HR701 TITLE II
Land and Water Conservation Fund Revitalization

BILL

SEC. 201. AMENDMENT OF LAND AND WATER CONSERVATION FUND ACT OF 1965.

  • Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever in this title an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms of an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or other provision, the reference shall be considered to be made to a section or other provision of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 460l-4 et seq.)

SEC. 202. EXTENSION OF FUND; TREATMENT OF AMOUNTS TRANSFERRED FROM CONSERVATION AND REINVESTMENT ACT FUND.

SEC. 203. AVAILABILITY OF AMOUNTS.

`APPROPRIATIONS

  • `SEC. 3. (a) IN GENERAL- There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary from the fund to carry out this Act not more than $900,000,000 in any fiscal year after the fiscal year 2001. Amounts transferred to the fund from the Conservation and Reinvestment Act Fund and amounts covered into the fund under subsections (a) and (b) of section 2 shall be available to the Secretary in fiscal years after the fiscal year 2001 without further appropriation to carry out this Act.

    `(b) OBLIGATION AND EXPENDITURE OF AVAILABLE AMOUNTS- Amounts available for obligation or expenditure from the fund or from the special account established under section 4(i)(1) may be obligated or expended only as provided in this Act.'.

SEC. 204. ALLOCATION OF FUND.

`ALLOCATION OF FUNDS

  • `SEC. 5. Of the amounts made available for each fiscal year to carry out this Act--
    • `(1) 50 percent shall be available for Federal purposes authorized (in this Act referred to as the `Federal portion'); and
    • `(2) 50 percent shall be available for grants to States.'.

SEC. 205. USE OF FEDERAL PORTION.

  • `(d) USE OF FEDERAL PORTION-
    • `(1) APPROVAL BY CONGRESS REQUIRED- The Federal portion (as that term is defined in section 5(1)) may not be obligated or expended by the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture for any acquisition except for a project that is specifically referred to, and approved by the Congress, in an Act making appropriations for the Department of the Interior or the Department of Agriculture, respectively, for such fiscal year.
    • `(2) WILLING SELLER REQUIREMENT- The Federal portion may not be used to acquire any property unless--
      • `(A) the owner of the property concurs in the acquisition; or
      • `(B) acquisition of that property is specifically approved by an Act of Congress.
  • `(e) LIST OF PROPOSED FEDERAL ACQUISITIONS-
    • `(1) RESTRICTION ON USE- The Federal portion for a fiscal year may not be obligated or expended to acquire any interest in lands or water unless the lands or water were included in a list of acquisitions that is approved by the Congress.
    • `(2) TRANSMISSION OF LIST- (A) The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture shall jointly transmit to the Congress for each fiscal year, by no later than the submission of the budget for the fiscal year under section 1105 of title 31, United States Code, a list of the acquisitions of interests in lands and water proposed to be made with the Federal portion for the fiscal year.
    • `(B) In preparing each list, the Secretary shall--
      • `(i) seek to consolidate Federal landholdings in States with checkerboard Federal land ownership patterns;
      • `(ii) consider the use of equal value land exchanges, where feasible and suitable, as an alternative means of land acquisition;
      • `(iii) consider the use of permanent conservation easements, where feasible and suitable, as an alternative means of acquisition;
      • `(iv) identify those properties that are proposed to be acquired from willing sellers and specify any for which adverse condemnation is requested; and
      • `(v) establish priorities 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.
    • `(3) INFORMATION REGARDING PROPOSED ACQUISITIONS- Each list shall include, for each proposed acquisition included in the list--
      • `(A) citation of the statutory authority for the acquisition, if such authority exists; and
      • `(B) an explanation of why the particular interest proposed to be acquired was selected.
  • `(f) 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 the Secretaries submit the list under subsection (e) for the fiscal year, 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.
  • `(g) COMPLIANCE WITH REQUIREMENTS UNDER FEDERAL LAWS-
    • `(1) IN GENERAL- The Federal portion for a fiscal year may not be used to acquire any interest in land or water unless the following have occurred:
      • `(A) All actions required under Federal law with respect to the acquisition have been complied with.
      • `(B) A copy of each final environmental impact statement or environmental assessment required by law, and a summary of all public comments regarding the acquisition that have been received by the agency making the acquisition, are submitted to the Committee on Resources of the House of Representatives, the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate, and the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and of the Senate.
      • `(C) A notice of the availability of such statement or assessment and of such summary is provided to--
        • `(i) each Member of and each Delegate and Resident Commissioner to the Congress elected to represent the area in which the land is located;
        • `(ii) the Governor of the State in which the land is located; and
        • `(iii) each State political subdivision having jurisdiction over the land.
    • `(2) LIMITATION ON APPLICATION- Paragraph (1) shall not apply to any acquisition that is specifically authorized by a Federal law.'.

