jiayi-li23/proxann_data huggingface dataset:
Topic: Public Lands — Public Lands
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2015-04-15 00:00:00

Eastern Nevada Land Implementation Improvement Act

 Amends the Lincoln County Land Act of 2000 (the Act) to require implementation of a multispecies habitat conservation plan in Lincoln County, Nevada.

Amends the Act and the Lincoln County Conservation, Recreation, and Development Act of 2004 to make certain amounts available for comprehensive, cost-effective, and multijurisdictional hazardous fuels reduction projects and wildfire prevention planning (particularly for pinyon-juniper dominated landscapes) and other rangeland and woodland restoration projects within the county, consistent with the Ely Resource Management Plan and subject to approval by the Department of the Interior.

Requires establishment of cooperative agreements between the Bureau of Land Management and Lincoln County for certain county-provided law enforcement and planning related activities.

Requires the use of a portion of proceeds from land sales under both Acts for the Lincoln County Regional Development Authority or any other county economic development organization.

Excludes specified public land within certain utility corridors in Lincoln and Clark Counties, Nevada, from being withdrawn from public land, mining, and mineral leasing and geothermal leasing laws.

Amends the Pam White Wilderness Act to adjust the boundary of the Mt. Moriah Wilderness to include specified lands. Adjusts the boundary of the High Schells Wilderness to include and exclude specified lands.

Amends the Nevada Wilderness Protection Act of 1989 to adjust the boundary of the Arc Dome Wilderness to exclude specified land.

Amends the Mesquite Lands Act of 1988 to require the proceeds of the sales of certain parcels of land by Interior to the city of Mesquite, Nevada, to be made available for use for the development and implementation of a conservation plan to benefit fish and wildlife species of the Virgin River in Clark County (rather than, as currently, for development of a multispecies habitat conservation plan).
Topic: Public Lands — Public Lands
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2015-04-16 00:00:00

Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Support Act 

 This bill amends the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act to facilitate the construction and expansion of public target ranges by: (1) authorizing a state to pay up to 90% of the costs of acquiring land for, expanding, or constructing a public target range; (2) authorizing a state to elect to allocate 10% of a specified amount apportioned to it from the federal aid to wildlife restoration fund for those costs; (3) limiting the federal share of those costs under such Act to 90%; and (4) requiring amounts provided for those costs under such Act to remain available for expenditure and obligation for five fiscal years.

The United States shall be shielded from any civil action or claim for money damages for injury to or loss of property, personal injury, or death caused by an activity occurring at a public target range that is funded by the federal government pursuant to such Act or located on federal land, except to the extent provided under the Federal Tort Claims Act with respect to the exercise or performance of a discretionary function.

The bill urges the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management to cooperate with state and local authorities and other entities to carry out waste removal and other activities on any federal land used as a public target range to encourage its continued use for target practice or marksmanship training.
Topic: Public Lands — Public Lands
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2015-04-27 00:00:00

Prescribed Burn Approval Act of 2015

Bars any federal agency from authorizing a prescribed burn on federal land if, for the county or contiguous county in which the federal land is located, the grassland fire danger index indicates a high, very high, or extreme danger of grassland fire or the Forest Service has declared a very high or extreme fire danger, unless the agency obtains prior approval from the applicable state government and local fire officials.

Makes a federal agency that authorizes a prescribed burn liable for any damage to private property, notwithstanding the Federal Tort Claims Act or any state law.
Topic: Public Lands — Public Lands
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2015-04-28 00:00:00

National Forest System Trails Stewardship Act

 Directs the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to publish a national strategy to significantly increase the role of volunteers and partners in trail maintenance.

Requires the strategy to: (1) augment and support the capabilities of federal employees to carry out or contribute to trail maintenance; (2) provide opportunities for volunteers and partners to carry out trail maintenance in each region of the Forest Service; (3) address the barriers to increased volunteerism and partnerships; (4) prioritize increased volunteerism and partnerships in those regions with the most severe trail maintenance needs, and where backlogs are jeopardizing access to national forest lands; and (5) aim to increase trail maintenance by volunteers and partners by 100% within 5 years.

Directs USDA to study opportunities to improve trail maintenance by addressing opportunities to use fire crews in trail maintenance activities.

Deems a volunteer with a partner organization to be considered a federal employee for the purposes of civil claims relating to damage to, or loss of, personal property of a volunteer incident to volunteer services.

Sets forth provisions for the selection of priority areas for increased trail maintenance accomplishments.

