[Senate Report 111-150]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                       Calendar No. 300
111th Congress                                                   Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session                                                     111-150

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   ACQUISITION OF LAND IN SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, BY THE MOUNT OLIVET 
                          CEMETERY ASSOCIATION

                                _______
                                

                 March 2, 2010.--Ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

   Mr. Bingaman, from the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, 
                        submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                        [To accompany H.R. 1442]

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was 
referred the Act (H.R. 1442) to provide for the sale of the 
Federal Government's reversionary interest in approximately 60 
acres of land in Salt Lake City, Utah, originally conveyed to 
the Mount Olivet, Cemetery Association under the Act of January 
23, 1909, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon 
without amendment and recommends that the Act do pass.

                                PURPOSE

    The purpose of H.R. 1442 is to provide for the sale of the 
Federal Government's reversionary interest in approximately 60 
acres of land in Salt Lake City, Utah, originally conveyed to 
the Mount Olivet Cemetery Association under the Act of January 
23, 1909.

                          BACKGROUND AND NEED

    In 1874, churches in Salt Lake City, Utah, petitioned the 
Federal Government for land for a nondenominational cemetery. 
In 1877, Congress enacted legislation that authorized the 
conveyance of 20 acres of federal land to be used as a public 
cemetery and established a Board of Trustees, known as the 
Mount Olivet Cemetery Association (Association), to oversee 
management of the Mount Olivet Cemetery.
    On January 23, 1909, Congress enacted legislation that 
enabled the Association to acquire an additional 60 acres of 
federal land adjacent to the cemetery. The land conveyance 
included a condition that the land would revert to the Federal 
Government if any of the 60 acres were not used for the purpose 
of the cemetery. The Bureau of Land Management holds this 
reversionary interest within the Department of the Interior.
    H.R. 1442 would allow Rowland Hall-St. Marks School, 
situated adjacent to the cemetery, to purchase 13 acres of the 
60 acres for facility expansion. The sale can only proceed if 
the Federal Government's reversionary interest is removed. H.R. 
1442 would remove the government's reversionary interest.

                          LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

    H.R. 1442, sponsored by Rep. Matheson, was reported by the 
Committee on Natural Resources on July 10, 2009 (H. Rept. 111-
198), and passed the House of Representatives on July 16, 2009, 
by a vote of 422-0.
    Similar legislation, S. 865, was introduced in the Senate 
by Senator Bennett on April 22, 2009. The Subcommittee on 
Public Lands and Forests held a hearing on both bills on 
October 8, 2009. On December 16, 2009, the Committee on Energy 
and Natural Resources ordered H.R. 1442 to be reported 
favorably without amendment.

                        COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in open 
business session on December 16, 2009, by a voice vote of a 
quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass H.R. 1442.

                      SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

    Section 1(a) directs the Secretary of the Interior to 
convey the federal reversionary interest in approximately 60 
acres of land in Salt Lake City, Utah, within 30 days of an 
offer from the Mount Olivet Cemetery Association, provided that 
the offer is made within one year of the completion of an 
appraisal of the property.
    Subsection (b) requires the Secretary to complete a survey 
of the property within 90 days of enactment to determine 
precise boundaries and acreage.
    Subsection (c) requires the Secretary to complete an 
appraisal of the property within 180 days of enactment.
    Subsection (d) provides that the Mount Olivet Cemetery 
Association shall pay to the Secretary the appraised value of 
the Federal interest within 30 days of conveyance.
    Subsection (e) requires that all associated costs of the 
conveyance be paid by the Association.
    Subsection (f) directs the deposit of proceeds from the 
transaction into the Federal Land Disposal Account and makes 
them available for expenditure in accordance with section 
206(c) of the Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act (43 
U.S.C. 2305(c)).

                   COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS

    The following estimate of costs of this measure has been 
provided by the Congressional Budget Office.

H.R. 1442--An act to provide for the sale of the federal government's 
        reversionary interest in approximately 60 acres of land in Salt 
        Lake City, Utah, originally conveyed to the Mount Olivet 
        Cemetery Association under the Act of January 23, 1909

    H.R. 1442 would direct the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) 
to sell the federal government's reversionary interest in about 
60 acres of land in Salt Lake City. CBO estimates that enacting 
H.R. 1442 would have no net effect on direct spending and no 
effect on revenues.
    The legislation contains no intergovernmental or private-
sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act 
and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal 
governments.
    The land affected by H.R. 1442 was conveyed to the Mount 
Olivet Cemetery Association in 1909 under a law that specified 
that any portion of the conveyance not used for burials would 
revert to the United States. (Later statutes permitted the 
association to lease the land for other purposes, but not sell 
it.) By authorizing BLM to sell the reversionary interest in a 
60-acre portion of the original conveyance to the association, 
the legislation would allow the land to be subsequently sold by 
the association. Proceeds from the sale of the reversionary 
interest would be available to BLM without further 
appropriation to acquire other lands authorized to be 
purchased. Administrative costs related to the transaction 
would be borne by the association.
    Enacting H.R. 1442 would increase both offsetting receipts 
and associated spending of those proceeds, resulting in no net 
change in direct spending. CBO cannot estimate the amount of 
such receipts and spending in the absence of an appraisal to 
determine the value of the government's reversionary interest 
in the affected land. However, we expect that receipts and 
subsequent spending would total less than $1 million, probably 
in fiscal year 2010.
    On June 23, 2009, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R. 
1442, as ordered reported by the House Committee on Natural 
Resources on June 10, 2009. The two versions of the legislation 
are similar, and our cost estimates the same.
    The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Deborah Reis 
and Daniel Hoople. The estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, 
Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.

