H. R. 2466—23
SEC. 108. No funds provided in this title may be expended
by the Department of the Interior for the conduct of offshore oil
and natural gas preleasing, leasing, and related activities, on lands
within the North Aleutian Basin planning area.
SEC. 109. No funds provided in this title may be expended
by the Department of the Interior to conduct offshore oil and natural
gas preleasing, leasing and related activities in the eastern Gulf
of Mexico planning area for any lands located outside Sale 181,
as identified in the final Outer Continental Shelf 5-Year Oil and
Gas Leasing Program, 1997–2002.
SEC. 110. No funds provided in this title may be expended
by the Department of the Interior to conduct oil and natural gas
preleasing, leasing and related activities in the Mid-Atlantic and
South Atlantic planning areas.
SEC. 111. Advance payments made under this title to Indian
tribes, tribal organizations, and tribal consortia pursuant to the
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C.
450 et seq.) or the Tribally Controlled Schools Act of 1988 (25
U.S.C. 2501 et seq.) may be invested by the Indian tribe, tribal
organization, or consortium before such funds are expended for
the purposes of the grant, compact, or annual funding agreement
so long as such funds are—
(1) invested by the Indian tribe, tribal organization, or
consortium only in obligations of the United States, or in obliga-
tions or securities that are guaranteed or insured by the United
States, or mutual (or other) funds registered with the Securities
and Exchange Commission and which only invest in obligations
of the United States or securities that are guaranteed or insured
by the United States; or
(2) deposited only into accounts that are insured by an
agency or instrumentality of the United States, or are fully
collateralized to ensure protection of the funds, even in the
event of a bank failure.
SEC. 112. (a) Employees of Helium Operations, Bureau of Land
Management, entitled to severance pay under 5 U.S.C. 5595, may
apply for, and the Secretary of the Interior may pay, the total
amount of the severance pay to the employee in a lump sum.
Employees paid severance pay in a lump sum and subsequently
reemployed by the Federal Government shall be subject to the
repayment provisions of 5 U.S.C. 5595(i)(2) and (3), except that
any repayment shall be made to the Helium Fund.
(b) Helium Operations employees who elect to continue health
benefits after separation shall be liable for not more than the
required employee contribution under 5 U.S.C. 8905a(d)(1)(A). The
Helium Fund shall pay for 18 months the remaining portion of
required contributions.
(c) The Secretary of the Interior may provide for training to
assist Helium Operations employees in the transition to other Fed-
eral or private sector jobs during the facility shut-down and disposi-
tion process and for up to 12 months following separation from
Federal employment, including retraining and relocation incentives
on the same terms and conditions as authorized for employees
of the Department of Defense in section 348 of the National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1995.
(d) For purposes of the annual leave restoration provisions
of 5 U.S.C. 6304(d)(1)(B), the cessation of helium production and
sales, and other related Helium Program activities shall be deemed
H. R. 2466—24
to create an exigency of public business under, and annual leave
that is lost during leave years 1997 through 2001 because of 5
U.S.C. 6304 (regardless of whether such leave was scheduled in
advance) shall be restored to the employee and shall be credited
and available in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 6304(d)(2). Annual leave
so restored and remaining unused upon the transfer of a Helium
Program employee to a position of the executive branch outside
of the Helium Program shall be liquidated by payment to the
employee of a lump sum from the Helium Fund for such leave.
(e) Benefits under this section shall be paid from the Helium
Fund in accordance with section 4(c)(4) of the Helium Privatization
Act of 1996. Funds may be made available to Helium Program
employees who are or will be separated before October 1, 2002
because of the cessation of helium production and sales and other
related activities. Retraining benefits, including retraining and
relocation incentives, may be paid for retraining commencing on
or before September 30, 2002.
(f ) This section shall remain in effect through fiscal year 2002.
SEC. 113. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, including
but not limited to the Indian Self-Determination Act of 1975, as
amended, hereafter funds available to the Department of the
Interior for Indian self-determination or self-governance contract
or grant support costs may be expended only for costs directly
attributable to contracts, grants and compacts pursuant to the
Indian Self-Determination Act of 1975 and hereafter funds appro-
priated in this title shall not be available for any contract support
costs or indirect costs associated with any contract, grant, coopera-
tive agreement, self-governance compact or funding agreement
entered into between an Indian tribe or tribal organization and
any entity other than an agency of the Department of the Interior.
SEC. 114. Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, the
National Park Service shall not develop or implement a reduced
entrance fee program to accommodate non-local travel through a
unit. The Secretary may provide for and regulate local non-rec-
reational passage through units of the National Park System,
allowing each unit to develop guidelines and permits for such
activity appropriate to that unit.
SEC. 115. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in fiscal
year 2000 and thereafter, the Secretary is authorized to permit
persons, firms or organizations engaged in commercial, cultural,
educational, or recreational activities (as defined in section 612a
of title 40, United States Code) not currently occupying such space
to use courtyards, auditoriums, meeting rooms, and other space
of the main and south Interior building complex, Washington, D.C.,
the maintenance, operation, and protection of which has been dele-
gated to the Secretary from the Administrator of General Services
pursuant to the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act
of 1949, and to assess reasonable charges therefore, subject to
such procedures as the Secretary deems appropriate for such uses.
Charges may be for the space, utilities, maintenance, repair, and
other services. Charges for such space and services may be at
rates equivalent to the prevailing commercial rate for comparable
space and services devoted to a similar purpose in the vicinity
of the main and south Interior building complex, Washington, D.C.
for which charges are being assessed. The Secretary may without
further appropriation hold, administer, and use such proceeds
within the Departmental Management Working Capital Fund to
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offset the operation of the buildings under his jurisdiction, whether
delegated or otherwise, and for related purposes, until expended.
