[House Report 113-412]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


113th Congress                                                   Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 2d Session                                                     113-412

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



 
              DISPOSAL OF EXCESS FEDERAL LANDS ACT OF 2013

                                _______
                                

 April 10, 2014.--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

                             together with

                            DISSENTING VIEWS

                        [To accompany H.R. 2657]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred 
the bill (H.R. 2657) to direct the Secretary of the Interior to 
sell certain Federal lands in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, 
Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and 
Wyoming, previously identified as suitable for disposal, 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. 2657 is to direct the Secretary of the 
Interior to sell certain Federal lands in Arizona, Colorado, 
Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and 
Wyoming, previously identified as suitable for disposal.

                  BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION

    H.R. 2657 would authorize the disposal of the nearly 3.3 
million acres of land the federal government identified in a 
1997 Clinton Administration report. In the report, the Bureau 
of Land Management (BLM) identified approximately 3.36 million 
acres of land in 10 western states deemed suitable for sale to 
non-federal entities. The 1996 Agriculture Reform Act (Public 
Law 104-127) required the Secretary of the Interior to report 
to Congress any unreserved and unappropriated lands or mineral 
interests in lands that were suitable for sale or exchange to 
benefit the Everglades Restoration effort. The inventory was 
made on a county basis (totaled by state) and used the 
following four criteria to determine eligibility: (1) only 
lands that were identified for disposal in a land use plan were 
to be considered; (2) lands withdrawn for other purposes were 
not to be considered; (3) lands in Recreation and Public 
Purpose applications, identified for state selection, Native 
American allotments, or local government purposes were 
excluded; and (4) lands segregated for other exchange or under 
existing agreements for exchange were excluded. Below are the 
identified acreage totals by state:




Arizona....................................................     453,950
Colorado...................................................      93,741
Idaho......................................................     110,022
Montana....................................................      94,520
Nebraska...................................................       6,615
Nevada.....................................................     898,460
New Mexico.................................................     813,531
Oregon.....................................................      70,308
Utah.......................................................     132,931
Wyoming....................................................     694,200
                                                            ------------
    Total Acres............................................   3,368,278


    H.R. 2657 will require the competitive sale of the lands, 
subject to valid existing rights, identified in the 1997 DOI 
report to Congress. The disposal would equate to just over 1% 
of BLM land and less than one half of 1% of all federal lands. 
The proceeds of the land sales will be used to reduce the 
public debt. Four years after enactment, the Secretary of the 
Interior will be required to provide Congress with an updated 
version of the 1997 report to identify the lands that have not 
been sold with an explanation of why the sale had not occurred.

                            COMMITTEE ACTION

    H.R. 2657 was introduced on July 11, 2013, by Congressman 
Jason Chaffetz (R-UT). The bill was referred to the Committee 
on Natural Resources, and within the Committee to the 
Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation. On 
October 3, 2013, the Subcommittee held a hearing on the bill. 
On January 28, 2014, the Natural Resources Committee met to 
consider the bill. The Subcommittee on Public Lands and 
Environmental Regulation was discharged by unanimous consent. 
The bill was then adopted and ordered favorably reported to the 
House of Representatives by a roll call vote of 23 yeas and 19 
nays, as follows:


            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. 2657--Disposal of Excess Federal Lands Act of 2013

