I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 762
To amend the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 and the 
Mineral Leasing Act to clarify the method by which the Secretary of 
the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture determine the fair market 
value of certain rights-of-way granted, issued, or renewed under these 
Acts. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 13, 2003
Mrs. CUBIN (for herself, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, Mr. TAUZIN, Mr. MCINNIS, 
Mr. RADANOVICH, and Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Resources 
A BILL 
To amend the Federal Land Policy and Management Act 
of 1976 and the Mineral Leasing Act to clarify the 
method by which the Secretary of the Interior and the 
Secretary of Agriculture determine the fair market value 
of certain rights-of-way granted, issued, or renewed 
under these Acts.
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 ‘‘Reasonable Right-of-
Way Fees Act of 2003’’.
SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION OF FAIR MARKET RENTAL VALUE 
DETERMINATIONS FOR PUBLIC LANDS AND 
FOREST SERVICE RIGHTS-OF-WAY. 
(a) LINEAR
RIGHTS-OF-WAY
UNDER
FEDERAL 
LAND POLICY AND MANAGEMENT ACT.—Section 504 of 
the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 
(43 U.S.C. 1764) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new subsection: 
‘‘(k) DETERMINATION OF FAIR MARKET VALUE OF 
LINEAR
RIGHTS-OF-WAY.—(1) 
Effective 
upon 
the 
issuance of the rules required by paragraph (2), for pur-
poses of subsection (g), the Secretary concerned shall de-
termine the fair market rental for the use of land encum-
bered by a linear right-of-way granted, issued, or renewed 
under this title using the valuation method described in 
paragraphs (2), (3), and (4). 
‘‘(2) Not later than one year after the date of enact-
ment of the Reasonable Right-of-Way Fees Act of 2003, 
and in accordance with subsection (k), the Secretary of 
the Interior shall amend section 2803.1–2 of title 43, Code 
of Federal Regulations, as in effect on the date of enact-
ment of such Act, to revise the per acre rental fee zone 
value schedule by State, county, and type of linear right-
of-way use to reflect current values of land in each zone. 
The Secretary of Agriculture shall make the same revi-
sions for linear rights-of-way granted, issued, or renewed 
under this title on National Forest System lands. 
‘‘(3) The Secretary concerned shall update annually 
the schedule revised under paragraph (2) by multiplying 
the current year’s rental per acre by the annual change, 
second quarter to the second quarter (June 30 to June 
30) in the Gross National Product Implicit Price Deflator 
Index published in the Survey of Current Business of the 
Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis. 
‘‘(4) Whenever the cumulative change in the index 
referred to in paragraph (3) exceeds 30 percent, or the 
change in the 3-year average of the 1-year Treasury inter-
est rate used to determine per acre rental fee zone values 
exceeds plus or minus 50 percent, the Secretary concerned 
shall conduct a review of the zones and rental per acre 
figures to determine whether the value of Federal land has 
differed sufficiently from the index referred to in para-
graph (3) to warrant a revision in the base zones and rent-
al per acre figures. If, as a result of the review, the Sec-
retary concerned determines that such a revision is war-
ranted, the Secretary concerned shall revise the base zones 
and rental per acre figures accordingly.’’. 
(b) RIGHTS-OF-WAY
UNDER
MINERAL
LEASING 
ACT.—Section 28(l) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 
U.S.C. 185(l)) is amended by inserting before the period
at the end the following: ‘‘using the valuation method de-
scribed in section 2803.1–2 of title 43, Code of Federal 
Regulations, as revised pursuant to section 504(k) of the 
Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 
U.S.C. 1764(k))’’.
Æ