S 2072
110th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 2072
To authorize Western States to make selections of public land
within their borders in lieu of receiving 5 percent of the proceeds
of the sale of public land lying within said States as provided by their
respective enabling Acts.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
September 21, 2007
Mr. HATCH introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
A BILL
To authorize Western States to make selections of public land
within their borders in lieu of receiving 5 percent of the proceeds
of the sale of public land lying within said States as provided by their
respective enabling Acts.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Action Plan for Public Lands and Education
Act of 2007'.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds as follows:
(1) The Acts enabling the people of territories of the American West
to form their constitutions and State governments and providing for
the admission of such States into the Union on equal footing with
the original States included a common provision of which the following
example is typical: That 5 percent of the proceeds of the sales of
public land lying within said State, which shall be sold by the United
States subsequent to the admission of said State into the Union, after
deducting all the expenses incident to the same, shall be paid to
the said State, to be used as a permanent fund, the interest of which
only shall be expended for the support of the common schools within
said State.
(2) Western States, as a group, are falling behind in education funding
as measured by growth of real per pupil expenditures from 1979 to
2006.
(3) Eleven of the 12 States with the lowest real growth in per pupil
expenditures are Western States.
(4) The growth rate of real per pupil expenditures in the 13 Western
States is less than half such rate in the 37 other States (28 percent
versus 57 percent).
(5) One effect of less funding for public education in the West is
higher pupil-per-teacher ratios.
(6) Ten of the 12 States with the largest pupil-per-teacher ratios
are Western States.
(7) On average, the 13 Western States have 3 more students per classroom
than the 37 other States.
(8) Over the next 10 years, the rate of enrollment growth is projected
to be much higher in Western States than in other States.
(9) On average, the rate of enrollment growth in Western States is
projected to increase dramatically, while the rate of enrollment growth
of other States is projected to decrease.
(10) The State and local taxes of Western States as a percentage of
personal income are as high as or higher than other States.
(11) Despite the fact that Western States tax at a comparable rate
and allocate as much of their budgets to public education as other
States, Western States have lower real growth in per pupil expenditures
and have higher pupil-per-teacher ratios.
(12) The Federal Government is the source and potential solver of
the problem because of the enormous amount of untaxed land the Federal
Government owns in Western States.
(13) All States east of an imaginary vertical line from Montana to
New Mexico have, on average, 4.1 percent of their land federally owned,
while the Western States on average have 51.9 percent of their land
federally owned.
(14) The plain language of these enabling Acts proclaims that the
public land shall be sold by the United States subsequent to the admission
of the States into the Union.
(15) The United States honored those Acts by selling public land within
the Western States until the passage of the Federal Land Policy and
Management Act of 1976, wherein Congress declared that the policy
of the United States was to retain public land in Federal ownership
and management.
(16) The United States has broken its solemn compact with the Western
States and breached its fiduciary duty to the school children who
are designated beneficiaries of the sale of Federal land under the
terms of the respective enabling Acts of the Western States.
(17) The current shortfall in funding public education in the Western
States requires immediate Congressional action to remedy the above-described
discriminatory Federal land policy and prevent the further disadvantaging
of the school children of the Western States.
(18) The most efficient and cost effective remedy now available to
the United States is to grant to the Western States 5 percent of the
remaining Federal land located within each State, authorizing each
State to select such land from the unappropriated public land within
the boundaries of the State to satisfy the grant.
SEC. 3. QUANTITY GRANTS TO WESTERN STATES FOR EDUCATION IMPROVEMENT.
(a) Quantity Land Grants- Instead of receiving, for the support of the
common schools, 5 percent of the proceeds of the sales of federally
owned land lying within the Western States which have not been sold
by the United States as of July 1, 2005, grants of land are hereby made
to the Western States. The amount of land granted to each State shall
be equal to 5 percent of the number of acres of federally owned land
within the State as of July 1, 2005.
(1) IN GENERAL- Each Western State shall select from the unappropriated
public lands within the borders of the State in such manner as the
legislature of the State may provide, land equal in acreage to 5 percent
of the federally own land in the State as of July 1, 2005.
(2) CALCULATION OF ACREAGE AND NOTIFICATION OF STATE- The Secretary
shall calculate the exact acreage of federally owned land in each
Western State as of July 1, 2005, and designate the unappropriated
public land, as defined herein, eligible for selection by the State.
The Secretary shall communicate to each of the Western States the
respective acreage calculation and designation of land eligible for
selection not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of
this Act.
(c) Application of Certain Law- Selection and transfer of land under
this Act shall not be considered a major Federal action for the purposes
of section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.
(d) Mineral and Oil and Gas Rights-
(1) IN GENERAL- All mineral, oil, and gas rights to the land selected
by the Western States under this Act shall become the property of
the relevant Western State unless the Federal lessee of the selected
land is making royalty payments to the United States from production
of minerals, oil, or gas, whereupon the particular leasehold interest
shall remain in the ownership of the United States until the leasehold
interest terminates. After that termination; the mineral, oil, and
gas rights shall become the property of the relevant Western State.
(2) SELECTION OF SURFACE RIGHTS- Western States may select only the
surface of eligible land if the land is located on subsurface mineral,
oil, or gas deposits that are generating royalty, rental or bonus
payments to United States. The entire mineral, oil, and gas estate
shall become the property of the Western State upon expiration or
termination of production in paying quantities from the Federal lease.
(e) Permanent School Fund- All land selected by each of the Western
States shall be held in trust by the State agency empowered to sale
or lease such lands, the proceeds of which shall be used as a permanent
fund, the interest of which shall only be expended for the support of
public education.
(f) Definitions- In this Act:
(1) The term `Western States' means Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado,
Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington,
and Wyoming.
(2) The term `Secretary' means the Secretary of the Interior or the
Secretary of Agriculture, as appropriate.
(3) The term `State educational agency' means the agency of the State
primarily responsible for the supervision of education.
(4) The term `federally owned land' means all land held in the name
of the United States or any agency thereof, including land held in
trust, United States military reservations, Indian Reservations and
any other land used for Federal purposes.
(5) The term `unappropriated public lands' means any and all land
under the management and control of the Bureau of Land Management
or United States Forest Service, excluding land that is--
(A) held in trust as the part of an Indian Reservation;
(B) located within a United States military reservation;
(C) a unit of the National Park System;
(E) a Wilderness Area designated by Congress;
(F) a National Historic Site;
(H) a National Natural Landmark;
(I) an Area of Critical Environmental Concern; or
(J) a Wilderness Study Area.
END
