II

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1118

To amend the Land and Water Conservation Fund for purposes of establishing a Community Recreation and Conservation Endowment with certain

escrowed oil and gas revenues.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JULY 31, 1997

Mr. MURKOWSKI introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

A BILL

To amend the Land and Water Conservation Fund for purposes of establishing a Community Recreation and Conservation Endowment with certain escrowed oil and gas

revenues.

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 ‘‘Community Recreation

5 and Conservation Endowment Act of 1997’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

7 (a) Congress finds that:
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1 (1) The Land and Water Conservation Fund

2 Act of 1965 enbodied a visionary concept—that a

3 portion of the proceeds from Outer Continental

4 Shelf mineral leasing revenues and the depletion of

5 a nonrenewable natural resource should result in a

6 legacy of public places accessible for public recre7 ation and benefit from resources belongings to all

8 people, of all generations, and the enhancement of

9 the most precious and most renewable natural re10 source of any nation, healthy and active citizens.

11 (2) The States and local governments were to

12 occupy a pivotal role in accomplishing the purposes

13 of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of

14 1965 and the Act originally provided an equitable

15 portion of funds to the States, and through them, to

16 local governments.

17 (3) However, because of competition for limited

18 federal monies and the need for an annual appro19 priation, this original intention has been abandoned

20 and, in recent years, the States have not received an

21 equitable proportion of funds.

22 (4) Nonetheless, with population growth and

23 urban sprawl, the demand for recreation areas and

24 open spaces, at the state and local level, remains a

25 high priority for our citizens.
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1 (5) A new vision is called for—a vision that en2 compasses a multi-level national network of parks,

3 recreation areas, open space preserves and green4 ways that reaches across the country to touch all

5 communities. National parks are not enough; the

6 federal government alone cannot accomplish this. A

7 bold national vision, backed by realistic national

8 funding support, to stimulate state, local and private

9 sector, as well as federal efforts, is the only way to

10 effectively address our ongoing recreation and open

11 space conservation needs.

12 (6) On June 19, 1997, the United States Su13 preme Court held in United States v. Alaska (No.

14 84 original) that the United States retains title to

15 lands underlying the tidal waters off the State of

16 Alaska’s North Slope.

17 (7) As a result of the Supreme Court decision,

18 approximately $1,600,000,000 in escrowed oil and

19 gas lease sale revenues are to be received by the

20 United States. These funds are double the amount

21 included by the Congressional Budget Office in reve22 nue estimates for the concurrent resolution on the

23 budget.

24 (8) By placing these escrowed funds in an in25 terest bearing account a permanent source of monies
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1 for state and local recreation and conservation ac2 quisition, planning and development can be estab3 lished.

4 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to revital5 ize state, local and private commitments envisioned in the

6 Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 by creat7 ing a new Community Recreation and Conservation En8 dowment with the escrowed oil and gas lease sale revenues

9 received by the United States pursuant to the Supreme

10 Court decision in United States v. Alaska to provide fund11 ing for state, local and urban recreation and conservation

12 needs.

13 SEC 3. COMMUNITY RECREATION AND CONSERVATION EN14 DOWMENT.

15 Section 6 of the Land and Water Conservation Act

16 of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 460l–8) is amended by inserting the

17 following new subsection at the beginning:

18 ‘‘(a) COMMUNITY RECREATION AND CONSERVATION

19 ENDOWMENT.—

20 ‘‘(1) SPECIAL ACCOUNT.—Notwithstanding any

21 other provision of law, all escrowed oil and gas reve22 nues and interest received by the United States pur23 suant to the June 19, 1997 Supreme Court decision

24 in United States v. Alaska shall be deposited in a

25 special account in the Treasury of the United States,
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1 to be known as the ‘Community Recreation and

2 Conservation Endowment Account’, for use pursuant

3 to the provisions of this section.

4 ‘‘(2) INVESTMENT OF SPECIAL ACCOUNT.—All

5 funds deposited as principal in the Community

6 Recreation and Conservation Endowment Account

7 shall earn interest in the amount determined by the

8 Secretary of the Treasury. Such interest shall be

9 added to the principal of the account and be ex10 pended according to the provisions of this section.

