I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4507 

To establish the Bureau of Land Management Foundation as a charitable, 

nonprofit corporation, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 9, 2016 

Mr. LOWENTHAL (for himself and Ms. MCCOLLUM) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To establish the Bureau of Land Management Foundation 

as a charitable, nonprofit corporation, 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 ‘‘Bureau of Land Man5 agement Foundation Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 For the purposes of this Act, the following definitions 

8 apply: 

9 (1) BOARD.—The term ‘‘Board’’ means the 

10 Board or Directors of the Foundation. 


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1 (2) FOUNDATION.—The term ‘‘Foundation’’ 

2 means the Bureau of Land Management Foundation 

3 established by this Act. 

4 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

5 the Secretary of the Interior. 

6 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT AND PURPOSES. 

7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established the Bu8 reau of Land Management Foundation as a charitable and 

9 nonprofit corporation that shall not be considered an agen10 cy or establishment of the United States. 

11 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the Foundation are 

12 to— 

13 (1) encourage, accept, and administer private 

14 gifts of money and of real and personal property for 

15 the benefit of, or in connection with the activities 

16 and services of, the Bureau of Land Management; 

17 (2) undertake and conduct activities that fur18 ther the purposes for which public lands are admin19 istered; and 

20 (3) undertake, conduct, and encourage edu21 cational, technical, scientific, and other assistance or 

22 activities that support the mission of the Bureau of 

23 Land Management. 

24 SEC. 4. BOARD OF DIRECTORS. 

25 (a) ESTABLISHMENT AND MEMBERSHIP.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Foundation shall have a 

2 governing Board of Directors, which shall consist of 

3 no more than 9 members, each of whom shall be a 

4 United States citizen. 

5 (2) REQUIREMENTS OF MEMBERS.—A majority 

6 of members of the Board shall have education or ex7 perience in natural, cultural, conservation, or other 

8 resource management, law, or research and, to the 

9 extent practicable, members of the Board shall rep10 resent diverse points of view. 

11 (3) EX-OFFICIO MEMBER.—The Director of the 

12 Bureau of Land Management shall be an ex-officio 

13 nonvoting member of the Board. 

14 (b) APPOINTMENT AND TERMS.— 

15 (1) INITIAL APPOINTMENT.—Not later than one 

16 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

17 Secretary shall appoint the members of the Board 

18 who, except as otherwise provided in paragraph (2), 

19 shall be appointed for terms of 6 years. 

20 (2) STAGGERED APPOINTMENTS.—The Sec21 retary shall stagger the initial appointments to the 

22 Board, as determined to be appropriate by the Sec23 retary, so that— 

24 (A) one-third of the members serve a term 

25 of 2 years; 


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1 (B) one-third of the members serve a term 

2 of 4 years; and 

3 (C) one-third of the members serve a term 

4 of 6 years. 

5 (3) VACANCY.—A vacancy on the Board shall 

6 be— 

7 (A) filled not later than 60 days after va8 cancy occurs in the manner of which the origi9 nal appointment was made; and 

10 (B) for the balance of the term of the indi11 vidual who was replaced. 

12 (4) REMOVAL.—A member of the Board may be 

13 removed from the Board by a majority vote of the 

14 Board if the individual misses 3 consecutive regu15 larly scheduled meetings and the vacancy shall be 

16 filled in accordance with paragraph (3). 

17 (5) TERM LIMIT.—In no case shall an indi18 vidual serve more than 12 consecutive years on the 

19 Board. 

20 (c) CHAIRMAN.—The Chairman— 

21 (1) shall be elected by the Board from its mem22 bers for a 2-year term; and 

23 (2) may be re-elected to the post while serving 

24 as a member of the Board. 


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1 (d) QUORUM.—A majority of the current voting 

2 membership of the Board shall constitute a quorum for 

3 the transaction of business. 

4 (e) MEETINGS.—The Board shall meet at the call of 

5 the Chairman at least once a year. 

6 (f) REIMBURSEMENT OF EXPENSES.—Serving as a 

7 Member of the Board shall not constitute employment by 

8 the United States Government for any purpose. Members 

9 shall serve without pay other than reimbursement for the 

10 actual and necessary traveling and subsistence expenses 

11 incurred in the performance of their duties for the Foun12 dation in accordance with section 5703 of title 5, United 

13 States Code. 

14 (g) GENERAL POWERS.—The Board may complete 

15 the organization of the Foundation by appointing offices 

16 and employees, adopting a constitution and bylaws con17 sistent with the purposes of the Foundation and this Act, 

18 and undertaking other such acts as may be necessary to 

19 function and to carry out the provisions of this title. 

20 (h) OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES.—Officers and em21 ployees of the Foundation may not be appointed until the 

22 Foundation has sufficient funds to pay them for their 

23 service. Appointment as an officer or employee of the 

24 Foundation shall not constitute employment by the United 

25 States. 


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1 (i) LIMITATION AND CONFLICTS OF INTEREST.— 

2 (1) PROHIBITION ON POLITICAL CAMPAIGN AC3 TIVITY.—The Foundation shall not participate or in4 tervene in a political campaign on behalf of any can5 didate for public office. 

6 (2) CONFLICT OF INTEREST.—No member of 

7 the Board, officer, or employee of the Foundation 

8 shall participate, directly or indirectly, in the consid9 eration or determination of any question before the 

10 Foundation affecting— 

11 (A) the financial interests of the member 

12 of the Board, officer, or employee; or 

13 (B) the interests of any corporation part14 nership, entity, or organization in which such 

15 member of the Board, officer, or employee— 

16 (i) is an officer, director, or trustee; 

17 or 

18 (ii) has any direct or indirect financial 

19 interest. 

