I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1506
To provide for the orderly disposal of certain Federal land in the State
of Nevada and for the acquisition of environmentally sensitive land in
the State, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 21, 1999
Mr. GIBBONS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Resources
A BILL
To provide for the orderly disposal of certain Federal land
in the State of Nevada and for the acquisition of environ-
mentally sensitive land in the State, and for other pur-
poses.
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 ‘‘Nevada Public Land
Management Act of 1999’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—
(1) Federal holdings in the State of Nevada
constitute over 87 percent of the area of the State,
and in 10 of the 17 counties the Federal Govern-
ment controls at least 80 percent of the land;
(2) the large amount of federally controlled
land in Nevada and the lack of an adequate private
land ownership base has had a negative impact on
the overall economic development of rural counties
and communities and severely degraded the ability of
local governments to provide necessary services;
(3) under general land laws less than 3 percent
of the Federal land in Nevada has moved from Fed-
eral control to private ownership in the last 130
years;
(4) in resource management plans, the Bureau
of Land Management has identified for disposal land
that is difficult and costly to manage and that would
more appropriately be in non-Federal ownership;
(5) implementation of Federal land manage-
ment plans has been impaired by the lack of nec-
essary funding to provide the needed improvements
and the lack of land management programs to ac-
complish the goals and standards set out in the
plans; and
(6) the lack of a private land tax base prevents
most local governments from providing the appro-
priate infrastructure to allow timely development of
land that is disposed of by the Federal Government
for community expansion and economic growth.
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are to pro-
vide for—
(1) the orderly disposal and use of certain Fed-
eral land in the State of Nevada that was not in-
cluded in the Southern Nevada Public Land Man-
agement Act of 1998 (Public Law 105–263; 112
Stat. 2343);
(2) the acquisition of environmentally sensitive
land in the State; and
(3) the implementation of projects and activities
in the State to protect or restore important environ-
mental and cultural resources.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) CURRENT
LAND
USE
PLAN.—The term
‘‘current land use plan’’, with respect to an adminis-
trative unit of the Bureau of Land Management,
means the management framework plan or resource
management plan applicable to the unit that was ap-
proved most recently before the date of enactment of
this Act.
(2) ENVIRONMENTALLY SENSITIVE LAND.—The
term ‘‘environmentally sensitive land’’ means land or
an interest in land, the acquisition of which the
United States would, in the judgment of the Sec-
retary or the Secretary of Agriculture—
(A) promote the preservation of natural,
scientific, aesthetic, historical, cultural, water-
shed, wildlife, or other values that contribute to
public enjoyment or biological diversity;
(B) enhance recreational opportunities or
public access;
(C) provide the opportunity to achieve bet-
ter management of public land through consoli-
dation of Federal ownership; or
(D) otherwise serve the public interest.
(3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means
the Secretary of the Interior.
(4) SPECIAL ACCOUNT.—The term ‘‘Special Ac-
count’’ means the account established by section 6.
(5) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the State
of Nevada.
(6) UNIT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT.—The term
‘‘unit of local government’’ means the elected gov-