HR 1592 IH

To amend the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 to provide greater protection of private property rights.

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 referred to the Committee on Resources

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 Representatives 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-FEDERAL PROPERTY FROM FEDERAL ACQUISITION OF NEARBY LANDS- The right of an owner of non-Federal real property to use and enjoy that property shall not be diminished 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 purposes (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 acquisition;

`(2) the Secretary of the department that administers 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 conservation easement is not feasible and suitable; and

`(C) the acquisition is in accordance with priorities established by the Secretary for acquisition 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 considerations; and

`(3) acquisition of that interest is specifically approved by an Act of Congress.

`(c) NOTIFICATION TO AFFECTED AREAS REQUIRED- The Federal portion for a fiscal year may not be used to acquire any interest in land unless the Secretary 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 Congress 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 subdivision having jurisdiction over the land; and

`(4) by publication of a notice in a newspaper that is widely distributed in the area under the jurisdiction of each such State political subdivision, that includes a clear statement that the Federal Government intends to acquire an interest in land.

`(d) PROHIBITION ON USE FOR CONDEMNATION- Amounts made available from the land and water conservation 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 inserting the following:

`(B) Prior to each such conversion, the Governor of the State shall demonstrate that--

`(i) no prudent or feasible alternative exists, except 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 conservation and recreation facility due to changes in demographics, or that must be abandoned because of environmental 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 equivalent usefulness and location and that are consistent with such State plan.'.

END