SEC. 116. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the
Steel Industry American Heritage Area, authorized by Public Law
104–333, is hereby renamed the Rivers of Steel National Heritage
Area.
SEC. 117. (a) In this section—
(1) the term ‘‘Huron Cemetery’’ means the lands that form
the cemetery that is popularly known as the Huron Cemetery,
located in Kansas City, Kansas, as described in subsection
(b)(3); and
(2) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary of the
Interior.
(b)(1) The Secretary shall take such action as may be necessary
to ensure that the lands comprising the Huron Cemetery (as
described in paragraph (3)) are used only in accordance with this
subsection.
(2) The lands of the Huron Cemetery shall be used only—
(A) for religious and cultural uses that are compatible
with the use of the lands as a cemetery; and
(B) as a burial ground.
(3) The description of the lands of the Huron Cemetery is
as follows:
The tract of land in the NW quarter of sec. 10, T. 11 S.,
R. 25 E., of the sixth principal meridian, in Wyandotte County,
Kansas (as surveyed and marked on the ground on August 15,
1888, by William Millor, Civil Engineer and Surveyor), described
as follows:
‘‘Commencing on the Northwest corner of the Northwest
Quarter of the Northwest Quarter of said Section 10;
‘‘Thence South 28 poles to the ‘true point of beginning’;
‘‘Thence South 71 degrees East 10 poles and 18 links;
‘‘Thence South 18 degrees and 30 minutes West 28 poles;
‘‘Thence West 11 and one-half poles;
‘‘Thence North 19 degrees 15 minutes East 31 poles and
15 feet to the ‘true point of beginning’, containing 2 acres
or more.’’.
SEC. 118. Refunds or rebates received on an on-going basis
from a credit card services provider under the Department of the
Interior’s charge card programs may be deposited to and retained
without fiscal year limitation in the Departmental Working Capital
Fund established under 43 U.S.C. 1467 and used to fund manage-
ment initiatives of general benefit to the Department of the Inte-
rior’s bureaus and offices as determined by the Secretary or his
designee.
SEC. 119. Appropriations made in this title under the headings
Bureau of Indian Affairs and Office of Special Trustee for American
Indians and any available unobligated balances from prior appro-
priations Acts made under the same headings, shall be available
for expenditure or transfer for Indian trust management activities
pursuant to the Trust Management Improvement Project High Level
Implementation Plan.
SEC. 120. All properties administered by the National Park
Service at Fort Baker, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and
leases, concessions, permits and other agreements associated with
those properties, hereafter shall be exempt from all taxes and
special assessments, except sales tax, by the State of California
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and its political subdivisions, including the County of Marin and
the City of Sausalito. Such areas of Fort Baker shall remain under
exclusive Federal jurisdiction.
SEC. 121. Notwithstanding any provision of law, the Secretary
of the Interior is authorized to negotiate and enter into agreements
and leases, without regard to section 321 of chapter 314 of the
Act of June 30, 1932 (40 U.S.C. 303b), with any person, firm,
association, organization, corporation, or governmental entity for
all or part of the property within Fort Baker administered by
the Secretary as part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
The proceeds of the agreements or leases shall be retained by
the Secretary and such proceeds shall be available, without future
appropriation, for the preservation, restoration, operation, mainte-
nance and interpretation and related expenses incurred with respect
to Fort Baker properties.
SEC. 122. Where any Federal lands included in the boundary
of Lake Roosevelt National Recreational Area for grazing purposes,
pursuant to a permit issued by the National Park Service, the
person or persons so utilizing such lands shall be entitled to renew
said permit. The National Park Service is further directed to man-
age the Lake Roosevelt National Recreational Area subject to
grazing use in a manner that will protect the recreational, natural
(including water quality) and cultural resources of the Lake Roo-
sevelt National Recreational Area.
SEC. 123. Grazing permits and leases that expire or are trans-
ferred, shall be renewed on the same terms and conditions as
contained in the expiring permits or leases until the Secretary
of the Interior completes processing these permits and leases in
compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, at which time
such permit or lease may be canceled, suspended or modified,
in whole or in part, to meet the requirements of such applicable
laws and regulations. Nothing in this language shall be deemed
to alter the Secretary’s statutory authority.
SEC. 124. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for the
purpose of reducing the backlog of Indian probate cases in the
Department of the Interior, the hearing requirements of chapter
10 of title 25, United States Code, are deemed satisfied by a pro-
ceeding conducted by an Indian probate judge, appointed by the
Secretary without regard to the provisions of title 5, United States
Code, governing the appointments in the competitive service, for
such period of time as the Secretary determines necessary: Provided,
That the Secretary may only appoint such Indian probate judges
if, by January 1, 2000, the Secretary is unable to secure the services
of at least 10 qualified Administrative Law Judges on a temporary
basis from other agencies and/or through appointing retired
Administrative Law Judges: Provided further, That the basic pay
of an Indian probate judge so appointed may be fixed by the
Secretary without regard to the provisions of chapter 51, and sub-
chapter III of chapter 53 of title 5, United States Code, governing
the classification and pay of General Schedule employees, except
that no such Indian probate judge may be paid at a level which
exceeds the maximum rate payable for the highest grade of the
General Schedule, including locality pay.
SEC. 125. (a) LOAN TO BE GRANTED.—Notwithstanding any
other provision of law or of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior
(hereinafter the ‘‘Secretary’’), in consultation with the Secretary