39–006 

113TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 2d Session 113–368 

LAND DISPOSAL TRANSPARENCY AND EFFICIENCY ACT 

FEBRUARY 28, 2014.—Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State 

of the Union and ordered to be printed 

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington, from the Committee on Natural 

Resources, submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

together with 

DISSENTING VIEWS 

[To accompany H.R. 2095] 

[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office] 

The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred the 

bill (H.R. 2095) to prohibit an increase in the lands administered 

by the Bureau of Land Management until a centralized database 

of all lands identified as suitable for disposal by Resource Management Plans for lands under the administrative jurisdiction of the 

Bureau is easily accessible to the public on a website of the Bureau, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with an 

amendment and recommend that the bill as amended do pass. 

The amendment is as follows: 

Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the following: 

SECTION 1. PROHIBITION ON ACQUISITION OF LAND. 

(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Land Disposal Transparency and 

Efficiency Act’’. 

(b) PROHIBITION ON ACQUISITION OF LAND.—No land or interests in land may be 

added by acquisition, donation, transfer of administrative jurisdiction, or otherwise 

to the inventory of land and interests in land administered by the Bureau of Land 

Management until a centralized database of all lands identified as suitable for disposal by Resource Management Plans for lands under the administrative jurisdiction of the Bureau is easily accessible to the public on a website of the Bureau. The 

database required under this subsection shall be updated and maintained to reflect 

changes in the status of lands identified for disposal under the administrative jurisdiction of the Bureau. 

(c) REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

the Secretary of the Interior shall provide to the Committee on Natural Resources 

in the House of Representatives and the Committee on Energy and Natural ReVerDate Mar 15 2010 05:53 Mar 05, 2014 Jkt 039006 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6621 E:\HR\OC\HR368.XXX HR368

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sources in the Senate a report detailing the status and timing for completion of the 

database required by subsection (b). 

PURPOSE OF THE BILL

The purpose of H.R. 2095 is to prohibit an increase in the lands 

administered by the Bureau of Land Management until a centralized database of all lands identified as suitable for disposal by Resource Management Plans for lands under the administrative jurisdiction of the Bureau is easily accessible to the public on a website 

of the Bureau. 

BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION

Section 203 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 

1976 (FLPMA) allows for the sale of public lands identified through 

the inventory and land use and planning process and found in one 

of the 157 various resource management plans (RMP). Puzzlingly, 

any BLM lands identified for disposal are typically only made 

available to the public in the corresponding RMP found only at the 

local BLM office. 

While the BLM and other federal land management agencies regularly emphasize a desire for land acquisition and the importance 

of land acquisition programs like the Land and Water Conservation 

Fund, there remains a clear imbalance and inadequate focus on the 

disposal of federal lands identified for disposal. Freezing BLM’s 

land acquisitions until the public can easily access lands identified 

for disposal will be a small step toward restoring the balance and 

promote federal land sales. 

H.R. 2095 will prohibit an increase in the lands administered by 

the Bureau of Land Management until such time as a centralized 

database of all lands identified as suitable for disposal by RMPs is 

easily accessible to the public on a website of the Bureau. During 

Committee consideration of H.R. 2095, the Committee adopted an 

amendment that would ensure the database is kept current and to 

require a report, within 90 days, detailing the status and timing 

for completion of the database. 

COMMITTEE ACTION

H.R. 2095 was introduced on May 22, 2013, by Congressman Rob 

Bishop (R–UT). The bill was referred to the Committee on Natural 

Resources, and within the Committee to the Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation. On July 19, 2013, the 

Subcommittee held a hearing on the bill. On January 28, 2014, the 

Natural Resources Committee met to consider the bill. The Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation was discharged by unanimous consent. Congressman Rob Bishop (R–UT) 

offered an amendment designated .040 to the bill; the amendment 

was adopted by voice vote. The bill as amended was then adopted 

and ordered favorably reported to the House of Representatives by 

a roll call vote of 24 to 17, as follows: 


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rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with HEARINGInsert offset folio 4 here HR368.001

Date: January 28, 2014 

Committee on Natural Resources 

u.s. House of Representatives 

1 13th Congress 

Recorded Vote #: 2 

Meeting on I Amendment on: H.R. 2095 - TO REPORT, Adopted and favorably reported to the House of 

Representatives, as amended, by a vote of24 yeas and 17 nays. 