Directs USDA to establish a pilot program to offset all or part of the land use fee for outfitting and guiding permits.
Topic: Public Lands — Public Lands
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2015-04-30 00:00:00

Red River Private Property Protection Act

 Declares that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) of the Department of the Interior disclaims any right, title, and interest to certain lands along a stretch of the Red River between Texas and Oklahoma (the affected area) located south of the South Bank boundary line.

Directs the BLM, in identifying the current South Bank boundary line along the affected area, to commission a new survey that: (1) adheres to the gradient boundary survey method, (2) spans the entire length of the affected area, (3) is conducted by Licensed State Land Surveyors chosen by the Texas General Land Office, and (4) is completed within two years of enactment of this Act. Requires submission of the survey to the Texas General Land Office for approval.

Permits a private property owner who holds, right, title, or interest in the affected area, after the survey is completed and approved, to appeal public domain claims by the BLM to an Administrative Law Judge.

Instructs the BLM to:

 ensure that no parcels of land in the affected area are treated as federal land for the purpose of any resource management plan until the survey has been completed and approved and the parcel is no longer subject to further appeal, and, subsequently, offer any remaining identified federal lands for disposal by competitive sale for at least fair market value. Requires the BLM to submit to Congress a list of identified federal lands that have not been sold and the reasons why.
Topic: Public Lands — Public Lands
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2015-04-30 00:00:00

Public Lands Service Corps Act of 2015

 Amends the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993 to rename: (1) the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993 as the Public Lands Service Corps Act of 1993, and (2) the Public Lands Corps as the Public Lands Service Corps (the Corps).

 Establishes the Corps in the Department of Commerce (as well as in the Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Interior, as under current law).

Requires: (1) establishment of a department-level office within the Department of the Interior, Forest Service, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for the coordination of Corps activities; and (2) designation of a Corps coordinator for each agency within the Departments of the Interior, of Agriculture, and of Commerce that administers such activities. Establishes an Indian Youth Service Corps liaison.

Permits the enrollment of resource assistants and consulting interns. Sets a maximum enrollment term of two years.

Requires a recruitment program for the Corps.

Instructs the Department concerned, for purposes of training, to take into account training already received by Corps participants enrolled from qualified youth or conservation corps.

Describes the types of natural and cultural resources conservation projects that may be carried out by the Corps.

Authorizes the Corps to provide certain visitor and interpretation services.

Authorizes each Department to make: (1) arrangements for temporary housing for Corps participants in conservation centers, and (2) individual placements of consulting interns to perform management analysis activities for agencies under the Department's jurisdiction carrying out appropriate natural and cultural resources conservation projects.

Authorizes cooperative agreements and competitive grants for Indian tribes and qualified youth or conservation corps to establish Indian Youth Service Corps programs.

Requires the Secretary to issue management guidelines for programs of the Corps.

Revises requirements for: (1) participant living allowances to include certain travel costs; and (2) noncompetitive hiring status to cover Indian Youth Service Corps participants, resource assistants, and consulting interns.

Removes resource assistants from eligibility for national service educational awards.
Topic: Public Lands — Public Lands
Subject: Energy
Date: 2015-05-05 00:00:00

Federal Land Access Act

This bill amends the Mineral Leasing Act, with respect to rights-of-way for pipelines through federal lands, to redefine federal lands, for purposes of granting an application for a natural gas pipeline right-of-way, to mean all lands owned by the United States, except only those lands held in trust for an Indian or Indian tribe and lands on the outer Continental Shelf.

The exception for the National Park System is repealed, thereby authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to grant natural gas pipeline rights-of-way on National Park System land.
Topic: Public Lands — Public Lands
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2015-05-06 00:00:00

Federal Land Asset Inventory Reform Act of 2015 

 Directs the Department of the Interior to develop and maintain a current, accurate multipurpose cadastre of federal real property (an inventory of real property of the federal government) to assist with federal land management activities, including resource development and conservation, agricultural use, active forest management, environmental protection, and use of real property. Authorizes Interior to enter into cost-sharing agreements with states to include any nonfederal land in a state in such cadastre. Limits the federal share of any such agreement to 50% of the total cost to a state for the development of the cadastre of the nonfederal land in the state.

Requires Interior to submit a report, covering all cadastres and inventories authorized, operated, or maintained by all executive agencies, on: (1) existing real property inventories or any components of any cadastre, (2) consolidation of inventories and components, (3) the use of existing inventories and components of any cadastre, (4) cost savings that will be achieved, and (5) recommendations for legislation.

