I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3337
To give livestock operators holding a grazing permit or lease on Federal 
lands in the State of Arizona the opportunity to relinquish their grazing 
permit or lease in exchange for compensation, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 17, 2003
Mr. GRIJALVA (for himself, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. HASTINGS of 
Florida, Mr. GEORGE
MILLER
of California, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. 
BLUMENAUER, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, and Mr. 
HOLT) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for 
a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned 
A BILL 
To give livestock operators holding a grazing permit or lease 
on Federal lands in the State of Arizona the opportunity 
to relinquish their grazing permit or lease in exchange 
for compensation, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Arizona Voluntary 
Grazing Permit Buyout Act of 2003’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) The grazing of livestock on Federal lands in 
Arizona is an increasingly difficult undertaking for 
grazing permittees and lessees due to growing con-
flicts with other legitimate uses of the same lands, 
such as environmental protection and burgeoning 
recreational use. 
(2) Sustained drought in the arid Southwest, 
foreign competition, changing domestic markets, in-
dustry restructuring, and individual ranch situations 
have combined to result in grazing permits and 
leases becoming stranded investments for many 
grazing permittees and lessees in Arizona. 
(3) Attempts to resolve grazing conflicts with 
other multiple uses of Federal lands often require 
extensive range developments and monitoring that 
greatly increase costs to both grazing permittees and 
lessees and taxpayers, far out of proportion to the 
benefit received. 
(4) Certain grazing allotments on Federal lands 
in Arizona have, or are likely to become, unsuitable 
for livestock production as a result of the combined 
effect of the aforementioned factors.
(10) A voluntary buyout program in Arizona 
would resolve growing conflicts between livestock 
grazing and other multiple uses in Arizona, and 
would also be fiscally prudent and socially just. 
(11) The operation of a voluntary buyout pro-
gram in Arizona would provide Congress with crit-
ical information concerning the possible expansion of 
such a program nation-wide. 
SEC. 3. ARIZONA VOLUNTARY GRAZING PERMIT AND LEASE 
BUYOUT PROGRAM. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) The term ‘‘Secretary concerned’’ means the 
Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of the Inte-
rior, the Secretary of Energy, or the Secretary of 
Defense, as appropriate, who has administrative ju-
risdiction over the Federal lands and the grazing 
permit or lease at issue. 
(2) The terms ‘‘grazing permit or lease’’ and 
‘‘grazing permit and lease’’ mean any document au-
thorizing the use, for a term of at least five years, 
of Federal lands in Arizona for the purpose of graz-
ing domestic livestock. 
(3) The terms ‘‘permittee or lessee’’ and ‘‘per-
mittees and lessees’’ refer to a livestock operator
who holds, or livestock operators who hold, a valid 
term grazing permit or lease. 
(4) The term ‘‘grazing allotment’’ means a des-
ignated portion of Federal land upon which domestic 
livestock are permitted to graze by a term grazing 
permit or lease. 
(5) The term ‘‘animal unit month’’ means the 
amount of forage needed to sustain one animal unit 
for one month. Animal unit is defined by the Sec-
retary concerned issuing the permit or lease. 
(6) The term ‘‘range developments’’ means 
structures, fences and other permanent fixtures 
placed on Federal lands for the furtherance of the 
purpose of grazing domestic livestock, and specifi-
cally not including rolling stock, livestock and diver-
sions of water from Federal lands onto non-Federal 
lands. 
(b) WAIVER
OF EXISTING GRAZING PERMIT
OR 
LEASE.—A permittee or lessee may at any time waive to 
the Secretary concerned a valid existing grazing permit 
or lease authorizing livestock grazing on Federal land in 
Arizona. 
(c) CANCELLATION OF WAIVED GRAZING PERMIT OR 
LEASE.—The Secretary concerned shall cancel grazing 
permits or leases waived under subsection (b) and perma-
nently retire the associated grazing allotments from do-
mestic livestock grazing use, notwithstanding any other 
provision of law. 
(d) COMPENSATION.—A permittee or lessee who 
waives a permit or lease to the Secretary concerned under 
subsection (b) shall be compensated at $175 per animal 
unit month based on the average over the last 10 years 
of the numbers of animal unit months permitted to the 
permittee or lessee or the predecessors of the permittee 
or lessee, not including suspended animal unit months. In 
the case of an ephemeral grazing permit or lease, the per-
mittee or lessee shall be compensated for the average over 
the last 10 years of the actual animal unit months of graz-
ing use. If a permittee or lessee is in arrears of Federal 
grazing fees, the amount of fees in arrears shall be de-
ducted from the amount of compensation otherwise due 
the permittee or lessee under this subsection. 
(e) EFFECT
OF WAIVER
ON RANGE DEVELOP-
MENTS.—A permittee or lessee that waives a permit or 
lease to the Secretary concerned under subsection (b) and 
receives compensation under subsection (d) shall be 
deemed to have waived any claim to all range develop-
ments on the subject grazing allotment or allotments, not-
withstanding any other provision of law.
(f) RELATION TO OTHER AUTHORITY.—Nothing in 
this section shall be construed to affect the authority of 
the Secretary concerned to otherwise modify or terminate 
grazing permits or leases without compensation. Nothing 
in this section shall be construed to create a property right 
in any grazing permit or lease on Federal lands. 
(g) RETIREMENT
OF CERTAIN LAND.—The Sec-
retary concerned shall not issue grazing permits or leases 
for grazing allotments for which no valid current grazing 
permit or lease exists as of the date of the enactment of 
this Act and shall retire such grazing allotments from live-
stock use as provided in subsection (c). 
(h) EFFECT OF NONUSE OR REDUCED USE.—Not-
withstanding any other provision of law, a permittee or 
lessee may opt not to graze a grazing allotment or to graze 
the grazing allotment at less than the minimum permitted 
level and still retain the grazing permit or lease for the 
remainder of its term. The Secretary concerned shall not 
take into consideration such non-use or reduced use of a 
grazing allotment when considering a request for the re-
newal of the grazing permit or lease. 
(i) RELATION TO EMINENT DOMAIN.—Nothing in 
this section shall be construed to authorize the use of emi-
nent domain for the purpose of acquiring a grazing permit 
or lease.
(j) 
RELATION
TO
OTHER
VALID
EXISTING 
RIGHTS.—Nothing in this section shall affect the alloca-
tion, ownership, interest, or control, in existence as of the 
date of the enactment of this Act, of any water, water 
right, or any other valid existing right held by the United 
States, an Indian tribe, State or local government, or pri-
vate individual, partnership, or corporation.
Æ