MEMBERS Yes No Pres MEMBERS Yes No 

Mr. Hastings, W A, Chairman X Mr. Duncan of SC X 

Pres 

Mr. Defazio, OR, Ranking X Mr. Cardenas, CA IT Mr. Young, AK X Mr. Tiptou, CO 

Mr. Faleomavaega, AS Mr. Horsford, NV X 

Mr. Gohmert, TX X Mr. Gosar, AZ X 

Mr. Pallone, N] X 1.r. Huffman, CA X 

Mr. Bishop, UT X ,fro Labrador, ID X 

Mrs. Napolitano, CA X 1r. Ruiz, CA X 

Mr. Lamborn, CO X Mr. Southerlaud, FL X 

Mr. Holt,N] X Ms. Shea-Porter, NH X 

Mr. Wittmau, VA X Mr. Flores, TX X 

Mr. Grijalva, AZ X Mr. Lowenthal, CA X 

Mr. Brouu, GA X Mr. Runyan, NJ 

M,. Bordallo, GU X Mr. Garcia, FL X 

Mr. Fleming, LA X Mr. Mullin, OK X 

Mr. Costa, CA X Mr. Cartwright, PA X 

Mr. McClintock, CA X Mr. Daines, MT X 

Mr. Sablan, CNMI Ms. Clark, MA X 

Mr. Thompson, P A X Mr. Cramer, ND X 

Ms. Tsongas, MA X Mr. LaMalfa, CA X 

Ms. Lummis, WY X Mr. Smith, MO 

+ Mr. Pierluisi, PR Mr. McAllister, LA 

Mr. Benishek, MI X Mr. Byrne, AL 

Ms. Hanabusa, HI X 

TOTALS 24 17 
4 

COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of rule XIII 

of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the Committee on 

Natural Resources’ oversight findings and recommendations are reflected in the body of this report. 

COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XIII

1. Cost of Legislation. Clause 3(d)(1) of rule XIII of the Rules of 

the House of Representatives requires an estimate and a comparison by the Committee of the costs which would be incurred in carrying out this bill. However, clause 3(d)(2)(B) of that rule provides 

that this requirement does not apply when the Committee has included in its report a timely submitted cost estimate of the bill prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget Office under section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. Under clause 

3(c)(3) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and 

section 403 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the Committee has received the following cost estimate for this bill from the 

Director of the Congressional Budget Office: 

H.R. 2095—Land Disposal Transparency and Efficiency Act 

H.R. 2095 would prohibit the Bureau of Land Management 

(BLM) from acquiring new lands until the agency develops a public 

database of all BLM lands that have been identified for disposal. 

Based on information provided by the agency, CBO expects that 

BLM would need less than a year to construct the database, and 

we expect that the agency would defer the purchase of some lands 

during that period. Because enacting the legislation would affect 

direct spending, pay-as-you-go procedures apply; however, we estimate that the net impact on direct spending would be negligible. 

Enacting H.R. 2095 would not affect revenues. 

Under current law, BLM has the authority to spend receipts 

from the sale of federal lands in southern Nevada to purchase environmentally sensitive lands. Because CBO expects that the bill 

would require BLM to defer the purchase of lands using those 

funds, we estimate that enacting the bill would reduce direct 

spending by about $7 million in 2015 and increase direct spending 

by that amount in 2016. Overall, we estimate that enacting H.R. 

2095 would have no net impact on direct spending. 

H.R. 2095 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act. 

On February 6, 2014, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R. 

