[House Report 112-168]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


112th Congress                                                   Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 1st Session                                                    112-168

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          MCKINNEY LAKE NATIONAL FISH HATCHERY CONVEYANCE ACT

                                _______
                                

 July 20, 2011.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 
              State of the Union and ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

 Mr. Hastings of Washington, from the Committee on Natural Resources, 
                        submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                        [To accompany H.R. 1160]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred 
the bill (H.R. 1160) to require the Secretary of the Interior 
to convey the McKinney Lake National Fish Hatchery to the State 
of North Carolina, and for other purposes, having considered 
the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and 
recommend that the bill do pass.

                          PURPOSE OF THE BILL

    The purpose of H.R. 1160 is to require the Secretary of the 
Interior to convey the McKinney Lake National Fish Hatchery to 
the State of North Carolina.

                  BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION

    The McKinney Lake National Fish Hatchery was established in 
1939 in accordance with the provisions of the National 
Industrial Recovery Act of 1935 and Executive Order 7775. The 
U.S. Fish and Wildlife hatchery is situated entirely on lands 
acquired by the State of North Carolina and donated to the 
Service for fish hatchery purposes. For nearly 60 years, it 
produced millions of striped bass and other warm water fish 
species that were used for fish stocking purposes throughout 
the region. In 1996, the Service, using the authority of the 
Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956 and the Fish and Wildlife 
Coordination Act of 1958, signed a Memorandum of Understanding 
(MOU) with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission 
allowing the Commission to operate the hatchery facilities. 
Under this agreement, the State agreed to be fully responsible 
for all costs and expenses related to the hatchery facilities 
and any necessary improvements to them. This MOU has been 
reviewed and extended every three years. The Commission begun 
stocking channel catfish raised in the hatchery in March 1998.
    The hatchery is comprised of 422 acres of land, 23 
production ponds covering 18 acres of water, three residences, 
an office/shop building, a feed storage building and two pole 
sheds for storage. It has two permanent and two seasonal 
employees at the hatchery facilities. It produces approximately 
150,000 channel catfish each year and it is the primary source 
of this species for the more than 40 lakes that participate in 
North Carolina's Community Fishing Program. These sites are 
intensively managed, they receive monthly stockings of fish 
from April through September and they feature a handicapped-
accessible fishing pier. These sites are operated collectively 
by the Commission and local governments. The Commission 
provides 75 percent of the operating funds through the Sport 
Fish Restoration Fund; the remaining 25 percent come from the 
local municipalities. The hatchery obtains its water supply 
from the 80-acre McKinney Lake, and about 15,000 people visit 
the hatchery each year.
    The McKinney Lake National Fish Hatchery is classified by 
the Service as a ``Hatchery managed/operated by state'' 
facility. This is not a unique designation. In fact, there are 
ten other hatcheries within this category, such as Clearwater 
National Fish Hatchery in Idaho, Berkshire National Fish 
Hatchery in Massachusetts, Meridian National Fish Hatchery in 
Mississippi and Lookingglass National Fish Hatchery in Oregon.
    Since 1970, the Service has conveyed to states or local 
municipalities title and ownership to 24 national fish 
hatcheries through enactment of hatchery-specific public laws. 
The Service has consistently supported these conveyance bills. 
Their testimony has stated that, ``The U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service has generally supported the transfer of Service fishery 
facilities to the States when these facilities no longer 
support Federal fishery programs.''
    This legislation, H.R. 1160, was introduced by Congressman 
Larry Kissell and nine other members of the North Carolina 
delegation. It contains standard language requiring the 
Secretary of the Interior to convey to the State of North 
Carolina, without reimbursement, all right, title, and interest 
of the United States in the McKinney National Fish Hatchery for 
use by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. It 
stipulates that should the hatchery be used for any other 
purpose other than channel catfish propagation, the property 
shall revert back to the United States. Finally, the bill 
allows the Secretary of the Interior, as a condition of 
conveyance, to retain the right to use the hatchery in the 
future, in cooperation with the Commission, for the propagation 
of any critically important aquatic resources to address 
specific restoration or recovery of such a resource. The 
proposal requires the Secretary to reimburse the Commission for 
the use of the hatchery.

                            COMMITTEE ACTION

    H.R. 1160 was introduced on March 17, 2011, by Congressman 
Larry Kissell (D-NC). The bill was referred to the Committee on 
Natural Resources, and within the Committee to the Subcommittee 
on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans, and Insular Affairs. On May 12, 
2011, the Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans, and 
Insular Affairs held a hearing on the bill. On June 15, 2011, 
the Full Resources Committee met to consider the bill. The 
Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans, and Insular 
Affairs was discharged by unanimous consent. No amendments were 
offered, and the bill was ordered favorably reported to the 
House of Representatives by unanimous consent.

            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.

                    COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XIII

    1. Cost of Legislation. Clause 3(d)(1) 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)(2)(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. 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. 1160--McKinney Lake National Fish Hatchery Conveyance Act

    H.R. 1160 would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to 
convey the McKinney Lake National Fish Hatchery to the state of 
North Carolina. Based on information provided by the United 
States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), CBO estimates that 
implementing the legislation would have no significant impact 
on the federal budget. Enacting H.R. 1160 would not affect 
direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go 
procedures do not apply.
    The state of North Carolina currently manages the fish 
hatchery and pays all operating and maintenance costs under a 
Memorandum of Understanding with the USFWS. Under the bill, the 
USFWS could use fish hatchery facilities for certain purposes 
if the agency reimbursed the state for any costs it incurred. 
The agency would make reimbursement payments from amounts made 
available in annual appropriation acts. Based on information 
provided by the USFWS regarding the operating budget for the 
fish hatchery, CBO estimates that any reimbursements would be 
less than $150,000 a year.
    H.R. 1160 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 land conveyance authorized in the bill would benefit North 
Carolina. Any costs to the state would be incurred voluntarily.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Jeff LaFave. The 
estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, Deputy Assistant 
Director for Budget Analysis.
    2. Section 308(a) of 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. CBO estimates that 
implementing the legislation would have no significant impact 
on the federal budget. Enacting H.R. 1160 would not affect 
direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go 
procedures do not apply.
    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.

                           EARMARK STATEMENT

    This bill does not contain any Congressional earmarks, 
limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined 
under clause 9(e), 9(f), and 9(g) of rule XXI of the Rules of 
the House of Representatives.

                    COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104-4

    This bill contains no unfunded mandates.

                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.

                                  
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