I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3839 

To transfer administrative jurisdiction over certain Bureau of Land Management land from the Secretary of the Interior to the Secretary of Veterans 

Affairs for inclusion in the Black Hills National Cemetery, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 27, 2015 

Mrs. NOEM introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each 

case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of 

the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To transfer administrative jurisdiction over certain Bureau 

of Land Management land from the Secretary of the 

Interior to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs for inclusion 

in the Black Hills National Cemetery, 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 The Act may be cited as the ‘‘Black Hills National 

5 Cemetery Boundary Expansion Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. WITHDRAWAL AND TRANSFER OF PUBLIC LAND 

2 FOR CEMETERY USE. 

3 (a) WITHDRAWAL AND TRANSFER.—Subject to valid 

4 existing rights, the public lands described in subsection (b) 

5 are hereby— 

6 (1) withdrawn from all forms of appropriation 

7 under the public land laws, including the mining 

8 laws, the mineral leasing laws, and the geothermal 

9 leasing laws, for as long as the lands remain under 

10 the administrative jurisdiction of the Secretary of 

11 Veterans Affairs; 

12 (2) deemed property as defined in section 

13 102(9) of title 40, United States Code, for as long 

14 as the lands remain under the administrative juris15 diction of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; and 

16 (3) transferred to the administrative jurisdic17 tion of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs for use as 

18 national cemeteries under chapter 24 of title 38, 

19 United States Code. 

20 (b) LAND DESCRIPTION.—The public lands with21 drawn, deemed property, and transferred under subsection 

22 (a) are the approximately 200 acres of land adjacent to 

23 Black Hills National Cemetery, South Dakota, generally 

24 depicted as ‘‘Proposed National Cemetery Expansion’’ on 

25 the map entitled ‘‘Proposed Expansion of Black Hills NaVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:12 Oct 28, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3839.IH H3839

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1 tional Cemetery – South Dakota’’ and dated September 

2 28, 2015. 

3 (c) BOUNDARY MODIFICATION.—The boundary of 

4 the Black Hills National Cemetery is hereby modified to 

5 include the public lands identified in subsection (b). 

6 (d) MODIFICATION OF PUBLIC LAND ORDER.—Pub7 lic Land Order 2112, dated June 6, 1960 (25 Fed. Reg. 

8 5243), is modified to exclude the lands identified in sub9 section (b). 

10 SEC. 3. LEGAL DESCRIPTIONS. 

11 (a) PREPARATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTIONS.—As 

12 soon as practicable after the date of the enactment of this 

13 Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall publish in the Fed14 eral Register a notice containing the legal descriptions of 

15 the public lands withdrawn, deemed property, and trans16 ferred under section 2(a). 

17 (b) LEGAL EFFECT.—The legal descriptions pre18 pared under subsection (a) shall have the same force and 

19 effect as if the legal descriptions were included in this Act, 

20 except that the Secretary of the Interior may correct any 

21 clerical and typographical errors in the legal descriptions. 

22 (c) CONFLICT BETWEEN MAP AND LEGAL DESCRIP23 TION.—In the case of a conflict between the map referred 

24 to in section 1(b) and the legal descriptions prepared 

25 under subsection (a), the map shall control. 


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1 (d) AVAILABILITY.—Copies of the map referred to in 

2 section 2(b) and the legal descriptions prepared under 

3 subsection (a) shall be available for public inspection in 

4 the appropriate offices of— 

5 (1) the Bureau of Land Management; and 

6 (2) the National Cemetery Administration. 

7 (e) COSTS.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall 

8 reimburse the Secretary of the Interior for reasonable 

9 costs incurred by the Secretary of the Interior in imple10 menting this section, including the costs of any surveys. 

11 SEC. 4. RESTORATION TO PUBLIC LANDS FOR NON-CEME12 TERY USE. 

13 (a) NOTICE AND EFFECT.—Upon a determination by 

14 the Secretary of Veterans Affairs that all or a portion of 

15 the lands withdrawn, deemed property, and transferred 

16 under section 2 shall not be used for cemetery purposes, 

17 the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall notify the Sec18 retary of the Interior of such determination. Subject to 

19 subsections (b) and (c), the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 

20 shall transfer administrative jurisdiction of the lands sub21 ject to such notice to the Secretary of the Interior. 

22 (b) DECONTAMINATION.—The Secretary of Veterans 

23 Affairs shall be responsible for costs of any decontamina24 tion of the lands subject to a notice under subsection (a) 


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1 determined by the Secretary of the Interior to be nec2 essary for the lands to be restored to the public lands. 

3 (c) RESTORATION TO THE PUBLIC LANDS.—The 

4 lands subject to a notice under subsection (a) shall only 

5 be restored to the public lands upon acceptance by the 

6 Secretary of the Interior and a determination by the Sec7 retary of the Interior that such lands are suitable for res8 toration to the public lands and operation of one or more 

9 of the public land laws. 

10 (d) OPENING ORDER.—If the Secretary of the Inte11 rior accepts the lands subject to such a notice and deter12 mines that the lands are suitable for restoration, in whole 

13 or in part, the Secretary of the Interior may open the 

14 lands to operation of one or more of the public land laws 

15 and may issue an order to that effect. 

Æ 


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