I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1592

To amend the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 to provide

greater protection of private property rights.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 25, 2001

Mr. THORNBERRY (for himself, Mr. JONES of North Carolina, Mr. GRAVES,

Mr. DELAY, and Mr. OTTER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Resources

A BILL

To amend the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of

1965 to provide greater protection of private property rights.

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 ‘‘Constitutional Land

5 Acquisition Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS.

7 Title I of the Land and Water Conservation Fund

8 Act of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 460l–4 et seq.) is amended by

9 adding at the end the following:
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1 ‘‘PROTECTION OR PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS

2 ‘‘SEC. 14. (a) PROTECTION OF RIGHTS IN NON-FED3 ERAL PROPERTY FROM FEDERAL ACQUISITION OF NEAR4 BY LANDS.—The right of an owner of non-Federal real

5 property to use and enjoy that property shall not be dimin6 ished based on the property being—

7 ‘‘(1) within the boundaries of a Federal unit as

8 a consequence of the acquisition of lands for that

9 unit with amounts made available under this Act; or

10 ‘‘(2) adjacent to Federal lands acquired with

11 amounts made available under this Act.

12 ‘‘(b) PROPERTY ACQUISITION REQUIREMENTS.—The

13 amounts made available under this Act for Federal pur14 poses (in this section referred to as the ‘Federal portion’)

15 may not be used to acquire any interest in property

16 unless—

17 ‘‘(1) the owner of the interest concurs in the ac18 quisition;

19 ‘‘(2) the Secretary of the department that ad20 ministers the acquisition certifies that—

21 ‘‘(A) acquisition of the interest through an

22 equal value exchange of property interests is

23 not feasible and suitable;

24 ‘‘(B) in the case of an acquisition of a fee

25 simple interest, acquisition instead of a con-
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1 servation easement is not feasible and suitable;

2 and

3 ‘‘(C) the acquisition is in accordance with

4 priorities established by the Secretary for acqui5 sition of interests in property with amounts

6 made available under this Act that are based on

7 such factors as important or special resource

8 attributes, threats to resource integrity, timely

9 availability, owner hardship, cost escalation,

10 public recreation use values, and similar consid11 erations; and

12 ‘‘(3) acquisition of that interest is specifically

13 approved by an Act of Congress.

14 ‘‘(c) NOTIFICATION TO AFFECTED AREAS RE15 QUIRED.—The Federal portion for a fiscal year may not

16 be used to acquire any interest in land unless the Sec17 retary administering the acquisition, by not later than 30

18 days after the date of the submission of the budget for

19 the fiscal year under section 1105 of title 31, United

20 States Code, provides notice of the proposed acquisition—

21 ‘‘(1) in writing to each member of and each

22 Delegate and Resident Commissioner to the Con23 gress elected to represent any area in which is

24 located—

25 ‘‘(A) the land; or
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1 ‘‘(B) any part of any federally designated

2 unit that includes the land;

3 ‘‘(2) in writing to the Governor of the State in

4 which the land is located;

5 ‘‘(3) in writing to each State political subdivi6 sion having jurisdiction over the land; and

7 ‘‘(4) by publication of a notice in a newspaper

8 that is widely distributed in the area under the juris9 diction of each such State political subdivision, that

10 includes a clear statement that the Federal Govern11 ment intends to acquire an interest in land.

12 ‘‘(d) PROHIBITION ON USE FOR CONDEMNATION.—

13 Amounts made available from the land and water con14 servation fund may not be used to acquire property by

15 condemnation.’’.

16 SEC. 3. CONVERSION OF PROPERTY TO OTHER USE.

17 Section 6(f)(3) of such Act (16 U.S.C. 460l–8(f)(3))

18 is amended—

19 (1) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ before ‘‘No property’’;

20 and

21 (2) by striking the second sentence and insert22 ing the following:

23 ‘‘(B) Prior to each such conversion, the Governor of

24 the State shall demonstrate that—
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1 ‘‘(i) no prudent or feasible alternative exists, ex2 cept that this clause shall not apply to any property

3 that no longer meets the criteria within the State

4 plan under subsection (d) as an outdoor conserva5 tion and recreation facility due to changes in demo6 graphics, or that must be abandoned because of en7 vironmental contamination that endangers public

8 health and safety; and

9 ‘‘(ii) the conversion will assure the substitution

10 of other conservation and recreation properties of at

11 least equal fair market value and reasonably equiva12 lent usefulness and location and that are consistent

13 with such State plan.’’.

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