[House Report 110-461]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



110th Congress                                                   Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 1st Session                                                    110-461

======================================================================



 
      RELEASE OF REVERSIONARY INTERESTS IN CERTAIN RAILROAD LANDS

                                _______
                                

December 4, 2007.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 
              State of the Union and ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

  Mr. Rahall, from the Committee on Natural Resources, submitted the 
                               following

                              R E P O R T

                        [To accompany H.R. 2246]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

  The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred the 
bill (H.R. 2246) to validate certain conveyances made by the 
Union Pacific Railroad Company of lands located in Reno, 
Nevada, that were originally conveyed by the United States to 
facilitate construction of transcontinental railroads, and for 
other purposes, having considered the same, report favorably 
thereon with amendments and recommend that the bill as amended 
do pass.

  The amendments are as follows:
  Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the 
following:

SECTION 1. RAILROAD LANDS DEFINED.

  For the purposes of this Act, the term ``railroad lands'' means those 
lands within the City of Reno, Nevada, located within portions of 
sections 10, 11, and 12 of T.19 N., R. 19 E., Mount Diablo Meridian, 
Nevada, that were originally granted to the Union Pacific Railroad 
under the provisions of the Act of July 1, 1862, commonly known as the 
Union Pacific Railroad Act.

SEC. 2. RELEASE OF REVERSIONARY INTEREST.

   Any reversionary interests of the United States (including interests 
under the Act of July 1, 1862, commonly known as the Union Pacific 
Railroad Act) in and to the railroad lands as defined in section one of 
this Act are hereby released.

    Amend the title so as to read:

    A bill to provide for the release of any reversionary interest of 
the United States in and to certain lands in Reno, Nevada.

                          PURPOSE OF THE BILL

    The purpose of H.R. 2246, as ordered reported, is to 
release any reversionary interest of the United States in and 
to certain lands in Reno, Nevada.

                  BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION

    The Union Pacific Railroad operates a rail line passing 
through downtown Reno, Nevada. The rail corridor was created 
across federal land in the 19th century to facilitate 
development of a transcontinental rail system and settlement of 
the western United States. The grant to the railroad includes a 
requirement that the land revert back to federal ownership if 
it ceases to be used for rail purposes.
    The City of Reno has undertaken a massive project to move 
approximately two miles of the rail line into a concrete trench 
constructed alongside the existing track to improve safety and 
traffic flow through downtown. As part of the project, the 
railroad apparently conveyed a portion of the right of way to 
the City for construction of the trench. It is not clear 
whether Union Pacific had authority to make such a conveyance 
given the federal reversionary interest.
    H.R. 2246 as introduced would validate the conveyances made 
as part of this project ``to the extent that the conveyances 
would have been valid had the land involved in the conveyances 
been held by the Union Pacific Railroad Company in absolute or 
fee-simple title at the time of the conveyances.'' The bill 
also releases the federal reversionary interest to the City of 
Reno.

                            COMMITTEE ACTION

    H.R. 2246 was introduced on May 9, 2007 by Representative 
Dean Heller (R-NV). The bill was referred to the Committee on 
Natural Resources, and within the Committee to the Subcommittee 
on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands. The Subcommittee 
held a hearing on the bill on October 23, 2007. On November 11, 
2007, the Subcommittee was discharged and the Full Natural 
Resources Committee met to mark up the bill. Subcommittee 
Chairman Grijalva offered an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute narrowing the bill to simply release any 
reversionary interest the Federal Government may have had in 
the specific parcels at issue. The Grijalva substitute was 
adopted by unanimous consent. H.R. 2246 was then ordered 
favorably reported to the House of Representatives by unanimous 
consent.

                      SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

Section 1. Railroad lands defined

    Section 1 defines the term ``railroad lands'' as used in 
H.R. 2246 to refer to specific parcels within the City of Reno 
granted to the Union Pacific Railroad in 1862.

Section 2. Release of reversionary interest

    Section 2 releases any reversionary interest held by the 
Federal Government to the railroad lands described in Section 
1.

            COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

    Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of 
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the 
Committee on Natural Resources' oversight findings and 
recommendations are reflected in the body of this report.

                   CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY STATEMENT

    Article I, section 8 of the Constitution of the United 
States grants Congress the authority to enact this bill.

                    COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XIII

    1. Cost of Legislation. Clause 3(d)(2) 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 this bill. However, clause 3(d)(3)(B) 
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 402 of the 
Congressional Budget Act of 1974.
    2. Congressional Budget Act. As required by clause 3(c)(2) 
of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and 
section 308(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, this 
bill does not contain any new budget authority, spending 
authority, credit authority, or an increase or decrease in 
revenues or tax expenditures.
    3. General Performance Goals and Objectives. This bill does 
not authorize funding and therefore, clause 3(c)(4) of rule 
XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives does not 
apply.
    4. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate. Under clause 
3(c)(3) of rule XIII 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 this bill from the Director of the Congressional Budget 
Office:

H.R. 2246--A bill to provide for the release of any reversionary 
        interest of the United States in and to certain lands in Reno, 
        Nevada

    H.R. 2246 would release a reversionary interest held by the 
United States in certain lands located in Reno, Nevada. (Under 
a reversionary interest, ownership of land that has been 
disposed of by the federal government may revert to it in 
certain situations, such as abandonment of the property by a 
new owner.)
    Based on information provided by the Bureau of Land 
Management, CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 2246 would have no 
effect on the federal budget, including revenues or direct 
spending. The United States does not currently own the property 
affected by the bill and is unlikely to exercise its 
reversionary interest in the future. The property consists of 
portions of several land parcels in Reno, Nevada, originally 
granted to the Union Pacific Railroad and later sold to the 
city.
    H.R. 2246 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and 
would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Deborah Reis. 
The estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, Deputy Assistant 
Director of the Budget Analysis Division.

                    COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104-4

    This bill contains no unfunded mandates.

                           EARMARK STATEMENT

    H.R. 2246 does not contain any congressional earmarks, 
limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined in 
clause 9(d), 9(e) or 9(f) of rule XXI.

                PREEMPTION OF STATE, LOCAL OR TRIBAL LAW

    This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local or 
tribal law.

                        CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

    If enacted, this bill would make no changes in existing 
law.

                                  