20 SEC. 5. POWERS AND OBLIGATIONS. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Foundation— 

22 (1) shall have perpetual succession; and 

23 (2) may conduct business throughout the sev24 eral States, territories, and possessions of the 

25 United States. 


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1 (b) NOTICE AND SERVICE OF PROCESS.—The Foun2 dation shall at all times maintain a designated agent in 

3 the District of Columbia authorized to accept service of 

4 process for the Foundation. The serving of notice to, or 

5 service of process upon, the agent required under this sub6 section, or mailed to the business address of such agent, 

7 shall be deemed as service upon or notice to the Founda8 tion. 

9 (c) SEAL.—The Foundation shall have an official seal 

10 selected by the Board which shall be judicially noticed. 

11 (d) POWERS.—In addition to powers otherwise au12 thorized under this Act, to carry out its purposes, the 

13 Foundation shall have the usual powers of a not-for-profit 

14 corporation in the District of Columbia, including the 

15 power to— 

16 (1) accept, receive, solicit, hold, administer, and 

17 use any gift, devise, or bequest, either absolutely or 

18 in trust, of real or personal property or any income 

19 therefrom or other interest therein; 

20 (2) acquire by donation, gift, devise, purchase 

21 or exchange, and dispose of any real or personal 

22 property or interest therein; 

23 (3) sell, donate, lease, invest, reinvest, retain or 

24 otherwise dispose of any property or income there25 from unless limited by the instrument of transfer; 


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1 (4) borrow money and issue bonds, debentures, 

2 or other debt instruments; 

3 (5) sue and be sued, and complain and defend 

4 itself in any court of competent jurisdiction, except 

5 that the Directors of the Board shall not be person6 ally liable, except for gross negligence; 

7 (6) enter into contracts or other arrangements 

8 with public agencies, private organizations, and per9 sons and to make such payments as may be nec10 essary to carry out the purposes thereof; and 

11 (7) do any and all acts necessary and proper to 

12 carry out the purposes of the Foundation. 

13 (e) REAL PROPERTY.— 

14 (1) TITLE AND INTEREST.—For the purposes 

15 of this Act, an interest in real property shall be 

16 treated as including mineral and water rights, rights 

17 of way, and easements, appurtenant or in gross. 

18 (2) ACCEPTANCE OF REAL PROPERTY.—A gift, 

19 devise, or bequest of real property may be accepted 

20 by the Foundation even though it is encumbered, re21 stricted, or subject to beneficial interests of private 

22 persons if any current or future interest therein is 

23 for the benefit of the Foundation. 


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1 (3) REFUSAL OF REAL PROPERTY.—The Foun2 dation may, in its discretion, decline any gift, devise, 

3 or bequest of real property. 

4 (4) CONDEMNATION PROHIBITED.—No lands or 

5 waters, or interests therein, that are owned by the 

6 Foundation shall be subject to condemnation by any 

7 State or political subdivision, or any agent of instru8 mentality thereof. 

9 SEC. 6. ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES AND SUPPORT. 

10 (a) ESTABLISHMENT SUPPORT.—For the purposes of 

11 assisting the Foundation in establishing an office and 

12 meeting initial administrative, project, and other expenses, 

13 the Secretary is authorized to provide to the Foundation 

14 $3,000,000 for fiscal year 2016, $2,000,000 for fiscal 

15 years 2017, 2018, and 2019, and $1,000,000 for fiscal 

16 year 2020. Such funds shall remain available to the Foun17 dation until they are expended for authorized purposes. 

18 (b) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—The Secretary 

19 may provide personnel, facilities, equipment, and other ad20 ministrative services to the Foundation with such limita21 tions and on such terms and conditions as the Secretary 

22 shall establish. The Foundation may reimburse the Sec23 retary for any support provided under this subsection, in 

24 whole or in part, and any reimbursement received by the 

25 Secretary under this subsection shall be deposited into the 


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1 Treasury to the credit of the appropriations then current 

2 and chargeable for the cost of providing the services. 

3 SEC. 7. VOLUNTEERS. 

4 The Secretary may accept, without regard to the civil 

5 service classification laws, rules, and regulations, the serv6 ices of the Foundation, the Board, and the offices or em7 ployees or agents of the Foundation, without compensa8 tion from the Department of the Interior, as volunteers 

9 for the performance of the functions under section 307(d) 

10 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 

11 (43 U.S.C. 1737(d)). 

12 SEC. 8. AUDITS AND REPORTS REQUIREMENTS. 

13 (a) AUDITS.—For purposes of the Act entitled ‘‘An 

14 Act for audit of accounts of private corporations estab15 lished under Federal law’’, approved August 30, 1964 (36 

16 U.S.C. 1101 through 1103), the Foundation shall be 

17 treated as a private corporation established under Federal 

18 law. 

19 (b) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Foundation shall trans20 mit at the end of each fiscal year a report to Congress 

21 of its proceedings and activities during that year, includ22 ing a full and complete statement of its receipts, expendi23 tures, and investments. 


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1 SEC. 9. UNITED STATES RELEASE FROM LIABILITY. 

2 The United States shall not be liable for any debts, 

3 defaults, acts, or omissions of the Foundation, nor shall 

4 the full faith and credit of the United States extend to 

5 any obligations of the Foundation. 

6 SEC. 10. LIMITATION ON AUTHORITY. 

7 Nothing in this Act authorizes the Foundation to per8 form any function the authority for which is provided to 

9 the Bureau of Land Management under any other provi10 sion of law. 

11 SEC. 11. LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS. 

12 Amounts provided as a grant by the Foundation shall 

13 not be used for— 

14 (1) any expense related to litigation; or 

15 (2) any activity the purpose of which is to influ16 ence legislation pending before Congress. 

Æ 


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