89–006

107TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 1st Session 107–90

SANTA MONICA MOUNTAINS NATIONAL RECREATION AREA

BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENT ACT

JUNE 6, 2001.—Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of

the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. HANSEN, from the Committee on Resources,

submitted the following

R E P O R T

[To accompany H.R. 640]

[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

The Committee on Resources, to whom was referred the bill

(H.R. 640) to adjust the boundaries of Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, and for other purposes, 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. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area

Boundary Adjustment Act’’.

SEC. 2. BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENT.

Section 507(c) of the National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978 (92 Stat. 3501;

16 U.S.C. 460kk) establishing Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is

amended—

(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘ ‘Boundary Map, Santa Monica Mountains

National Recreation Area, California, and Santa Monica Mountains Zone’, numbered SMM–NRA 80,000, and dated May 1978’’ and inserting ‘‘ ‘Santa Monica

Mountains National Recreation Area and Santa Monica Mountains Zone, California, Boundary Map’, numbered 80,047, and dated February 2001’’; and

(2) by adding the following sentence after the third sentence of paragraph

(2)(A): ‘‘Lands within the ‘Wildlife Corridor Expansion Zone’ identified on the

boundary map referred to in paragraph (1) may be acquired only by donation

or with donated funds.’’.

SEC. 3. TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS.

Section 507 of the National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978 (92 Stat. 3501; 16

U.S.C. 460kk) establishing Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is

amended—

(1) in subsection (c)(1), by striking ‘‘Committee on Natural Resources’’ and inserting ‘‘Committee on Resources’’;

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(2) in subsection (c)(2)(B), by striking ‘‘of certain’’ in the first sentence and inserting ‘‘certain’’; and

(3) in subsection (n)(5), by striking ‘‘laws’’ in the second sentence and inserting ‘‘laws,’’.

PURPOSE OF THE BILL

The purpose of H.R. 640 is to adjust the boundaries of the Santa

Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, and for other purposes.

BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION

The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area

(SMMNRA), established in 1978, is located in southern California

west of downtown Los Angeles. This recreation area covers approximately 154,000 acres. Unlike many national park units where

lands within the authorized boundary are almost entirely in federal

ownership, there exists a complex mosaic of publicly and privately

owned lands within the SMMNRA boundary.

H.R. 640 would amend the National Parks and Recreation Act of

1978 to adjust the northern boundary of the SMMNRA to enhance

a critical wildlife habitat corridor and a key watershed between the

Santa Monica Mountains that lie within the Recreation Area and

the Simi Hills of Los Angeles and Ventura Counties to the north

and west of the SMMNRA. The lands within the proposed boundary adjustment represent the last remaining open space connecting

the Santa Monica Mountains and Simi Hills across the 101 Freeway. The protection of habitat within this corridor would promote

greater ecosystem health and diversity in the Santa Monica Mountains, particularly for larger mammals like bobcats, badgers, and

mountain lions.

As a result of the proposed expansion, the size of the SMMNRA

would increase by a total of 3,697 acres. The largest portion of the

increase, 2,797 acres, would be transferred from the Santa Monica

Mountains Conservancy, a state agency, to the National Park Service. The Conservancy land may only be acquired by donation. The

balance of the expansion would include 330 acres of developed residential communities from within the cities of Agoura Hills and

Calabassas, which is supported by the Saratoga Hills, Saratoga

Ranch and Liberty Canyon Homeowners Associations, and 570

acres of open space privately and publicly owned from the County

of Los Angeles. Finally, the bill would not authorize the National

Park Service to purchase any incidental private or developed property within the expansion area.

COMMITTEE ACTION

H.R. 640 was introduced on February 14, 2001, by Congressman

Elton Gallegly (R–CA). The bill was referred to the Committee on

Resources, and within the Committee to the Subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation, and Public Lands. On April 26, 2001, the

Subcommittee held a hearing on the bill. On May 16, 2001, the

Full Resources Committee met to consider the bill. The Subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation, and Public Lands was

discharged from further consideration of the bill by unanimous consent. Congressman Joel Hefley (R–CO) offered an amendment in

the nature of a substitute that added the official map title, number,

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and date to the bill. The amendment was adopted by voice vote.

The bill as amended was then ordered favorably reported to the

House of Representatives by voice vote.

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 Resources’ oversight findings and recommendations are reflected in

the body of this report.

CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY STATEMENT

Article I, section 8 of the Constitution of the United States

grants Congress the authority to enact this bill.

COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XIII

1. Cost of Legislation.—Clause 3(d)(2) 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)(3)(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.

2. 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 tax expenditures.

3. General Performance Goals and Objectives.—This bill does not

authorize funding and therefore, clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII of the

Rules of the House of Representatives does not apply.

4. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate.—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:

U.S. CONGRESS,

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE,

Washington, DC, May 21, 2001.

Hon. JAMES V. HANSEN, Chairman, Committee on Resources,

House of Representatives, Washington, DC.

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: The Congressional Budget Office has prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 640, the Santa Monica

Mountains National Recreation Area Boundary Adjustment Act.

If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be pleased

to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Megan Carroll.

Sincerely,

STEVEN M. LIEBERMAN

(For Dan L. Crippen, Director).

Enclosure.

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H.R. 640—Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area

Boundary Adjustment Act

CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 640 would not significantly affect the federal budget. The bill would not affect direct spending or

receipts; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures would not apply. H.R.

640 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as

defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would impose

no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.

