II 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3839 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 7, 2016 

Received 

AN ACT 

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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 The Act may be cited as the ‘‘Black Hills National 

3 Cemetery Boundary Expansion Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. WITHDRAWAL AND TRANSFER OF PUBLIC LAND 

5 FOR CEMETERY USE. 

6 (a) DUE DILIGENCE.—Prior to the withdrawal and 

7 transfer in subsection (b), the Secretary of Veterans Af8 fairs will complete appropriate environmental, cultural re9 source and other due diligence activities on the public 

10 lands identified in subsection (c), so that the Secretary 

11 of Veterans Affairs may confirm that the land is suitable 

12 for cemetery purposes. The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 

13 shall notify the Secretary of the Interior of such due dili14 gence activities prior to initiating and shall coordinate as 

15 needed during the performance of such activities. 

16 (b) WITHDRAWAL AND TRANSFER.—After comple17 tion of the due diligence activities in subsection (a) and 

18 upon receipt by the Secretary of the Interior of written 

19 confirmation from the Secretary of the Veterans Affairs 

20 that the land is suitable for cemetery purposes, and sub21 ject to valid existing rights, the public lands described in 

22 subsection (c) shall be— 

23 (1) withdrawn from all forms of appropriation 

24 under the public land laws, including the mining 

25 laws, the mineral leasing laws, and the geothermal 

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


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1 the administrative jurisdiction of the Secretary of 

2 Veterans Affairs; 

3 (2) deemed property as defined in section 

4 102(9) of title 40, United States Code, for as long 

5 as the lands remain under the administrative juris6 diction of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; and 

7 (3) transferred to the administrative jurisdic8 tion of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs for use as 

9 national cemeteries under chapter 24 of title 38, 

10 United States Code. 

11 (c) LAND DESCRIPTION.—The public lands with12 drawn, deemed property, and transferred under subsection 

13 (b) shall be the approximately 200 acres of land adjacent 

14 to Black Hills National Cemetery, South Dakota, gen15 erally depicted as ‘‘Proposed National Cemetery Expan16 sion’’ on the map entitled ‘‘Proposed Expansion of Black 

17 Hills National Cemetery - South Dakota’’ and dated June 

18 16, 2016, except the land located within 100 feet of the 

19 centerline of the Centennial Trail (which runs along the 

20 northern boundary of the ‘‘Proposed National Cemetery 

21 Expansion’’) and that is located south of the Trail. 

22 (d) BOUNDARY MODIFICATION.—Immediately after 

23 the public lands are withdrawn, deemed property, and 

24 transferred under subsection (b), the boundary of the 


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1 Black Hills National Cemetery shall be modified to include 

2 the public lands identified in subsection (c). 

3 (e) MODIFICATION OF PUBLIC LAND ORDER.—Im4 mediately after the public lands under subsection (b) are 

5 withdrawn, deemed property, and transferred under sub6 section (b), Public Land Order 2112, dated June 6, 1960 

7 (25 Fed. Reg. 5243), shall be modified to exclude the 

8 lands identified in subsection (c). 

9 SEC. 3. LEGAL DESCRIPTIONS. 

10 (a) PREPARATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTIONS.—As 

11 soon as practicable following receipt of written confirma12 tion from the Secretary of the Veterans Affairs that the 

13 land is suitable for cemetery purposes, the Secretary of 

14 the Interior shall publish in the Federal Register a notice 

15 containing the legal descriptions of the public lands with16 drawn, deemed property, and transferred under section 

17 2(b). 

18 (b) LEGAL EFFECT.—The legal descriptions pre19 pared under subsection (a) shall have the same force and 

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

21 except that the Secretary of the Interior may correct any 

22 clerical and typographical errors in the legal descriptions. 

23 (c) AVAILABILITY.—Copies of the map referred to in 

24 section 2(c) and the legal descriptions prepared under subVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:03 Sep 09, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3839.RDS H3839

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1 section (a) shall be available for public inspection in the 

2 appropriate offices of— 

3 (1) the Bureau of Land Management; and 

4 (2) the National Cemetery Administration. 

5 (d) COSTS.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall 

6 reimburse the Secretary of the Interior for reasonable 

7 costs incurred by the Secretary of the Interior in imple8 menting this section, including the costs of any surveys. 

9 SEC. 4. RESTORATION TO PUBLIC LANDS FOR NON-CEME10 TERY USE. 

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

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

13 the lands withdrawn, deemed property, and transferred 

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

15 the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall notify the Sec16 retary of the Interior of such determination. Subject to 

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

18 shall transfer administrative jurisdiction of the lands sub19 ject to such notice to the Secretary of the Interior. 

20 (b) DECONTAMINATION.—The Secretary of Veterans 

21 Affairs shall be responsible for costs of any decontamina22 tion of the lands resulting from contamination on the 

23 lands withdrawn, deemed property, and transferred under 

24 section 2(b) while the Secretary of Veterans Affairs exer25 cised jurisdiction over those lands subject to a notice 


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1 under subsection (a) determined by the Secretary of the 

2 Interior to be necessary for the lands to be restored to 

3 the public lands. 

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

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

6 be restored to the public lands upon acceptance by the 

7 Secretary of the Interior and a determination by the Sec8 retary of the Interior that such lands are suitable for res9 toration to the public lands and operation of one or more 

10 of the public land laws. 

11 (d) OPENING ORDER.—If the Secretary of the Inte12 rior accepts the lands subject to such a notice and deter13 mines that the lands are suitable for restoration, in whole 

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

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

16 and may issue an order to that effect. 

Passed the House of Representatives September 6, 

2016. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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