I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 718 
To prohibit the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture 
from transferring certain Federal land, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 23, 2025 
Mr. ZINKE (for himself and Mr. VASQUEZ) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to 
the Committee on Agriculture, 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 committee concerned 
A BILL 
To prohibit the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary 
of Agriculture from transferring certain Federal land, 
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 ‘‘Public Lands in Public 
Hands Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act, the term ‘‘publicly accessible tract’’ 
means a tract of Federal land managed by the Secretary 
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of the Interior or the Chief of the Forest Service that can 
be accessed by public road, public trail, public waterway, 
public easement, or public right-of-way. 
SEC. 3. RESTRICTION ON TRANSFER OF CERTAIN FEDERAL 
LAND. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Interior and 
the Secretary of Agriculture are prohibited from transfer-
ring title to Federal land to a non-Federal entity, if the 
Federal land is— 
(1) a publicly accessible tract; or 
(2) contiguous with— 
(A) a publicly accessible tract; or 
(B) a tract of land that— 
(i) is owned by a State, county, or 
municipal government; and 
(ii) can be accessed by public road, 
public trail, public waterway, public ease-
ment, or public right-of-way. 
(b) EXCEPTION.—Subsection (a) shall not apply to 
a transfer— 
(1) of Federal land that is— 
(A)(i) less than 300 acres; or 
(ii) less than 5 acres and accessible 
via a public waterway; and 
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(B) authorized to be transferred under and 
subject to the Federal Land Policy and Man-
agement Act of 1976; 
(2) authorized by— 
(A) the Southern Nevada Public Land 
Management Act of 1998; 
(B) the Sisk Act (16 U.S.C. 479a); 
(C) Public Law 85–569, commonly known 
as the ‘‘Townsites Act of 1958’’; 
(D) the Small Tract Act of 1983; 
(E) the Act of May 17, 1906, commonly 
known as the ‘‘Native Allotment Act of 1906’’; 
(F) Public Law 85–508, commonly known 
as the ‘‘Alaska Statehood Act of 1959’’; 
(G) the Alaska Native Claims Settlement 
Act; 
(H) the Alaska Native Vietnam-era Vet-
erans Land Allotment Program authorized by 
section 1119 of the John D. Dingell, Jr. Con-
servation, Management, and Recreation Act; 
(I) the Recreation and Public Purposes 
Act; or 
(J) the Weeks Act of 1911; 
(3) explicitly authorized by Federal law; or 
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(4) completed through a land exchange author-
ized by Federal law. 
(c) LIMITATION.—The Secretary shall not subdivide 
Federal land to meet acreage minimums described in sub-
section (b)(1). 
SEC. 4. STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION. 
Nothing in this Act shall be used to influence or in-
terpret the legality of stepping over a property corner from 
one parcel of public land to another. 
Æ 
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