II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 774 

To adjust the boundary of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation 

Area to include the Rim of the Valley Corridor, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 13, 2019 

Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself and Ms. HARRIS) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To adjust the boundary of the Santa Monica Mountains 

National Recreation Area to include the Rim of the 

Valley Corridor, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rim of the Valley Cor5 ridor Preservation Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 


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1 (1) the Santa Monica Mountains National 

2 Recreation Area was authorized as a unit of the Na3 tional Park System on November 10, 1978; 

4 (2) the Santa Monica Mountains and the Rim 

5 of the Valley Corridor include— 

6 (A) nationally significant resources, includ7 ing— 

8 (i) outstanding examples of geologic 

9 history, including the evolution of the 

10 Transverse Ranges Province; 

11 (ii) a diversity of well-preserved ma12 rine and terrestrial paleontological re13 sources; and 

14 (iii) high biodiversity, including out15 standing examples of native grasslands, 

16 coastal sage scrub, chaparral, dry conif17 erous forests, and alluvian fan sage scrub; 

18 and 

19 (B) nationally significant cultural re20 sources that represent a wide range of themes 

21 relating to human use and settlement in the re22 gion, including— 

23 (i) high concentrations of archeo24 logical resources that provide insight into 


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1 more than 10,000 years of Tribal history; 

2 and 

3 (ii) landmarks that represent topics 

4 such as architecture, recreation, and space 

5 exploration; and 

6 (3) expanding the Santa Monica Mountains Na7 tional Recreation Area would provide new opportuni8 ties for the National Park Service to serve a broad 

9 range of urban communities, including many com10 munities that are— 

11 (A) underrepresented in units of the Na12 tional Park System; and 

13 (B) underserved by State and local parks. 

14 SEC. 3. BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENT; LAND ACQUISITION; AD15 MINISTRATION. 

16 (a) BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENT.—Section 507(c)(1) of 

17 the National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978 (16 

18 U.S.C. 460kk(c)(1)) is amended, in the first sentence, by 

19 striking ‘‘ ‘Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation 

20 Area and Santa Monica Mountains Zone, California, 

21 Boundary Map’, numbered 80,047–C and dated August 

22 2001’’ and inserting ‘‘ ‘Rim of the Valley Unit—Santa 

23 Monica Mountains National Recreation Area’ and dated 

24 October 2017’’. 


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1 (b) RIM OF THE VALLEY UNIT.—Section 507 of the 

2 National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 

3 460kk) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(u) RIM OF THE VALLEY UNIT.— 

5 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

6 ‘‘(A) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means the 

7 State of California. 

8 ‘‘(B) UNIT.—The term ‘Unit’ means the 

9 Rim of the Valley Unit included within the 

10 boundaries of the recreation area, as depicted 

11 on the map described in subsection (c)(1). 

12 ‘‘(C) UTILITY FACILITY.—The term ‘utility 

13 facility’ means— 

14 ‘‘(i) electric substations, communica15 tion facilities, towers, poles, and lines; 

16 ‘‘(ii) ground wires; 

17 ‘‘(iii) communications circuits; 

18 ‘‘(iv) other utility structures; and 

19 ‘‘(v) related infrastructure. 

20 ‘‘(D) WATER RESOURCE FACILITY.—The 

21 term ‘water resource facility’ means— 

22 ‘‘(i) irrigation and pumping facilities; 

23 ‘‘(ii) dams and reservoirs; 

24 ‘‘(iii) flood control facilities; 


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1 ‘‘(iv) water conservation works, in2 cluding debris protection facilities, sedi3 ment placement sites, rain gauges, and 

4 stream gauges; 

5 ‘‘(v) water quality, recycled water, and 

6 pumping facilities; 

7 ‘‘(vi) conveyance distribution systems; 

8 ‘‘(vii) water treatment facilities; 

9 ‘‘(viii) aqueducts; 

10 ‘‘(ix) canals; 

11 ‘‘(x) ditches; 

12 ‘‘(xi) pipelines; 

13 ‘‘(xii) wells; 

14 ‘‘(xiii) hydropower projects; 

15 ‘‘(xiv) transmission facilities; and 

16 ‘‘(xv) other ancillary facilities, ground17 water recharge facilities, water conserva18 tion, water filtration plants, and other 

19 water diversion, conservation, groundwater 

20 recharge, storage, and carriage structures. 