11 ‘‘(3) EXPENDITURE OF SPECIAL ACCOUNT.—In12 terest on the Community Recreation and Conserva13 tion Endowment Account shall be available without

14 further appropriation at the beginning of each fiscal

15 year for expenditure by the Secretary of the Interior

16 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Secretary’) for pur17 poses of providing monies to the states according to

18 the provisions of this section.’’.

19 SEC. 4. GENERAL AUTHORITY.

20 Section 6 of the Land and Water Conservation Fund

21 Act of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 460l–8) is amended—

22 (1) by redesignating subsections (a) through (h)

23 as subsections (b) through (i) respectively;

24 (2) by striking the first sentence of subsection

25 (b) (as so redesignated) and replacing with ‘‘The
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1 Secretary is authorized to provide financial assist2 ance to the States from interest earned on the Com3 munity Recreation and Conservation Endowment.’’;

4 and

5 (3) by adding the following new sentence at the

6 end of subsection (b) (as so redesignated): ‘‘Absent

7 some compelling and annually documented reason to

8 the contrary acceptable to the Secretary, each State

9 (other than an area treated as a State under section

10 6(c)(6)) shall make available as grants to local gov11 ernments and other qualified recipients, at least one12 half of the average annual State apportionment, or

13 an equivalent amount made available from other

14 sources.’’.

15 SEC. 5. APPORTIONMENT.

16 Section 6(c) of the Land and Water Conservation

17 Fund (16 U.S.C. 460l–8(c)) (as so redesignated) is

18 amended—

19 (1) by striking the first sentence of subsection

20 (c) and paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) and inserting

21 the following:

22 ‘‘(c) APPORTIONMENT AMONG STATES; NOTIFICA23 TION.—Interest earned on the Community Recreation and

24 Conservation Endowment shall be apportioned annually

25 among the several States by the Secretary, whose deter-
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1 mination shall be final, in accordance with the following

2 formula:

3 ‘‘(1) Sixty percent shall be apportioned equally

4 among the several States.

5 ‘‘(2) Twenty percent shall be apportioned on

6 the basis of the proportion which the population of

7 each State bears to the total population of the

8 United States.

9 ‘‘(3) Twenty percent shall be apportioned on

10 the basis of the urban population in each State (as

11 defined by Metropolitan Statistical Areas).

12 ‘‘(4) The total allocation to an individual State

13 under paragraphs (1) through (3) shall not exceed

14 10 percent of the total amount allocated to the sev15 eral States in any one year.’’; and

16 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (4) and (5) of

17 subsection (c) (as so redesignated) as paragraphs

18 (5) and (6) respectively.

19 SEC. 6. FUNDS FOR INDIAN TRIBES.

20 Section 6(c)(6) of the Land and Water Conservation

21 Fund Act of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 460l–8(c)(6)) (as so redesig22 nated) is amended—

23 (1) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ after ‘‘(6)’’; and

24 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub25 paragraph:
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1 ‘‘(B) For the purposes of paragraph (1), all

2 federally recognized Indian tribes and Alaska Native

3 Village Corporations (as defined in section 3(j) of

4 the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C.

5 1602(j)) shall be treated collectively as one State,

6 and shall receive shares of the apportionment under

7 paragraph (1) in accordance with a competitive

8 grant program established by the Secretary by rule.

9 Such rule shall ensure that in each fiscal year no

10 single tribe or Village Corporation receives more

11 than 10 percent of the total amount made available

12 to all tribes and Village Corporations pursuant to

13 the apportionment under paragraph (1). Funds re14 ceived by an Indian tribe or Village Corporation

15 under this subparagraph may be expended only for

16 the purposes specified in paragraphs (1) and (3) of

17 subsection (b). Receipt in any given year of an ap18 portionment under this section shall not prevent an

19 Indian tribe or Village Corporation from receiving

20 grants for other purposes under than regular appor21 tionment of the State in which it is located.’’.

22 SEC. 7. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

23 Section 5 of the Land and Water Conservation Act

24 of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 460l–7) is amended by striking ‘‘Not
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1 less than 40 per centum of such appropriations shall be

2 available for Federal purposes.’’.

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