II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 726 

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

Affairs for use as a national cemetery, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 11, 2021 

Ms. CORTEZ MASTO (for herself and Ms. ROSEN) introduced the following bill; 

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

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 use 

as a 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 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Elko National Ceme5 tery Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 726 IS

1 (1) FEDERAL LAND.—The term ‘‘Federal land’’ 

2 means the approximately 15 acres of Bureau of 

3 Land Management land in Elko, Nevada, that is 

more particularly described as NE1 4 ⁄4

SW1⁄4 NW1⁄4, N1⁄2SE1⁄4SW1⁄4NW1 5 ⁄4, sec. 8, T. 

6 34 N., R. 55 E., of the Mount Diablo Meridian, as 

7 depicted on the map prepared by the Bureau of 

8 Land Management, entitled ‘‘Proposed National 

9 Cemetery-Elko Nevada’’, and dated September 9, 

10 2015. 

11 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

12 the Secretary of the Interior. 

13 SEC. 3. TRANSFER AND WITHDRAWAL OF BUREAU OF LAND 

14 MANAGEMENT LAND FOR USE AS A NA15 TIONAL CEMETERY. 

16 (a) TRANSFER OF ADMINISTRATIVE JURISDIC17 TION.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to valid existing 

19 rights, administrative jurisdiction over the Federal 

20 land is transferred from the Secretary to the Sec21 retary of Veterans Affairs for use as a national cem22 etery in accordance with chapter 24 of title 38, 

23 United States Code. 

24 (2) LEGAL DESCRIPTIONS.— 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 726 IS

1 (A) IN GENERAL.—As soon as practicable 

2 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec3 retary shall publish in the Federal Register a 

4 notice containing a legal description of the Fed5 eral land. 

6 (B) EFFECT.—A legal description pub7 lished under subparagraph (A) shall have the 

8 same force and effect as if included in this Act, 

9 except that the Secretary may correct any cler10 ical and typographical errors in the legal de11 scription. 

12 (C) AVAILABILITY.—Copies of the legal de13 scription published under subparagraph (A) 

14 shall be available for public inspection in the 

15 appropriate offices of— 

16 (i) the Bureau of Land Management; 

17 and 

18 (ii) the National Cemetery Adminis19 tration. 

20 (D) COSTS.—The Secretary of Veterans 

21 Affairs shall reimburse the Secretary for the 

22 costs incurred by the Secretary in carrying out 

23 this paragraph, including the costs of any sur24 veys and other reasonable costs. 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 726 IS

1 (b) WITHDRAWAL.—Subject to valid existing rights, 

2 for any period during which the Federal land is under the 

3 administrative jurisdiction of the Secretary of Veterans 

4 Affairs, the Federal land— 

5 (1) is withdrawn from all forms of appropria6 tion under the public land laws, including the mining 

7 laws, the mineral leasing laws, and the geothermal 

8 leasing laws; and 

9 (2) shall be treated as property (as defined in 

10 section 102 of title 40, United States Code). 

Æ 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS