In 1961, the Forest Service accepted 
the results of a survey that established a new corner boundary 
of the National Forest because the surveyor evidently could not 
locate the original corner. This survey was used as a basis for 
establishing boundaries of the adjacent private lands.
    A 1992 Bureau of Land Management resurvey and subsequent 
Forest Service land line location surveys have demonstrated 
that the lands covered by the bill are within the National 
Forest and therefore technically in the ownership of the United 
States.
    The bill would establish a 2-year deadline for parties 
seeking to remove this cloud on land title to file claims with 
the Forest Service. Upon receipt of proper documentation, the 
Secretary of Agriculture would be required to convey all right, 
title, and interest of the United States in the relevant lands 
to the parties submitting claims under the bill. Conveyance 
would be by quitclaim deed and subject to terms and conditions 
necessary to protect third parties and to preserve Federal 
rights-of-way or other Federal interests in the lands. The 
United States would be responsible for all surveys and 
property-line markings necessary to implement the conveyances.

                            committee action

    H.R. 440 was introduced by Mr. Herger on January 9, 1995. 
The bill was referred to the Committee on Resources and 
retained at the Full Committee. H.R. 440 was favorably reported 
to the House of Representatives by unanimous voice vote on 
January 18, 1995.

                      section-by-section analysis

    Section 1 sets forth several findings concerning the 
history of the problem addressed by the bill and states that 
the bill's purpose is to authorize and direct the conveyance of 
the relevant lands to persons claiming to have been deprived of 
title to them.
    Section 2 provides definitions of the terms ``affected 
lands'', ``claimant'' and ``Secretary'', as those terms are 
used in the bill.
    Section 3 would require the conveyance, without 
compensation, of all right, title, and interest in the affected 
lands to claimants submitting proper applications pursuant to 
section 4.
    Section 4 would establish the terms and conditions for the 
conveyance of the affected lands. Subsection 4(a) would 
establish a deadline of two years after the enactment of the 
bill for claimants to provide written notice of their claims 
and specifies the information to be submitted with such 
notices. Subsection 4(b) provides for issuance of deeds upon 
determinations that the requirements of the bill have been met 
and that necessary survey work has been completed by the United 
States. Subsection 4(c) provides for appropriate notice of deed 
to be provided to the Bureau of Land Management in order to 
maintain appropriate records.
    Section 5 would authorize appropriation of such sums as may 
be necessary to implement the bill.

            committee oversight findings and recommendations

    Pursuant to 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's 
oversight findings and recommendations are contained 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. 440 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. 440. 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

    With respect to the requirements 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. 
440 does not contain any new budget authority, spending 
authority, credit authority, or an increase or decrease in 
revenues or tax expenditures.
    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. 440.
    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. 440 
from the Director of the Congressional Budget Office:

               congressional budget office cost estimate

                                     U.S. Congress,
                               Congressional Budget Office,
                                  Washington, DC, January 24, 1995.
Hon. Don Young,
Chairman, Committee on Resources,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
    Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has 
reviewed H.R. 440, a bill to provide for the conveyance of 
lands to certain individuals in Butte County, California, as 
ordered reported by the House Committee on Resources on January 
18, 1995. We estimate that enactment of this bill would not 
result in any significant costs to the federal government. 
Because enactment of H.R. 440 could affect direct spending, 
pay-as-you-go procedures would apply to the bill.
    H.R. 440 would authorize and direct the Secretary of 
Agriculture to convey, without consideration, certain lands in 
Butte County, California, that are adjacent to the Plumas 
National Forest. These lands had previously been considered 
private lands based on erroneous surveys, but recently have 
been determined to be part of the national forest. This bill 
would authorize and direct the Secretary to convey the lands to 
landowners who believed the land was their property before more 
accurate surveys were conducted, and would authorize the 
appropriation of such sums as necessary to carry out the 
provisions of the bill.
    Based on information from the Forest Service, CBO estimates 
that this land conveyance would not result in significant 
additional costs to the federal government or to state and 
local governments.
    If the Department of Agriculture were to sell these parcels 
of land, the federal government would receive additional 
offsetting receipts. Since H.R. 440 would authorize the 
Secretary to give them away, the bill would result in direct 
spending (i.e., a loss of offsetting receipts) if the land 
would otherwise be sold. Based on information from the Forest 
Service, however, CBO believes that the department is not 
likely to sell the land in any case. Accordingly, CBO estimates 
that H.R. 440 would result in no direct spending.
    If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be 
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Theresa 
Gullo.
             Sincerely,
                                      Robert D. Reischauer,
                                                          Director.

                        changes in existing law

    If enacted, H.R. 440, would make no changes to existing 
law.

                          departmental reports

    The Committee has received no departmental reports on H.R. 
440.