99–006 

112TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 1st Session 112–168 

MCKINNEY LAKE NATIONAL FISH HATCHERY 

CONVEYANCE ACT 

JULY 20, 2011.—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 

[To accompany H.R. 1160] 

[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office] 

The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred the 

bill (H.R. 1160) to require the Secretary of the Interior to convey 

the McKinney Lake National Fish Hatchery to the State of North 

Carolina, and for other purposes, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that 

the bill do pass. 

PURPOSE OF THE BILL

The purpose of H.R. 1160 is to require the Secretary of the Interior to convey the McKinney Lake National Fish Hatchery to the 

State of North Carolina. 

BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION

The McKinney Lake National Fish Hatchery was established in 

1939 in accordance with the provisions of the National Industrial 

Recovery Act of 1935 and Executive Order 7775. The U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife hatchery is situated entirely on lands acquired by the 

State of North Carolina and donated to the Service for fish hatchery purposes. For nearly 60 years, it produced millions of striped 

bass and other warm water fish species that were used for fish 

stocking purposes throughout the region. In 1996, the Service, 

using the authority of the Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956 and the 

Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act of 1958, signed a Memorandum 

of Understanding (MOU) with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission allowing the Commission to operate the hatchVerDate Mar 15 2010 06:28 Jul 21, 2011 Jkt 099006 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\HR168.XXX HR168

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ery facilities. Under this agreement, the State agreed to be fully responsible for all costs and expenses related to the hatchery facilities and any necessary improvements to them. This MOU has been 

reviewed and extended every three years. The Commission begun 

stocking channel catfish raised in the hatchery in March 1998. 

The hatchery is comprised of 422 acres of land, 23 production 

ponds covering 18 acres of water, three residences, an office/shop 

building, a feed storage building and two pole sheds for storage. It 

has two permanent and two seasonal employees at the hatchery facilities. It produces approximately 150,000 channel catfish each 

year and it is the primary source of this species for the more than 

40 lakes that participate in North Carolina’s Community Fishing 

Program. These sites are intensively managed, they receive monthly stockings of fish from April through September and they feature 

a handicapped-accessible fishing pier. These sites are operated collectively by the Commission and local governments. The Commission provides 75 percent of the operating funds through the Sport 

Fish Restoration Fund; the remaining 25 percent come from the 

local municipalities. The hatchery obtains its water supply from 

the 80-acre McKinney Lake, and about 15,000 people visit the 

hatchery each year. 

The McKinney Lake National Fish Hatchery is classified by the 

Service as a ‘‘Hatchery managed/operated by state’’ facility. This is 

not a unique designation. In fact, there are ten other hatcheries 

within this category, such as Clearwater National Fish Hatchery in 

Idaho, Berkshire National Fish Hatchery in Massachusetts, Meridian National Fish Hatchery in Mississippi and Lookingglass National Fish Hatchery in Oregon. 

Since 1970, the Service has conveyed to states or local municipalities title and ownership to 24 national fish hatcheries through 

enactment of hatchery-specific public laws. The Service has consistently supported these conveyance bills. Their testimony has stated 

that, ‘‘The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has generally supported 

the transfer of Service fishery facilities to the States when these 

facilities no longer support Federal fishery programs.’’ 

This legislation, H.R. 1160, was introduced by Congressman 

Larry Kissell and nine other members of the North Carolina delegation. It contains standard language requiring the Secretary of 

the Interior to convey to the State of North Carolina, without reimbursement, all right, title, and interest of the United States in the 

McKinney National Fish Hatchery for use by the North Carolina 

Wildlife Resources Commission. It stipulates that should the hatchery be used for any other purpose other than channel catfish propagation, the property shall revert back to the United States. Finally, 

the bill allows the Secretary of the Interior, as a condition of conveyance, to retain the right to use the hatchery in the future, in 

cooperation with the Commission, for the propagation of any critically important aquatic resources to address specific restoration or 

recovery of such a resource. The proposal requires the Secretary to 

reimburse the Commission for the use of the hatchery. 

COMMITTEE ACTION

H.R. 1160 was introduced on March 17, 2011, by Congressman 

Larry Kissell (D–NC). The bill was referred to the Committee on 

Natural Resources, and within the Committee to the Subcommittee 


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on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans, and Insular Affairs. On May 12, 

2011, the Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans, and Insular 

Affairs held a hearing on the bill. On June 15, 2011, the Full Resources Committee met to consider the bill. The Subcommittee on 

Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans, and Insular Affairs was discharged by 

unanimous consent. No amendments were offered, and the bill was 

ordered favorably reported to the House of Representatives by 

unanimous consent. 

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. 1160—McKinney Lake National Fish Hatchery Conveyance Act 

H.R. 1160 would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to convey 

the McKinney Lake National Fish Hatchery to the state of North 

Carolina. Based on information provided by the United States Fish 

and Wildlife Service (USFWS), CBO estimates that implementing 

the legislation would have no significant impact on the federal 

budget. Enacting H.R. 1160 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. 

The state of North Carolina currently manages the fish hatchery 

and pays all operating and maintenance costs under a Memorandum of Understanding with the USFWS. Under the bill, the 

USFWS could use fish hatchery facilities for certain purposes if the 

agency reimbursed the state for any costs it incurred. The agency 

would make reimbursement payments from amounts made available in annual appropriation acts. Based on information provided 

by the USFWS regarding the operating budget for the fish hatchery, CBO estimates that any reimbursements would be less than 

$150,000 a year. 

H.R. 1160 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. The land 

conveyance authorized in the bill would benefit North Carolina. 

Any costs to the state would be incurred voluntarily. 

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

for Budget Analysis. 


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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 

tax expenditures. CBO estimates that implementing the legislation 

would have no significant impact on the federal budget. Enacting 

H.R. 1160 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, 

pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

Æ 


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