21 ‘‘(2) BOUNDARIES.—Not later than 3 years 

22 after the date of enactment of this subsection, the 

23 Secretary shall update the general management plan 

24 for the recreation area developed under subsection 

25 (t) to reflect the boundaries designated on the map 


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1 referred to in subsection (c)(1) to include the area 

2 known as the ‘Rim of the Valley Unit’. 

3 ‘‘(3) ADMINISTRATION.—Subject to valid exist4 ing rights, the Secretary shall administer the Unit 

5 and any land or interest in land acquired by the 

6 United States located within the boundaries of the 

7 Unit— 

8 ‘‘(A) as part of the recreation area; and 

9 ‘‘(B) in accordance with— 

10 ‘‘(i) this section; and 

11 ‘‘(ii) applicable laws (including regula12 tions). 

13 ‘‘(4) ACQUISITION OF LAND.— 

14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may 

15 acquire non-Federal land within the boundaries 

16 of the Unit only through exchange, donation, or 

17 purchase from a willing seller. 

18 ‘‘(B) USE OF EMINENT DOMAIN.—Nothing 

19 in this subsection authorizes the use of eminent 

20 domain to acquire land or interests in land 

21 within the boundaries of the Unit. 

22 ‘‘(5) OUTSIDE ACTIVITIES.—The fact that cer23 tain activities or land uses can be seen or heard 

24 from within the Unit shall not preclude the activities 

25 or land uses outside the boundary of the Unit. 


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1 ‘‘(6) EFFECT OF SUBSECTION.—Nothing in this 

2 subsection or the application of the applicable man3 agement plan to the Unit— 

4 ‘‘(A) modifies any provision of Federal, 

5 State, or local law with respect to public access 

6 to, or use of, non-Federal land; 

7 ‘‘(B) creates any liability, or affects any li8 ability under any other law, of any private 

9 property owner or other owner of non-Federal 

10 land with respect to any person injured on pri11 vate property or other non-Federal land; 

12 ‘‘(C) affects the ownership, management, 

13 or other rights relating to any non-Federal land 

14 (including any interest in any non-Federal 

15 land); 

16 ‘‘(D) requires any unit of local government 

17 to participate in any program administered by 

18 the Secretary; 

19 ‘‘(E) alters, modifies, or diminishes any 

20 right, responsibility, power, authority, jurisdic21 tion, or entitlement of the State, any political 

22 subdivision of the State, or any State or local 

23 agency under existing Federal, State, or local 

24 law (including regulations); 


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1 ‘‘(F) requires the creation of protective pe2 rimeters or buffer zones around the Unit; 

3 ‘‘(G) requires or promotes the use of, or 

4 encourages trespass on, land, facilities, or 

5 rights-of-way owned by non-Federal entities, in6 cluding water resource facilities and public utili7 ties, without the written consent of the owner 

8 of the land; 

9 ‘‘(H) affects the operation, maintenance, 

10 modification, construction, or expansion of any 

11 water resource facility or utility facility located 

12 within or adjacent to the Unit; 

13 ‘‘(I) terminates the fee title to land, or the 

14 customary operation, maintenance, repair, and 

15 replacement activities on or under the land, 

16 granted to public agencies that are authorized 

17 under Federal or State law; 

18 ‘‘(J) interferes with, obstructs, hinders, or 

19 delays the exercise of any right to, or access to 

20 any water resource facility or other facility or 

21 property necessary or useful to access any 

22 water right to operate any public water or util23 ity system; or 

24 ‘‘(K) requires initiation or reinitiation of 

25 consultation with the Director of the United 


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1 States Fish and Wildlife Service under, or the 

2 application of provisions of, the Endangered 

3 Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), 

4 the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 

5 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), or division A of sub6 title III of title 54, United States Code, relating 

7 to any action or activity affecting water, water 

8 rights, water management, or water resource 

9 facilities within the Unit. 

10 ‘‘(7) UTILITY FACILITIES; WATER RESOURCE

11 FACILITIES.—A utility facility or water resource fa12 cility shall conduct activities in a manner that rea13 sonably avoids or reduces the impact of the activities 

14 on the resources of the Unit.’’. 

Æ 


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