SEC. 206. ALLOCATION OF AMOUNTS AVAILABLE FOR STATE PURPOSES.

  • `(b) DISTRIBUTION AMONG THE STATES- (1) Sums in the Fund available each fiscal year for State purposes shall be apportioned among the several States by the Secretary, in accordance with this subsection. The determination of the apportionment by the Secretary shall be final.
  • `(2) Subject to paragraph (3), of sums in the Fund available each fiscal year for State purposes--
    • `(A) 30 percent shall be apportioned equally among the several States; and
    • `(B) 70 percent shall be apportioned so that the ratio that the amount apportioned to each State under this subparagraph bears to the total amount apportioned under this subparagraph for the fiscal year is equal to the ratio that the population of the State bears to the total population of all States.
  • `(3) The total allocation to an individual State for a fiscal year under paragraph (2) shall not exceed 10 percent of the total amount allocated to the several States under paragraph (2) for that fiscal year.
  • `(4) The Secretary shall notify each State of its apportionment, and the amounts thereof shall be available thereafter to the State for planning, acquisition, or development projects as hereafter described. Any amount of any apportionment under this subsection that has not been paid or obligated by the Secretary during the fiscal year in which such notification is given and the two fiscal years thereafter shall be reapportioned by the Secretary in accordance with paragraph (2), but without regard to the 10 percent limitation to an individual State specified in paragraph (3).
  • `(5)(A) For the purposes of paragraph (2)(A)--
    • `(i) the District of Columbia shall be treated as a State; and
    • `(ii) Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa--
      • `(I) shall be treated collectively as one State; and
      • `(II) shall each be allocated an equal share of any amount distributed to them pursuant to clause (i).
  • `(B) Each of the areas referred to in subparagraph (A) shall be treated as a State for all other purposes of this Act.'.
    • (1) By inserting `(A)' after `(5)'.
    • (2) By adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
      • `(B) For the purposes of paragraph (1), all federally recognized Indian tribes and Alaska Native Village Corporations (as defined in section 3(j) of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1602(j)), shall be eligible to receive shares of the apportionment under paragraph (1) in accordance with a competitive grant program established by the Secretary by rule. The total apportionment available to such tribes and village corporations shall be equivalent to the amount available to a single State. No single tribe or village corporation shall receive a grant that constitutes more than 10 percent of the total amount made available to all tribes and village corporations pursuant to the apportionment under paragraph (1). Funds received by a tribe or village corporation under this subparagraph may be expended only for the purposes specified in paragraphs (1) and (3) of subsection (a).'.
  • `(6) Absent some compelling and annually documented reason to the contrary acceptable to the Secretary of the Interior, each State (other than an area treated as a State under paragraph (5)) shall make available as grants to local governments, at least 50 percent of the annual State apportionment, or an equivalent amount made available from other sources.'.

SEC. 207. STATE PLANNING.

