I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3294 

To establish a streamlined process through which a State may claim authority 

over and responsibility for management of Federal lands located in the 

State without claiming ownership of the land, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 15, 2013 

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on 

Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 

in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To establish a streamlined process through which a State 

may claim authority over and responsibility for management of Federal lands located in the State without claiming ownership of the land, 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 ‘‘State-Run Federal 

5 Lands Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) QUALIFYING FEDERAL LAND.—The term 

2 ‘‘qualifying Federal land’’ means Federal land under 

3 the jurisdiction of— 

4 (A) the National Park Service, including 

5 national monuments and recreation areas; 

6 (B) the Bureau of Land Management; 

7 (C) the Forest Service; or 

8 (D) the United States Fish and Wildlife 

9 Service, including wildlife refuges and pre10 serves. 

11 (2) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—The term ‘‘Sec12 retary concerned’’ means— 

13 (A) in the case of land under the jurisdic14 tion of the National Park Service or the United 

15 States Fish and Wildlife Service, the Secretary 

16 of the Interior; and 

17 (B) in the case of land under the jurisdic18 tion of the Forest Service, the Secretary of Ag19 riculture. 

20 SEC. 3. PETITION BY STATES FOR MANAGEMENT OF CER21 TAIN QUALIFYING FEDERAL LANDS. 

22 (a) SUBMISSION OF PETITION BY STATE TO MANAGE

23 FEDERAL LANDS.—Beginning 30 days after the date of 

24 the enactment of this Act, a State may submit to the Sec25 retary concerned a petition to enter into a cooperative 


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1 agreement with the Secretary concerned for purposes of 

2 managing certain qualifying Federal lands located in the 

3 State. 

4 (b) DETERMINATION.—The Secretary concerned 

5 shall approve or deny a petition (including a corrected pe6 tition that is resubmitted) submitted under this section 

7 not later than 90 days after the date on which the Sec8 retary concerned receives the petition. 

9 (c) DENIAL OF PETITION.—The Secretary concerned 

10 shall approve a petition submitted under subsection (a) 

11 if the Secretary concerned determines that— 

12 (1) the State has demonstrated that it has suf13 ficient funds to meet the cost-sharing requirement 

14 under subsection (f)(3) for the duration of the coop15 erative agreement; 

16 (2) the petition is complete; 

17 (3) the proposed cooperative agreement sub18 mitted with the petition contains all of the terms re19 quired under subsection (f); or 

20 (4) the petition is from a State that had a pre21 vious cooperative agreement terminated and the Sec22 retary determines that the reasons for that termi23 nation warrant denial of the new (or corrected) peti24 tion. 

25 (d) OPPORTUNITY TO AMEND PETITION.— 


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1 (1) NOTICE OF DENIAL.—If the Secretary con2 cerned denies a petition under subsection (b), the 

3 Secretary concerned shall provide to the State that 

4 submitted such petition written notice of the denial. 

5 Such written notice shall include— 

6 (A) a clear and comprehensive statement 

7 of the reasons why the petition was denied; and 

8 (B) a clear and comprehensive description 

9 of any deficiencies in the petition or the related 

10 proposed cooperative agreement. 

11 (2) RESUBMISSION OF CORRECTED PETITION.— 

12 After receiving a notice from the Secretary under 

13 paragraph (1), a State may amend and resubmit the 

14 denied petition. 

15 (e) PETITION AND COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT

16 DEEMED APPROVED.—If the Secretary concerned does 

17 not approve or deny a petition submitted under subsection 

18 (a) or (d)(2) within the 90 days after receiving the peti19 tion, the petition and the proposed cooperative agreement 

20 submitted with the petition shall be deemed approved. 

21 (f) PETITION CONTENTS.—A petition submitted 

22 under subsection (a) shall include— 

23 (1) a letter signed by the Governor of the State 

24 submitting such petition addressed to the Secretary 

25 concerned that contains a description and a corVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:50 Oct 15, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3294.IH H3294

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1 responding map of the qualifying Federal lands over 

2 which the State seeks to manage; 

3 (2) the proposed cooperative agreement that is 

4 the subject of the petition; 

5 (3) documentation that demonstrates the ability 

6 of the State to provide sufficient funds to administer 

7 such lands for the duration of the cooperative agree8 ment; and 

9 (4) any other documentation that the Secretary 

10 concerned may require. 

