I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2986 

To amend the Act of May 29, 1930 (Chapter 354; 46 Stat. 482; commonly 

known as the Capper-Cramton Act), to authorize a grant program to 

preserve resources in the National Capital region, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 19, 2009 

Mr. MORAN of Virginia (for himself, Ms. NORTON, Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia, 

Mr. WITTMAN, Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. 

WOLF, and Mr. HOYER) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To amend the Act of May 29, 1930 (Chapter 354; 46 Stat. 

482; commonly known as the Capper-Cramton Act), to 

authorize a grant program to preserve resources in the 

National Capital region, 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 ‘‘National Capital Re5 gion Land Conservation Act of 2009’’. 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

2 

•HR 2986 IH

1 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF GRANT PROGRAM. 

2 The Act of May 29, 1930 (Chapter 354; 46 Stat. 

3 482; commonly known as the Capper-Cramton Act), is 

4 amended by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 7. GRANT PROGRAM TO PRESERVE RESOURCES IN 

6 THE NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION. 

7 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Out of amounts appro8 priated to carry out this section, the Secretary of the Inte9 rior, acting through the Director of the National Park 

10 Service, is authorized to make grants to covered States 

11 and covered local governments to assist the acquisition of 

12 lands and interests therein that affect or are within the 

13 National Capital region and that will be used for any of 

14 the following purposes: 

15 ‘‘(1) Parks. 

16 ‘‘(2) Open space. 

17 ‘‘(3) Green space corridors that link public 

18 lands, lands subject to conservation restrictions, or 

19 a combination of such lands. 

20 ‘‘(4) Agriculture. 

21 ‘‘(5) Forests. 

22 ‘‘(6) Fish and wildlife habitat. 

23 ‘‘(7) Watershed protection. 

24 ‘‘(8) Historic preservation. 

25 ‘‘(9) Sensitive environmental area protection. 

26 ‘‘(10) Public recreation. 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

3 

•HR 2986 IH

1 ‘‘(b) RESTRICTION TO CERTAIN USES.—The Sec2 retary shall require that, for each grant under subsection 

3 (a), any land or interest therein acquired through the as4 sistance of such grant may not be used for a purpose other 

5 than a purpose described in subsection (a). 

6 ‘‘(c) GRANT DETERMINATIONS.—In determining 

7 whether to make a grant under subsection (a), the Sec8 retary shall consider the following: 

9 ‘‘(1) How the proposed acquisition furthers 

10 local and regional planning and policy objectives. 

11 ‘‘(2) The amount of non-Federal funding to be 

12 provided for the proposed acquisition. 

13 ‘‘(3) The relationship of the proposed acquisi14 tion to other public lands and conservation areas. 

15 ‘‘(4) The relative need of an area for the pro16 posed acquisition due to such area’s limited or lack17 ing quality or quantity of protected resources. 

18 ‘‘(5) Any impending threat to the resource 

19 under consideration for protection by the proposed 

20 acquisition. 

21 ‘‘(d) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—Grants under sub22 section (a) shall be in an amount not to exceed 50 percent 

23 of the total cost of the acquisition such grant will assist, 

24 which includes costs relating to purchase price, appraisal, 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

4 

•HR 2986 IH

1 survey, title clearance, and closing. The non-Federal share 

2 of such cost may be in cash or in kind. 

3 ‘‘(e) APPLICABLE LAWS.—Acquisitions assisted by a 

4 grant under subsection (a) shall be in accord with the laws 

5 of the applicable covered State, including any require6 ments for appraisal and acceptable title. 

7 ‘‘(f) TITLE AND MANAGEMENT OF LANDS.—Title to 

8 lands and interests therein acquired with the assistance 

9 of a grant under subsection (a) shall be held by the cov10 ered State or covered local government making the acqui11 sition. Management responsibilities for the lands and in12 terests may be delegated to nonprofit organizations on 

13 such terms and conditions deemed by the title holder to 

14 be in the public interest. 

15 ‘‘(g) RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER FEDERAL FUND16 ING.—The authority of the Secretary to make grants 

17 under subsection (a) is in addition to any other authority 

18 provided to acquire lands and interests therein for related 

19 purposes, except that Federal funds provided under any 

20 other authority may not be used for the non-Federal share 

21 required under subsection (d). 

22 ‘‘(h) PLANNING GRANTS.—The Secretary is author23 ized to make grants to covered States, covered local gov24 ernments, and nonprofit organizations for the purpose of 

25 planning and evaluating acquisitions eligible for a grant 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

5 

•HR 2986 IH

1 under subsection (a). The sum of the amounts of grants 

2 made under this subsection in a fiscal year may not exceed 

3 5 percent of the amount of funds appropriated to carry 

4 out this section in the fiscal year. 

5 ‘‘(i) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—Not more than 2 per6 cent of the amount of funds appropriated to carry out this 

7 section in a fiscal year may be used for administrative 

8 costs. 

9 ‘‘(j) RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER PROVISIONS OF THIS

10 ACT.—No requirement of this Act, except a requirement 

11 under this section, applies to an activity under this sec12 tion. 

13 ‘‘(k) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following 

14 definitions apply: 

15 ‘‘(1) COVERED LOCAL GOVERNMENT.—The 

16 term ‘covered local government’ means a political 

17 subdivision of a covered State. 

18 ‘‘(2) COVERED STATE.—The term ‘covered 

19 State’ means each of Maryland, Virginia, West Vir20 ginia, and the District of Columbia, including any 

21 department or agency thereof. 

22 ‘‘(3) NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION.—The term 

23 ‘National Capital region’ means the Washington-Ar24 lington-Alexandria, DC–VA–MD–WV Metropolitan 

25 Statistical Area as such Area is defined by the Ofmstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

6 

•HR 2986 IH

1 fice of Management and Budget’s OMB Bulletin No. 

2 09–01, dated November 20, 2008, and as such Area 

3 may be revised by the Office of Management and 

4 Budget from time to time. 

5 ‘‘(4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 

6 the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Di7 rector of the National Park Service. 

8 ‘‘(l) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To 

9 carry out this section, there is authorized to be appro10 priated to the Secretary $50,000,000 for each of fiscal 

11 years 2010 through 2014.’’. 

Æ 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS