I

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 547

To require the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture

to establish grazing fees at fair market value for use of public grazing

lands.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 4, 1997

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

Committee on Resources

A BILL

To require the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary

of Agriculture to establish grazing fees at fair market

value for use of public grazing lands.

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 ‘‘Free Market Grazing

5 Fees Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. GRAZING FEES ESTABLISHED AT FAIR MARKET

2 VALUE.

3 (a) FEES REQUIRED.—Notwithstanding any other

4 provision of law, the Secretary of Agriculture and the Sec5 retary of the Interior, with respect to public grazing lands

6 subject to their respective jurisdiction, shall establish an

7 annual domestic livestock grazing fee equal to the fair

8 market value of the grazing lease or permit concerned.

9 (b) COMMENCEMENT OF FEES.—The grazing fees re10 quired by this section shall apply beginning with the graz11 ing season that commences on March 1, 1998.

12 (c) FACTORS.—In determining the fair market value

13 of a grazing lease or permit, the Secretary concerned shall

14 take into account the following:

15 (1) The amounts and conditions under which

16 neighboring non-Federal lands are leased or sold for

17 grazing purposes.

18 (2) The improvements provided or to be pro19 vided by the lessee or permit holder.

20 (3) The services to be provided by the United

21 States.

22 (d) PROCEDURES.—In determining the fair market

23 value of grazing permits, the Secretary concerned shall

24 publish rules in accordance with chapter 5 of title 5, Unit25 ed States Code, which ensure that whenever practicable
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1 fair market value is established through competitive bid2 ding.

3 (e) SMALL FAMILY RANCH EXEMPTION.—

4 (1) CERTIFICATION FOR PREVAILING FEES.—

5 The holder of a Federal grazing lease or permit as

6 of the date of the enactment of this section who

7 makes a certification to the Secretary concerned in

8 accordance with this subsection shall be charged the

9 prevailing grazing fee on that date for the period be10 ginning on that date and ending on February 28,

11 2008.

12 (2) CONTENT OF CERTIFICATION.—

13 (A) ANNUAL INCOME.—The holder of the

14 Federal grazing lease or permit shall certify

15 that, for the immediately preceding calendar

16 year—

17 (i) the holder derived more than half

18 of the holder’s annual income from the

19 ranching operation associated with the

20 Federal grazing lease or permit; and

21 (ii) the holder—

22 (I) if an individual, has an ad23 justed gross annual income (as de24 fined in the Internal Revenue Code of

25 1986) of less than $50,000; or
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1 (II) if a person other than an in2 dividual, has total assets of less than

3 $1,000,000, including the value of

4 Federal leases or permits of any kind,

5 including the assets of any entity

6 owned by, controlled by, or under

7 common control of, directly or indi8 rectly, the holder.

9 (B) SUBSTANTIAL LABOR.—The holder of

10 the Federal grazing lease or permit shall certify

11 that, for the immediately preceding calendar

12 year, the holder—

13 (i) if an individual, performed sub14 stantial labor in the ranching operation ei15 ther personally or using members of the

16 holder’s immediate family; or

17 (ii) if a person other than an individ18 ual, performed substantial labor in the

19 ranching operation using the officers of the

20 holder.

21 (3) SUBMISSION OF CERTIFICATION.—A certifi22 cation under this subsection shall be submitted to

23 the Secretary concerned before the beginning of each

24 grazing season.

25 (f) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this section:
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1 (1) PUBLIC GRAZING LANDS.—The term ‘‘pub2 lic grazing lands’’ means the following:

3 (A) The National Forest lands (including

4 the national grasslands) in the 16 contiguous

5 Western States administered by the United

6 States Forest Service where domestic livestock

7 grazing is permitted under applicable law.

8 (B) The public domain lands administered

9 by the Bureau of Land Management where do10 mestic livestock grazing is permitted under ap11 plicable law.

12 (C) The lands within units of the National

13 Park System on which grazing is permitted

14 under applicable law.

15 (2) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—The term ‘‘Sec16 retary concerned’’ means—

17 (A) the Secretary of Agriculture, with re18 spect to public grazing lands subject to the ju19 risdiction of the Secretary of Agriculture; and

20 (B) the Secretary of the Interior, with re21 spect to public grazing lands subject to the ju22 risdiction of the Secretary of the Interior.

23 (g) EFFECT OF FAILURE TO ESTABLISH FEES.—No

24 grazing shall be permitted on any public grazing lands

25 after March 1, 1998, unless the Secretary of the Interior
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1 and the Secretary of Agriculture each affirm to Congress

2 that grazing fees for all public grazing lands have been

3 established in compliance with this section.

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