I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1592
To amend the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 to provide
greater protection of private property rights.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 25, 2001
Mr. THORNBERRY (for himself, Mr. JONES of North Carolina, Mr. GRAVES,
Mr. DELAY, and Mr. OTTER) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Resources
A BILL
To amend the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of
1965 to provide greater protection of private property rights.
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 ‘‘Constitutional Land
Acquisition Act’’.
SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS.
Title I of the Land and Water Conservation Fund
Act of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 460l–4 et seq.) is amended by
adding at the end the following:
‘‘PROTECTION OR PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS
‘‘SEC. 14. (a) PROTECTION OF RIGHTS IN NON-FED-
ERAL PROPERTY FROM FEDERAL ACQUISITION OF NEAR-
BY LANDS.—The right of an owner of non-Federal real
property to use and enjoy that property shall not be dimin-
ished based on the property being—
‘‘(1) within the boundaries of a Federal unit as
a consequence of the acquisition of lands for that
unit with amounts made available under this Act; or
‘‘(2) adjacent to Federal lands acquired with
amounts made available under this Act.
‘‘(b) PROPERTY ACQUISITION REQUIREMENTS.—The
amounts made available under this Act for Federal pur-
poses (in this section referred to as the ‘Federal portion’)
may not be used to acquire any interest in property
unless—
‘‘(1) the owner of the interest concurs in the ac-
quisition;
‘‘(2) the Secretary of the department that ad-
ministers the acquisition certifies that—
‘‘(A) acquisition of the interest through an
equal value exchange of property interests is
not feasible and suitable;
‘‘(B) in the case of an acquisition of a fee
simple interest, acquisition instead of a con-
servation easement is not feasible and suitable;
and
‘‘(C) the acquisition is in accordance with
priorities established by the Secretary for acqui-
sition of interests in property with amounts
made available under this Act that are based on
such factors as important or special resource
attributes, threats to resource integrity, timely
availability, owner hardship, cost escalation,
public recreation use values, and similar consid-
erations; and
‘‘(3) acquisition of that interest is specifically
approved by an Act of Congress.
‘‘(c) NOTIFICATION
TO
AFFECTED
AREAS
RE-
QUIRED.—The Federal portion for a fiscal year may not
be used to acquire any interest in land unless the Sec-
retary administering the acquisition, by not later than 30
days after the date of the submission of the budget for
the fiscal year under section 1105 of title 31, United
States Code, provides notice of the proposed acquisition—
‘‘(1) in writing to each member of and each
Delegate and Resident Commissioner to the Con-
gress elected to represent any area in which is
located—
‘‘(A) the land; or
‘‘(B) any part of any federally designated
unit that includes the land;
‘‘(2) in writing to the Governor of the State in
which the land is located;
‘‘(3) in writing to each State political subdivi-
sion having jurisdiction over the land; and
‘‘(4) by publication of a notice in a newspaper
that is widely distributed in the area under the juris-
diction of each such State political subdivision, that
includes a clear statement that the Federal Govern-
ment intends to acquire an interest in land.
‘‘(d) PROHIBITION ON USE FOR CONDEMNATION.—
Amounts made available from the land and water con-
servation fund may not be used to acquire property by
condemnation.’’.
SEC. 3. CONVERSION OF PROPERTY TO OTHER USE.
Section 6(f)(3) of such Act (16 U.S.C. 460l–8(f)(3))
is amended—
(1) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ before ‘‘No property’’;
and
(2) by striking the second sentence and insert-
ing the following:
‘‘(B) Prior to each such conversion, the Governor of
the State shall demonstrate that—
‘‘(i) no prudent or feasible alternative exists, ex-
cept that this clause shall not apply to any property
that no longer meets the criteria within the State
plan under subsection (d) as an outdoor conserva-
tion and recreation facility due to changes in demo-
graphics, or that must be abandoned because of en-
vironmental contamination that endangers public
health and safety; and
‘‘(ii) the conversion will assure the substitution
of other conservation and recreation properties of at
least equal fair market value and reasonably equiva-
lent usefulness and location and that are consistent
with such State plan.’’.
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