 Requires Interior to: (1) make the cadastre required under this Act available on the Internet in a graphically geoenabled and searchable format; (2) ensure that the inventory required under this Act includes the identification of all lands and parcels suitable for disposal by resource management plans conducted under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976; and (3) prevent the disclosure of the identity of any one or more parcels of land, buildings or facilities on the parcels or information related to those parcels, if this would impair or jeopardize national security or homeland defense.
Topic: Public Lands — Public Lands
Subject: Energy
Date: 2015-05-06 00:00:00

American Helium Production Act of 2015 

This bill amends the Mineral Leasing Act to permit the Department of the Interior to lease federal land for helium exploration, development, and production under substantially the same terms and conditions as federal land is leased for oil and gas exploration, development, and production.

Any lease issued for gas exploration or development in effect grants the lessee a right of first refusal to engage in helium exploration and production on land subject to the lease under the Mineral Leasing Act as well as under the Mineral Leasing Act for Acquired Lands.

The Department shall collect a $5,000 permit processing fee per application at the time the final decision is made whether to issue a permit to drill under a helium lease.

The Bureau of Land Management must prepare a programmatic environmental impact statement for an agencywide helium exploration and development program.
Topic: Public Lands — Public Lands
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2015-05-12 00:00:00

Arapaho National Forest Boundary Adjustment Act of 2015

 Adjusts the boundary of the Arapaho National Forest in Colorado to incorporate approximately 92.95 acres of land generally depicted as 'The Wedge" on the map entitled "Arapaho National Forest Boundary Adjustment" and identified as lots 3,4, 8, and 9 of section 13.

Permits such a lot to be included in the boundary adjustment only after the Department of Agriculture (USDA) obtains written permission from the lot owner or owners.

Requires the USDA to include all federal land within the boundary in the Bowen Gulch Protection Area established under the Colorado Wilderness Act of 1993.
Topic: Public Lands — Public Lands
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2015-05-13 00:00:00

Amends federal law authorizing Rockingham County, Virginia, to use specified land transferred by the United States for a child care center to remove that use restriction.
Topic: Public Lands — Public Lands
Subject: Energy
Date: 2015-05-20 00:00:00

This bill identifies specified mining claims in Alaska that qualify for certain relief under the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, and, accordingly, grants claimholders the opportunity to cure defects affecting such claims with respect to any prior period during which: (1) either the defects existed, or (2) there was a failure to pay claim maintenance fees.
Topic: Public Lands — Public Lands
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2015-06-08 00:00:00

Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act

Makes an employee of a land management agency serving under a time-limited appointment in the competitive service eligible to compete for a permanent appointment in the agency or any other agency if: (1) the original appointment was competitive, (2) the employee has served under one or more time-limited appointments totaling more than 24 months without a break of two or more years, and (3) the employee's performance has been at an acceptable level.
Topic: Public Lands — Public Lands
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2015-06-17 00:00:00

Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act of 2015

Makes an employee of a land management agency serving under a time-limited appointment in the competitive service eligible to compete for a permanent appointment in the agency or any other agency if: (1) the original appointment was competitive, (2) the employee has served under one or more time-limited appointments totaling more than 24 months without a break of two or more years, and (3) the employee's performance has been at an acceptable level.
Topic: Public Lands — Public Lands
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2015-06-17 00:00:00

(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Amends the Northern Arizona Land Exchange and Verde River Basin Partnership Act of 2005 to include as "certain land located within the Kaibab National Forest" to be conveyed to the Yavapai Ranch Limited Partnership approximately 25 acres of land at the Gila and Salt River Meridian, Coconino County.
Topic: Public Lands — Public Lands
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2015-06-24 00:00:00

National Forest Foundation Reauthorization Act of 2015 

This bill amends the National Forest Foundation Act to authorize the Department of Agriculture to provide for each of FY2016-FY2018 matching funds for certain administrative and project expenses incurred by the National Forest Foundation.
Topic: Public Lands — Public Lands
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2015-06-25 00:00:00

National Forest Ecosystem Improvement Act of 2015

This bill directs the Department of Agriculture (USDA), acting through the Forest Service, to identify, prioritize, and carry out ecosystem restoration projects on National Forest System land in accordance with applicable land and resource management plans, if any, to accomplish one or more of the following objectives:

 restore terrestrial habitat; sustain water quality, water flows, or watershed health and function; create, improve, or increase early seral habitat; carry out a needed timber stand improvement; reduce the risk or extent of insect or disease infestation; reduce wildland fire severity potential; implement a community wildfire protection plan; or establish, recover, or maintain ecosystem resiliency. USDA may not carry out an ecosystem restoration project on any area of System land in the National Wilderness Preservation System or on which removal of vegetation is prohibited by law.

