I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 150

To amend the Act popularly known as the Recreation and Public Purposes

Act to authorize disposal of certain public lands or national forest lands

to local education agencies for use for elementary or secondary schools,

including public charter schools, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 6, 1999

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

Committee on Resources

A BILL

To amend the Act popularly known as the Recreation and

Public Purposes Act to authorize disposal of certain public lands or national forest lands to local education agencies for use for elementary or secondary schools, including public charter schools, 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 ‘‘Education Land Grant

5 Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. DISPOSAL OF PUBLIC LANDS OR NATIONAL FOREST

2 LANDS FOR USE FOR ELEMENTARY AND SEC3 ONDARY SCHOOLS.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1 of the Act entitled ‘‘An

5 Act to authorize acquisition or use of public lands by

6 States, counties, or municipalities for recreational pur7 poses’’, approved June 14, 1926 (Chapter 578; 44 Stat.

8 741; 43 U.S.C. 869), popularly known as the Recreation

9 and Public Purposes Act, is amended—

10 (1) in subsection (a)—

11 (A) by striking ‘‘Secretary of the Interior’’

12 each place it appears and inserting ‘‘Secretary’’;

13 (B) by inserting ‘‘or national forest lands’’

14 after ‘‘public lands’’ each place it appears; and

15 (C) by inserting ‘‘including to a local edu16 cation agency for use for an elementary or sec17 ondary school, including a public charter

18 school,’’ after ‘‘public purposes,’’;

19 (2) in subsection (b)(i)(C) by striking ‘‘Sec20 retary of the Interior’’ and inserting ‘‘Secretary’’;

21 (3) in subsection (c)—

22 (A) by inserting ‘‘or the Department of

23 Agriculture’’ after ‘‘Department of the Inte24 rior’’ the first place it appears; and

25 (B) by striking ‘‘in any national forest, na26 tional park, or national monument, or national
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1 wildlife refuge,’’ and inserting ‘‘in the National

2 Park System, the National Wildlife Refuge Sys3 tem, the National Wilderness Preservation Sys4 tem, the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Sys5 tem, the National Trails System, any Bureau of

6 Land Management area of critical environ7 mental concern, or any national recreation

8 area,’’; and

9 (4) by adding at the end the following:

10 ‘‘(d) DEADLINE FOR CONSIDERATION OF APPLICA11 TION FOR USE FOR SCHOOL.—If the Secretary receives

12 an application from a duly qualified applicant that is a

13 local education agency seeking a conveyance of land under

14 this Act for use for an elementary or secondary school,

15 including a public charter school, the Secretary shall—

16 ‘‘(1) before the end of the 10-day period begin17 ning on the date of that receipt, provide notice of

18 that receipt to the applicant; and

19 ‘‘(2) before the end of the 60-day period begin20 ning on the date of that receipt—

21 ‘‘(A) determine whether or not to convey

22 land pursuant to the application, and notify the

23 applicant of that determination; or
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1 ‘‘(B) report to the Congress and the appli2 cant the reasons that determination has not

3 been made.’’.

4 (b) SECRETARY DEFINED.—Section 1 of such Act

5 (43 U.S.C. 869) is further amended by adding at the end

6 the following:

7 ‘‘(e) SECRETARY DEFINED.—In this Act, the term

8 ‘Secretary’ means—

9 ‘‘(1) the Secretary of Agriculture, with respect

10 to any disposal of national forest lands under this

11 Act; and

12 ‘‘(2) the Secretary of the Interior, with respect

13 to any disposal of public lands under this Act.’’.

14 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Such Act is fur15 ther amended—

16 (1) in section 2 (43 U.S.C. 869–1) by striking

17 ‘‘Secretary of the Interior’’ each place it appears and

18 inserting ‘‘Secretary’’; and

19 (2) in section 3 (43 U.S.C. 869–2)—

20 (A) in subsection (a) by striking ‘‘Sec21 retary of the Interior’’ and inserting ‘‘Sec22 retary’’; and

23 (B) in subsection (b)(6)(B) in the last sen24 tence by striking ‘‘public lands’’ and inserting

25 ‘‘public lands or national forest lands that are
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1 under the administrative jurisdiction of the Sec2 retary,’’.

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