                      REGULATORY IMPACT EVALUATION

    In compliance with paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee makes the following 
evaluation of the regulatory impact which would be incurred in 
carrying out H.R. 1442.
    The Act is not a regulatory measure in the sense of 
imposing Government-established standards or significant 
economic responsibilities on private individuals and 
businesses.
    No personal information would be collected in administering 
the program. Therefore, there would be no impact on personal 
privacy.
    Little, if any, additional paperwork would result from the 
enactment of H.R. 1442, as ordered reported.

                   CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING

    H.R. 1442, as ordered reported, does not contain any 
congressionally directed spending items, limited tax benefits, 
or limited tariff benefits as defined in rule XLIV of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate.

                        EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

    The following testimony provided by the Bureau of Land 
Management was included in testimony received by the Committee 
at a hearing on S. 865 on October 8, 2009.

   Statement of Marcilynn A. Burke, Deputy Director, Bureau of Land 
                 Management, Department of the Interior

    Thank you for inviting the Department of the Interior to 
testify on S. 865 and H.R. 1442, which provide for the disposal 
of the Federal government's interest in certain acreage of the 
Mount Olivet Cemetery in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Bureau of 
Land Management (BLM) supports H.R. 1442 as passed by the House 
of Representatives.


                               background


    The Mount Olivet Cemetery, in Salt Lake City, Utah, is 
owned and managed by the Mount Olivet Cemetery Association (the 
Cemetery Association). Located on the east side of Salt Lake 
City, the cemetery consists of approximately 80 acres of land, 
20 acres of which is currently used for burials.
    The Federal government, acting through the Secretary of 
War, first ``set apart'' 20 acres of what was then a military 
reservation ``to be used as a public cemetery .  .  . which 
shall be forever devoted for the purpose of the burial of the 
dead'' (Act of May 16, 1874). Subsequently, in 1909, the 
Congress provided for the conveyance of an adjacent 50 acres to 
the Mount Olivet Cemetery Association (under the Act of January 
23, 1909). The 1909 Act provided that conveyance was contingent 
upon the Association first conveying to the United States a 
specified parcel of land, of approximately 150 acres, outside 
of Salt Lake City. However, the legislation also included a 
reverter clause, requiring that the land conveyed under the 
1909 act could be used only as a cemetery:

        Said land to be by the said Mount Olivet Cemetery 
        Association permanently used as a cemetery for the 
        burial of the dead: Provided, That when it shall cease 
        to be used for such purpose it shall revert to the 
        United States.

    The purpose of this reversionary clause is not established 
in the legislation. Whether it was due to an unequal exchange 
of lands, or for some other reason, is not stated, nor has the 
BLM been able to make any determination through the review of 
historical records.
    In 1992, Congress took further action regarding Mount 
Olivet Cemetery with the enactment of legislation (Public Law 
102-347), which allows the Cemetery Association to lease tracts 
of the lands conveyed in 1909 for up to 70 years, to the extent 
that such leases would not prevent future use as a cemetery. 
Public Law 102-347 speaks only to the possibility of 70-year 
leases, and the BLM has interpreted the 1909 reverter clause 
still to be in effect. Therefore, upon application by the 
Cemetery Association, in December of 1993, the BLM issued a 
``Certificate of Approval'' for the lease of 15 acres to the 
adjacent East High School for a football field, and in January 
of 1996, an additional certificate was issued for the lease of 
lands for a nursing and retirement facility which was never 
built.
    In recent years, the Cemetery Association has sought to 
sell, rather than lease, some of the acres conveyed under the 
1909 Act to Rowland Hall/St. Mark's School. Because the 
proposal is for a sale, rather than a lease of up to 70 years, 
the BLM does not have the authority to approve such a 
conveyance by the Cemetery Association. Specific authority for 
the BLM to dispose of the reversionary interest, established in 
1909, to the Cemetery Association, as well as any additional 
direction respecting valuation of this reversionary interest 
through appraisal, would facilitate resolution of this 
adjustment in land tenure.


                          s. 865 and h.r. 1442


    The House of Representatives passed H.R. 1442 on July 16, 
2009; our testimony addresses the House-passed bill.
    H.R. 1442 is a reasonable solution to the desire of the 
Mount Olivet Cemetery Association to be able not only to lease, 
but also to sell, the cemetery lands. Under H.R. 1442, the 
Secretary of the Interior (acting through the Department's 
Appraisal Service Directorate) will undertake an appraisal of 
the reverter clause attached to the 1909 lands. Upon receiving 
that appraisal, the Cemetery Association may purchase the 
reverter, thus owning all right, title, and interest in the 
land. All costs associated with this conveyance, including the 
appraisal, would be the responsibility of the Association.
    A number of amendments were made to H.R. 1442 to address 
concerns raised by the Department in testimony before the House 
Natural Resources Committee on May 14, 2009. We support the 
House legislation, as amended, and encourage the Committee to 
amend the Senate bill accordingly.

                        CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

    In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee notes that no 
changes in existing law are made by the Act S. 1140 as ordered 
reported.

                                  
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