  • (a) STATE ACTION AGENDA REQUIRED-
  • `(d) STATE ACTION AGENDA REQUIRED- (1) Each State may define its own priorities and criteria for selection of outdoor conservation and recreation acquisition and development projects eligible for grants under this Act so long as it provides for public involvement in this process and publishes an accurate and current State Action Agenda for Community Conservation and Recreation (in this Act referred to as the `State Action Agenda') indicating the needs it has identified and the priorities and criteria it has established. In order to assess its needs and establish its overall priorities, each State, in partnership with its local governments and Federal agencies, and in consultation with its citizens, shall develop, within 5 years after the enactment of the Conservation and Reinvestment Act of 1999, a State Action Agenda that meets the following requirements:
    • `(A) The agenda must be strategic, originating in broad-based and long-term needs, but focused on actions that can be funded over the next 4 years.
    • `(B) The agenda must be updated at least once every 4 years and certified by the Governor that the State Action Agenda conclusions and proposed actions have been considered in an active public involvement process.
  • `(2) State Action Agendas shall take into account all providers of conservation and recreation lands within each State, including Federal, regional, and local government resources and shall be correlated whenever possible with other State, regional, and local plans for parks, recreation, open space, and wetlands conservation. Recovery action programs developed by urban localities under section 1007 of the Urban Park and Recreation Recovery Act of 1978 shall be used by a State as a guide to the conclusions, priorities, and action schedules contained in State Action Agenda. Each State shall assure that any requirements for local outdoor conservation and recreation planning, promulgated as conditions for grants, minimize redundancy of local efforts by allowing, wherever possible, use of the findings, priorities, and implementation schedules of recovery action programs to meet such requirements.'.
    • (2) EXISTING STATE PLANS- Comprehensive State Plans developed by any State under section 6(d) of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 before the date that is 5 years after the enactment of this Act shall remain in effect in that State until a State Action Agenda has been adopted pursuant to the amendment made by this subsection, but no later than 5 years after the enactment of this Act.
    • (1) In the matter preceding paragraph (1) by striking `State comprehensive plan' and inserting `State Action Agenda'.
    • (2) In paragraph (1) by striking `comprehensive plan' and inserting `State Action Agenda'.

SEC. 208. ASSISTANCE TO STATES FOR OTHER PROJECTS.

    • (1) in subsection (e)(1) by striking `, but not including incidental costs relating to acquisition'; and
    • (2) in subsection (e)(2) by inserting before the period at the end the following: `or to enhance public safety within a designated park or recreation area.'.

 

SEC. 209. CONVERSION OF PROPERTY TO OTHER USE.

    • (1) by inserting `(A)' before `No property'; and
    • (2) by striking the second sentence and inserting the following:
  • `(B) The Secretary shall approve such conversion only if the State demonstrates no prudent or feasible alternative exists with the exception of those properties that no longer meet the criteria within the State Plan or Agenda as an outdoor conservation and recreation facility due to changes in demographics or that must be abandoned because of environmental contamination which endangers public health and safety. Any conversion must satisfy such conditions as the Secretary deems necessary to assure the substitution of other conservation and recreation properties of at least equal fair market value and reasonably equivalent usefulness and location and which are consistent with the existing State Plan or Agenda; except that wetland areas and interests therein as identified in the wetlands provisions of the action agenda and proposed to be acquired as suitable replacement property within that same State that is otherwise acceptable to the Secretary shall be considered to be of reasonably equivalent usefulness with the property proposed for conversion.'.

SEC. 210. WATER RIGHTS.

  • Title I is amended by adding at the end the following:

`WATER RIGHTS

  • `SEC. 14. Nothing in this title--
    • `(1) invalidates or preempts State or Federal water law or an interstate compact governing water;
    • `(2) alters the rights of any State to any appropriated share of the waters of any body of surface or ground water, whether determined by past or future interstate compacts or by past or future legislative or final judicial allocations;
    • `(3) preempts or modifies any Federal or State law, or interstate compact, dealing with water quality or disposal; or
    • `(4) confers on any non-Federal entity the ability to exercise any Federal right to the waters of any stream or to any ground water resource.'.

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