11 (g) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT CONTENTS.—A coop12 erative agreement submitted under subsection (e)(2) shall 

13 contain— 

14 (1) a statement that the State shall manage 

15 certain qualifying Federal lands located in that 

16 State after the effective date of the transfer of man17 agement to the State for a specified term of years; 

18 (2) a cost-sharing requirement stating that the 

19 State shall provide a certain amount (equal to not 

20 less than 50 percent), in cash or in-kind, of the total 

21 amount required for the management of the quali22 fying Federal lands concerned; 

23 (3) the amount to be contributed by the State 

24 shall be determined by the Governor of the State 

25 and the Secretary concerned, only after the SecVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:50 Oct 15, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3294.IH H3294

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1 retary concerned submits to the State a categorical 

2 assessment of all costs, in the recent past and antici3 pated during the duration of the cooperative agree4 ment, of managing the qualifying Federal lands con5 cerned, including employee salary data; 

6 (4) in the event of a natural disaster, as cat7 egorized by the Federal Emergency Management 

8 Agency, the State shall assume authority over recov9 ery initiatives (nullifying any existing established 

10 Federal response protocol) so that— 

11 (A) the cost of damages to any structure 

12 on the qualifying Federal lands concerned be 

13 shared by both State and Federal entities at a 

14 ratio in accordance to the cost-sharing agree15 ment; and 

16 (B) the cost and administration of repair 

17 of damages resulting from natural disasters, 

18 not including structures referred to in subpara19 graph (A), shall be assumed by the State rather 

20 than the Federal Government; 

21 (5) all revenue accrued from fees, royalties, and 

22 other revenues related to the qualifying Federal 

23 lands concerned shall be distributed to the State and 

24 Federal entities in accordance to the percentages 

25 dictated by the cost-sharing agreement and shall be 


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1 used so that the percentage of funds designated to 

2 the Federal entity shall be made available to the 

3 Secretary concerned for use at the sole discretion of 

4 the Secretary concerned; 

5 (6) the procedures to be followed for purposes 

6 of the transition from Federal to State management 

7 of the qualifying Federal lands concerned, includ8 ing— 

9 (A) a guarantee that all Federal employees 

10 managing the qualifying Federal lands con11 cerned may remain employed without infringe12 ment upon their existing conditions of employ13 ment; 

14 (B) a guarantee that the State may use its 

15 percentage of the amounts required for the 

16 management of the qualifying Federal lands 

17 concerned to hire additional staff whose terms 

18 of employment shall be decided by the peti19 tioning State; and 

20 (C) authority over the qualifying Federal 

21 lands concerned shall be directed by the State 

22 that submitted the petition and a State-ap23 pointed manager, but the implementation of its 

24 directives may include the existing Federal suVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:14 Oct 16, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3294.IH H3294

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1 perintendent concerned and performed in con2 junction with State employees; 

3 (7) the transfer of any special use permits 

4 issued to the Secretary concerned with respect to the 

5 qualifying Federal lands concerned to the State; 

6 (8) a provision stating that lands currently 

7 open to mineral entry under the Act of May 10, 

8 1872 (commonly referred to as the ‘‘General Mining 

9 Act of 1872’’ (30 U.S.C. 22 et seq.)), shall remain 

10 open to mineral entry under State law unless subse11 quently changed by a State mineral closing order; 

12 and 

13 (9) if the qualifying Federal lands concerned 

14 cross State lines, all States involved shall submit a 

15 joint petition or the States must agree to divide the 

16 park by State lines to enable State authority in ac17 cordance to the cost-sharing agreement. 

18 (h) APPLICABILITY OF STATE LAW ON QUALIFYING

19 FEDERAL LANDS UNDER COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT.— 

20 State environmental, wildlife, and land management laws 

21 shall supercede Federal environmental, wildlife, and land 

22 management laws on the qualifying Federal lands admin23 istered by a State under a cooperative agreement in place 

24 under this section to the extent that such laws are more 

25 restrictive than the corresponding Federal laws. 


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1 (i) OWNERSHIP.—Notwithstanding a State manage2 ment of qualified Federal lands under a cooperative agree3 ment entered into under this section, the United States 

4 shall retain all right, title, and interest in and to such 

5 lands. 

6 (j) TERMINATION OF COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT.— 

7 A cooperative agreement applicable under this section 

8 shall terminate, at the discretion of the Secretary con9 cerned, under the following circumstances: 

10 (1) The State concerned defaults on a payment, 

11 thereby requiring Federal entities to assume respon12 sibility for the financial liabilities. 

13 (2) The State concerned is in substantial 

14 breach of the cooperative agreement as determined 

15 by the Secretary concerned. 

16 (3) The cooperative agreement terminates 

17 under a term contained in that agreement. 

18 (k) INTENTIONAL TERMINATION OF COOPERATIVE

19 AGREEMENT.— 

20 (1) If the State no longer finds that the cooper21 ative agreement is beneficial or in the best interest 

22 of the State, the State must submit a petition to the 

23 Secretary concerned exhibiting credible purpose and 

24 reason for such intent. 


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1 (2) Not later than 90 days after receiving a pe2 tition under paragraph (1), the Secretary concerned 

3 shall determine whether to approve or deny the peti4 tion. 

Æ 


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