    H.R. 2657 would direct the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) 
to offer certain federal lands for sale. The bill would require 
the agency to sell the affected lands for fair market value as 
determined by an independent appraiser. Any proceeds from the 
sale of those lands would be deposited in the U.S. Treasury. 
The bill also would require BLM to complete a report to the 
Congress identifying federal lands that are suitable for 
disposal.
    Based on information provided by BLM, CBO estimates that 
implementing the legislation would cost $6 million over the 
2015-2018 period, assuming appropriation of the necessary 
amounts. Enacting the bill could increase offsetting receipts, 
which are treated as reductions in direct spending; therefore, 
pay-as-you-go procedures apply. However, CBO estimates that any 
effect on offsetting receipts would be negligible.
    H.R. 2657 would direct BLM to sell federal lands identified 
as suitable for disposal in a 1997 report to the Congress. That 
report identified roughly 3.4 million acres of land as suitable 
for disposal; however, many of the affected lands were subject 
to impediments that could prevent their sale, including high 
disposal costs, the presence of critical natural or cultural 
resources and habitat, mineral claims and leases, and hazardous 
conditions. Over the 2000-2011 period, when the Federal Land 
Transaction Facilitation Act (FLTFA) was in effect, CBO 
estimates that BLM sold roughly 30,000 acres of the affected 
lands generating more than $100 million in offsetting receipts 
(a significant portion of which were spent to acquire other 
lands under FLTFA).
    Under current law, BLM has the authority to sell the 
affected lands identified in the 1997 report, and CBO expects 
that the agency will offer some of those lands for sale over 
the 2014-2023 period. H.R. 2657 would not require the agency to 
offer the affected lands for sale within a specified period of 
time, and CBO expects that enacting the bill would have little 
effect on the timing or quantity of future land sales under 
current law; therefore, we estimate that enacting the bill 
would have no significant effect on offsetting receipts.
    H.R. 2657 would require BLM to prepare a report for the 
Congress within four years of the bill's enactment that 
includes an updated list of BLM lands identified as suitable 
for disposal. That report also would explain why lands 
identified as suitable for disposal in 1997 have not been sold. 
The costs of preparing that report would depend on the level of 
detail and accuracy included in the report. CBO expects that 
BLM would produce a report similar to the 1997 report, which 
contained limited details and lacked formal appraisals for 
individual parcels, and we estimate that producing that report 
would cost $6 million over the 2015-2018 period, assuming 
appropriation of the necessary amounts. Preparing a more 
detailed report with formal appraisals of property values would 
significantly increase the cost of implementing this 
legislation.
    The bill contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
    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 cost $6 million over the 
2015-2018 period, assuming appropriation of the necessary 
amounts. Enacting the bill could increase offsetting receipts, 
which are treated as reductions in direct spending; therefore, 
pay-as-you-go procedures apply. However, CBO estimates that any 
effect on offsetting receipts would be negligible.
    3. General Performance Goals and Objectives. As required by 
clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII, the general performance goal or 
objective of this bill is to direct the Secretary of the 
Interior to sell certain Federal lands in Arizona, Colorado, 
Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and 
Wyoming, previously identified as suitable for disposal.

                           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.

                       COMPLIANCE WITH H. RES. 5

    Directed Rule Making. The Chairman does not believe that 
this bill directs any executive branch official to conduct any 
specific rule-making proceedings.
    Duplication of Existing Programs. This bill does not 
establish or reauthorize a program of the federal government 
known to be duplicative of another program. Such program was 
not included in any report from the Government Accountability 
Office to Congress pursuant to section 21 of Public Law 111-139 
or identified in the most recent Catalog of Federal Domestic 
Assistance published pursuant to the Federal Program 
Information Act (Public Law 95-220, as amended by Public Law 
98-169) as relating to other programs.

               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.

                            DISSENTING VIEWS

    H.R. 2657 would require the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) 
to sell off ``excess'' federal lands identified in a 1997 
report, unless those lands have since been identified in a land 
use plan as not suitable for disposal, have been identified for 
State selection, Indian tribe allotments, or for use by local 
governments.
    In 1997, Congress ordered the BLM to inventory all 
unreserved and unappropriated lands which might be suitable for 
sale or exchange to fund Everglades Ecosystem Restoration. The 
1997 law only required BLM to report on lands available for 
disposal, not to assess whether selling the identified lands 
would be in the Nation's interest or to prepare surveys or 
appraisals of land available for disposal. Therefore, the 
report did not identify individual parcels. BLM identified a 
total of 3.37 million acres of ``excess'' land. However, the 
1997 report is vague, outdated and was never intended for the 
purposes outlined in H.R. 2657.
    This bill would create more bureaucracy and more spending 
by requiring the BLM to divert already strained resources to 
conduct extensive reviews, including cultural resource reviews, 
threatened and endangered species reviews, surveys and 
appraisals, of every parcel identified in the report.
    Many of the lands identified for disposal include grazing 
allotments. In the past, grazing permittees have declined to 
acquire federal lands when offered for sale for financial and 
other reasons. As a result, H.R. 2657 could have disastrous 
effects on ranching communities throughout the west by selling 
the land out from under ranchers.
    Finally, forcing BLM to sell land regardless of market 
conditions could result in a significant decline in the value 
of both the federal and non-federal land in areas with 
``excess'' federal ownership.
    H.R. 2657 is not well thought out and is simply another 
attempt to raid our federal lands; we oppose H.R. 2657.

                                   Peter A. DeFazio.
                                   Raul M. Grijalva.

                                  
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