2954, the Public Access and Lands Improvement Act, as posted to 

the website of the House Committee on Rules on January 30, 2014 

(Committee Print 113–35). Title IV of H.R. 2954 and H.R. 2095 

contain similar provisions, and the estimated costs are the same. 

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Jeff LaFave. the estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, Deputy Assistant Director 

for Budget Analysis. 

2. Section 308(a) of Congressional Budget Act. As required by 

clause 3(c)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and section 308(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, 

this bill does not contain any new budget authority, spending authority, credit authority, or an increase or decrease in revenues or 


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tax expenditures. CBO expects that BLM would need less than a 

year to construct the database, and they expect that the agency 

would defer the purchase of some lands during that period. CBO 

estimates that the net impact on direct spending would be negligible and enacting H.R. 2095 would not affect revenues. 

3. General Performance Goals and Objectives. As required by 

clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII, the general performance goal or objective 

of this bill is to prohibit an increase in the lands administered by 

the Bureau of Land Management until a centralized database of all 

lands identified as suitable for disposal by Resource Management 

Plans for lands under the administrative jurisdiction of the Bureau 

is easily accessible to the public on a website of the Bureau. 

EARMARK STATEMENT

This bill does not contain any Congressional earmarks, limited 

tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined under clause 9(e), 

9(f), and 9(g) of rule XXI of the Rules of the House of Representatives. 

COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104–4

This bill contains no unfunded mandates. 

COMPLIANCE WITH H. RES. 5

Directed Rule Making. The Chairman does not believe that this 

bill directs any executive branch official to conduct any specific 

rule-making proceedings. 

Duplication of Existing Programs. This bill does not establish or 

reauthorize a program of the federal government known to be duplicative of another program. Such program was not included in 

any report from the Government Accountability Office to Congress 

pursuant to section 21 of Public Law 111–139 or identified in the 

most recent Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance published pursuant to the Federal Program Information Act (Public Law 95–220, 

as amended by Public Law 98–169) as relating to other programs. 

PREEMPTION OF STATE, LOCAL OR TRIBAL LAW

This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local or tribal law. 

CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

If enacted, this bill would make no changes in existing law. 


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(6) 

DISSENTING VIEWS 

H.R. 2095 will tie the hands of the Bureau of Land Management 

(BLM) from doing their job by creating an unneeded bureaucratic 

process to ultimately lead to a massive land disposal. This bill is 

duplicative and unnecessary as there is already an established 

process for BLM land disposal. Republicans have claimed that the 

BLM does not have accurate inventory of public land which is not 

the case. Land managers know what they are managing and have 

the tools to dispose of parcels they deem fit for disposal. Furthermore, the bill requires that BLM create a centralized database of 

all lands fit for disposal that is accessible to the public. However, 

the BLM would be barred from all land acquisitions until such a 

database is established. 

During the legislative hearing, BLM testified that they could 

support some aspects of the bill such as providing access to a centralized database of all lands suitable for disposal, however they 

would like to see flexibility to use their existing land disposal process, and strongly oppose the land acquisition ban. Such a ban 

would preclude the benefits that such land acquisitions would bring 

to improve manageability and recreational access. 

Currently, the BLM is allowed to identify lands as potentially 

available for disposal if lands consisting of scattered, isolated tracts 

that are difficult or uneconomic to manage or lands that were acquired for a specific purpose and are no longer needed for that purpose. Also, lands that could serve important public objectives, such 

as community expansion and economic development, that outweigh 

other public objectives and values that could be served by retaining 

the land in Federal ownership. BLM uses a public process developed and implemented locally through individual Resource Management Plans (RMPs). Among the decisions made during that 

land use planning process is the identification of lands that are to 

be retained and those that may be available for disposal under the 

criteria listed above. 

H.R. 2095 is another bad policy proposal, and we oppose H.R. 

2095, as written. 

PETER A. DEFAZIO, 

Ranking Member, Committee 

on Natural Resources. 

RAU ́ L M. GRIJALVA, 

Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Public Lands 

and Environmental Regulation. 

Æ 


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