USDA must accomplish restoration treatments throughout the National Forest System on 1 million acres using certain mechanical treatment methods and on another 1 million acres using prescribed fire.

USDA shall prepare an environmental assessment in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) for each ecosystem restoration project that accomplishes one or more objectives of this Act.

USDA shall study, develop, and describe in each ecosystem restoration project both the proposed action and a no-action alternative.

USDA shall establish within the Forest Service an arbitration program as an alternative dispute resolution process in lieu of judicial review for specified types of ecosystem restoration projects.

The judicial review of an action challenging an ecosystem restoration project under this Act shall be subject to specified plaintiff bonding requirements.

A categorical exclusion is made available to USDA for certain forest management activities in order to: (1) expedite specified critical response actions, (2) expedite salvage operations in response to catastrophic events, and (3) meet forest plan goals for early successional forests.

(A "categorical exclusion" under NEPA is a category of actions which do not individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment and which have been found to have no such effect in procedures adopted by a federal agency in implementing environmental regulations and for which, therefore, neither an Environmental Assessment nor an Environmental Impact Statement is required.)

For each forest management activity covered by a categorical exclusion granted by this title, USDA shall satisfy the interagency consultation obligations under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 by achieving compliance with certain alternative consultation procedures established by federal regulation.
Topic: Public Lands — Public Lands
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2015-07-07 00:00:00

National Forest Small Tracts Act Amendments Act of 2015

 Amends the Small Tract Act of 1983 (the Act) to permit the sale, exchange, or interchange under such Act of National Forest System lands the sale or exchange of which is not practicable under any other authority of the Department of Agriculture (USDA) which have a value determined to be not more than $500,000.

Includes as those lands permitted to be sold, exchanged, or interchanged under the Act:

 parcels of 40 acres or less that are determined to be physically isolated, to be inaccessible, or to have lost their National Forest character; parcels of 10 acres or less which are not eligible for conveyance under such Act, but which are encroached on by a permanent habitable improvement for which there is no evidence that the encroachment was intentional or negligent; or parcels used as a cemetery, a landfill, or a sewage treatment plant under a special use authorization issued by the USDA. Requires any proceeds under this Act to be deposited in the special fund established under the Sisk Act and made available for:

 the acquisition of land or interests in land for administrative sites for the National Forest System (NFS) in the state from which the amounts were derived; the acquisition of land or interests in land for inclusion in the NFS in that state, including those which enhance opportunities for recreational access; the performance of deferred maintenance on administrative sites for the NFS in that state or other deferred maintenance activities in that state which enhance opportunities for recreational access; and the reimbursement of the USDA for costs incurred in preparing a competitive sale conducted under the authority of the Act.
Topic: Public Lands — Public Lands
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2015-07-09 00:00:00

Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest Land Adjustment Act of 2015

Authorizes the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to sell or exchange any or all interest of the United States in 30 tracts of National Forest System land in Georgia totaling approximately 3,841 acres.

Authorizes USDA to reserve any rights-of-way or other rights or interests in land sold or exchanged under this Act that is considered necessary for management purposes or to protect the public interest.

Prohibits USDA from selling or exchanging land under this Act for less than market value, as determined by an appraisal or through a competitive bid.

Requires proceeds to be used for the acquisition of land for national forest purposes in Georgia.
Topic: Public Lands — Public Lands
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2015-07-15 00:00:00

Restoring America's Watersheds Act of 2015

 Directs the Forest Service to establish a Water Source Protection Program for National Forest System land derived from the public domain.

Authorizes the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to enter into water source investment partnerships with specified end water users to protect and restore the condition of National Forest watersheds that provide water to non-federal partners.

Authorizes USDA to produce a water source management plan.

Directs the Forest Service to establish a Watershed Condition Framework for System land derived from the public domain to:

 evaluate and classify the condition of watersheds, identify for restoration up to five priority watersheds in each National Forest and up to two priority watersheds in each national grassland, develop a watershed restoration action plan for each priority watershed, prioritize restoration activities for each watershed restoration action plan, implement each watershed restoration action plan, and monitor the effectiveness of restoration actions and indicators of watershed health. Requires USDA, before awarding a contract funded by the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Fund, to determine whether the contractor has the ability to complete the proposed restoration activities, including:

 the financial ability to raise the funds necessary, and sufficient capacity to perform the type and scope of those activities. Reauthorizes the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Fund for each of FY2016-FY2024.