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103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 3673

To minimize the impact of Federal acquisition of private lands on units

of local government, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

NOVEMBER 22, 1993

Mr. HERGER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Government Operations

A BILL

To minimize the impact of Federal acquisition of private

lands on units of local government, 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 ‘‘Federal Land Acquisi5 tion Impact Relief Act of 1993.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that—

8 (1) land that is held by agencies of the Federal

9 Government does not fully contribute to the tax base

10 of overburdened units of local government;
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1 (2) further acquisitions of private lands by Fed2 eral agencies have the potential to impose severe

3 hardships on units of local government; and

4 (3) when it is clearly in the national interest for

5 the Federal Government to acquire private lands,

6 other than by a contemporaneous exchange involving

7 Federal land, Federal agencies should minimize the

8 impact of Federal acquisition on units of local

9 government.

10 SEC. 3. DECLARATION OF POLICY.

11 It is the policy of Congress that—

12 (1) Federal agencies should not acquire private

13 land, other than by exchange, unless the acquisition

14 is clearly in the national interest;

15 (2) the acquisition of private land by a Federal

16 agency should be based on a careful analysis of the

17 full range of the benefits and costs of Federal acqui18 sition; and

19 (3) the acquisition of private land by a Federal

20 agency should not result in a net loss of local tax

21 revenues to the relevant unit of local government.

22 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

23 As used in this Act:
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1 (1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the same

2 meaning as is provided for ‘‘Executive agency’’ in

3 section 105 of title 5, United States Code.

4 (2) UNIT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT.—The term

5 ‘‘unit of local government’’ means—

6 (A) any county, municipality, or other po7 litical subdivision of a State, having authority

8 under the laws of the State to levy and collect

9 taxes upon real property; or

10 (B) the District of Columbia.

11 (3) REAL PROPERTY TAXES.—The term ‘‘real

12 property taxes’’ means all taxes, whether ad valorem

13 or otherwise, applicable with respect to real prop14 erty, including special assessments, assessments for

15 benefit, or other charges of general application

16 against land in favor of a State or local govern17 mental unit.

18 (4) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any of

19 the several States, the Commonwealth of Puerto

20 Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana

21 Islands, or any territory and possession of the

22 United States.

23 SEC. 5. ECONOMIC IMPACT ANALYSIS.

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Prior to each acquisition of pri25 vate land by an agency, the head of the agency shall pre-
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1 pare an economic impact analysis in accordance with this

2 section.

3 (b) CONTENTS.—In preparing the economic impact

4 analysis, the head of the agency shall, at a minimum, ana5 lyze—

6 (1) the extent to which alternative means to

7 Federal acquisition are available to serve the Federal

8 resource management objectives at issue;

9 (2) any tax payment loss to the relevant unit of

10 local government;

11 (3) the effects of the tax payment loss on the

12 delivery of governmental services by the unit;

13 (4) the effects on local employment and income;

14 and

15 (5) any potential limitations that the Federal

16 acquisition would pose for future community expan17 sion.

18 (c) CONSULTATION.—The agency shall consult with

19 the relevant unit of local government during the prepara20 tion of the economic impact analysis.

21 (d) NOTICE AND COMMENT.—The agency shall pro22 vide an opportunity for notice and comment in connection

23 with the preparation of the economic impact analysis.

24 SEC. 6. TAX EQUIVALENCY PAYMENTS.

25 (a) IN GENERAL.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—For each parcel of private

2 land acquired by an agency after October 1, 1992,

3 other than by contemporaneous land exchange, the

4 head of the agency shall pay annually to the unit of

5 local government in which the parcel is located an

6 amount equal to the real property taxes computed

7 on the current market value of the parcel, as deter8 mined in accordance with paragraph (2).

9 (2) CURRENT MARKET VALUE.—

10 (A) INITIAL VALUE.—The initial current

11 market value of a parcel shall be equal to the

12 purchase price per acre multiplied by the num13 ber of acres acquired by the Federal Govern14 ment.

15 (B) ADJUSTMENTS.—The unit of local

16 government may adjust the current market

17 value of a parcel to reflect adjustments in the

18 current market value of other lands within the

19 jurisdiction.

20 (3) SPECIAL FORMULAS.—In computing a tax

21 equivalency payment under this subsection, special

22 farm or forest use formulas, which may vary from

23 State to State, shall not be applied to the value of

24 the parcel.
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1 (b) FAILURE TO PAY.—If for any reason the head

2 of an agency fails to make a payment required under sub3 section (a), the unit of local government may file a civil

4 action against the agency, and a district court of the

5 United States shall have jurisdiction to enforce this

6 section.

7 SEC. 7. EFFECT OF OTHER LAWS.

8 If for any fiscal year a payment described in section

9 6(a) is made to a State or unit of local government with

10 respect to a parcel of land described in section 6(a)(1),

11 such payment shall be reduced in proportion to the pay12 ment in lieu of real property taxes, if any, which is made

13 with respect to the same parcel of land under any other

14 Federal law.

15 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

16 In each fiscal year, there are authorized to be appro17 priated to each agency such sums as are necessary to carry

18 out this Act.

19 SEC. 9. EFFECTIVE DATE.

20 This Act shall become effective on October 1, 1994.

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