H.R. 640 would expand the Santa Monica Mountains National

Recreation Area in California to include about 3,700 acres of nonfederal lands. The bill specifies that the federal government could

acquire lands within the proposed expansion area only by donation

or with donated funds. The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy,

a California state agency, owns roughly three-quarters of the lands

within the proposed expansion area. According to the National

Park Service (NPS) and the conservancy, under H.R. 640, the conservancy would donate those lands to the federal government so

that they may be managed for critical wildlife habitat. Based on information from the NPS, we estimate that the agency would incur

additional costs to manage the donated lands, but that such costs

would be negligible.

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Megan Carroll. This

estimate was approved by Peter H. Fontaine, Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.

COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104–4

This bill contains no unfunded mandates.

PREEMPTION OF STATE, LOCAL OR TRIBAL LAW

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

CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE BILL, AS REPORTED

In compliance with clause 3(e) of rule XIII of the Rules of the

House of Representatives, changes in existing law made by the bill,

as reported, are shown as follows (existing law proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new matter is printed in italic,

existing law in which no change is proposed is shown in roman):

SECTION 507 OF THE NATIONAL PARKS AND

RECREATION ACT OF 1978

* * * * * * *

SANTA MONICA MOUNTAINS NATIONAL RECREATION AREA

SEC. 507. (a) * * *

* * * * * * *

(c)(1) The recreation area shall consist of the lands and waters

and interests generally depicted as the recreation area on the map

entitled ø‘‘Boundary Map, Santa Monica Mountains National

Recreation Area, California, and Santa Monica Mountains Zone’’,

numbered SMM–NRA 80,000, and dated May 1978¿ ‘‘Santa Monica

Mountains National Recreation Area and Santa Monica Mountains

Zone, California, Boundary Map’’, numbered 80,047, and dated

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February 2001, which shall be on file and available for inspection

in the offices of the National Park Service, Department of the Interior, Washington, District of Columbia, and in the offices of the

General Services Administration in the Federal Office Building in

West Los Angeles, California, and in the main public library in

Ventura, California. After advising the Committee on øNatural¿

Resources of the United States House of Representatives and the

Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the United States

Senate, in writing, the Secretary may make minor revisions of the

boundaries of the recreation area when necessary by publication of

a revised drawing or other boundary description in the Federal

Register.

(2)(A) Not later than ninety days after the date of enactment of

this Act, the Secretary, after consultation with the Governor of the

State of California, the California Coastal Commission, and the

Santa Monica Mountains Comprehensive Planning Commission,

shall commence acquisition of lands, improvements, waters, or interests therein within the recreation area. Such acquisition may be

by donation, purchase with donated or appropriated funds, transfer

from any Federal agency, exchange, or otherwise. Except as provided in subparagraph (B), any lands or interests therein owned by

the State of California or any political subdivision thereof (including any park district or other public entity) may be acquired only

by donation, except that such lands acquired after the date of enactment of this section by the State of California or its political

subdivisions may be acquired by purchase or exchange if the Secretary determines that the lands were acquired for purposes which

further the national interest in protecting the area and that the

purchase price or value on exchange does not exceed fair market

value on the date that the State acquired the land or interest: Provided, however, That the value of any lands acquired by the Secretary under the exception in this sentence shall be deducted from

the amount of moneys available for grants to the State under subsection (n) of this section. Lands within the ‘‘Wildlife Corridor Expansion Zone’’ identified on the boundary map referred to in paragraph (1) may be acquired only by donation or with donated funds.

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any Federal property

located within the boundaries of the recreation area shall, with the

concurrence of the head of the agency having custody thereof, be

transferred without cost, to the administrative jurisdiction of the

Secretary for the purposes of the recreation area.

(B) The Secretary shall negotiate, and carry out, and exchange

with the city of Los Angeles (acting through its department of

water and power) øof¿ certain federally owned lands managed by

the Bureau of Land Management in the vicinity of the Haiwee Reservoir in Inyo County for certain lands owned by the city of Los Angeles which are associated with the Upper Franklin Reservoir in

the city of Los Angeles. Lands acquired by the Secretary pursuant

to such exchange shall be transferred without cost to the administrative jurisdiction of the National Park Service for inclusion within the recreation area. The Secretary shall include in such exchange a provision for an easement to be granted to the city of Los

Angeles for the existing water pipeline associated with the Upper

Franklin Reservoir and for the city of Los Angeles to provide for

replacement water to maintain the water elevations of the Franklin

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Reservoir to the current levels. The values of lands exchanged

under this provision shall be equal, or shall be equalized, in the

same manner as provided in section 206 of the Federal Land Policy

and Management Act of 1976.

(n)(1) * * *

* * * * * * *

(5) Grants under this section shall be made only upon application

of the recipient State and shall be in addition to any other Federal

financial assistance for any other program, and shall be subject to

such terms and conditions as the Secretary deems necessary to

carry out the purposes of this section. Any jurisdiction that implements changes to the approved plan which are inconsistent with

the purposes of this section, or adopts or acquiesces in changes to

ølaws¿ laws, regulations or policies necessary to implement or protect the approved plan, without approval of the Secretary, may be

liable for reimbursement of all funds previously granted or available to it under the terms of this section without regard to such

additional terms and conditions or other requirements of law that

may be applicable to such grants. During the life of the planning

commission, changes to the plan must be submitted by the planning commission to the Secretary for approval. No such application

for a grant may be made after the date five years from the date

of the Secretary’s approval of the plan.

* * * * * * *

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