Protection and Transparency for Adjacent Landowners Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 580 To amend the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 to improve the transparency and oversight of land conveyances involving disposal or acquisition of National Forest System lands or Bureau of Land Management public lands, to provide protections and certainty for private landowners related to resurveying such public lands, and for other pur- poses. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 15, 2019 Mr. TIPTON (for himself, Mr. LAMBORN, and Mr. YOUNG) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period to be sub- sequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 to improve the transparency and oversight of land conveyances involving disposal or acquisition of Na- tional Forest System lands or Bureau of Land Manage- ment public lands, to provide protections and certainty for private landowners related to resurveying such public lands, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Jan 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H580.IH H580 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 580 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protection and Trans- 2 parency for Adjacent Landowners Act’’. 3 TITLE I—REQUIREMENTS FOR 4 FOREST SERVICE AND BU- 5 REAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT 6 LAND ACQUISITIONS AND 7 CONVEYANCES 8 SEC. 101. ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR FOREST SERV- 9 ICE AND BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT 10 LAND ACQUISITIONS AND CONVEYANCES. 11 (a) NOTICE TO ADJACENT LANDOWNERS.— 12 (1) LAND ACQUISITIONS.—Section 205 of the 13 Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 14 (43 U.S.C. 1715) is amended by adding at the end 15 the following new subsection: 16 ‘‘(f) NOTICE TO ADJACENT LANDOWNERS.—As part 17 of the acquisition of a parcel of non-Federal lands under 18 this section, section 206, or other applicable law that will 19 become public lands or National Forest System lands, the 20 Secretary or the Secretary of Agriculture, as the case may 21 be, shall provide advance written notification to each 22 owner of land that is adjacent to the parcel of land to 23 be acquired. To assist in identifying adjacent landowners, 24 and to meet the requirements of this subsection, the Sec- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Jan 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H580.IH H580 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 580 IH retary concerned should use the most recently available 1 property tax records.’’. 2 (2) LAND CONVEYANCES.—Section 208 of the 3 Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 4 (43 U.S.C. 1718) is amended— 5 (A) by inserting ‘‘(a) ISSUANCE OF PAT- 6 ENT AND OTHER CONVEYANCE DOCUMENTS.— 7 ’’ before the first sentence and ‘‘(b) OTHER 8 TERMS AND CONDITIONS.—’’ before the second 9 sentence; and 10 (B) by adding at the end the following new 11 subsection: 12 ‘‘(c) NOTICE TO ADJACENT LANDOWNERS.—As part 13 of the conveyance of a parcel of public lands or National 14 Forest System lands by sale, exchange, or other disposal 15 method under section 203 or 206 or other applicable law, 16 the Secretary or the Secretary of Agriculture, as the case 17 may be, shall provide advance written notification to each 18 owner of land that is adjacent to the parcel of land to 19 be conveyed. To assist in identifying adjacent landowners, 20 and to meet the requirements of this subsection, the Sec- 21 retary concerned should use the most recently available 22 property tax records.’’. 23 (b) OVERSIGHT OF USE OF THIRD-PARTY 24 FACILITATORS.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Jan 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H580.IH H580 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 580 IH (1) ACQUISITION.—Section 205 of the Federal 1 Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 2 U.S.C. 1715) is amended by inserting after sub- 3 section (f), as added by subsection (a)(1), the fol- 4 lowing new subsection: 5 ‘‘(g) OVERSIGHT OF USE OF THIRD-PARTY 6 FACILITATORS.—(1) If the acquisition process for a parcel 7 of non-Federal lands under this section, section 206, or 8 other applicable law that will become public lands or Na- 9 tional Forest System lands involves the use of a third- 10 party facilitator, the Secretary or the Secretary of Agri- 11 culture, as the case may be, shall require, as a condition 12 of the approval of the acquisition— 13 ‘‘(A) submission of all purchase contracts and 14 related agreements held by the third-party facilitator 15 related to the parcel to be acquired on written re- 16 quest by the appropriate official; 17 ‘‘(B) supervisor review of such purchase con- 18 tracts and related agreements, the purpose of the ac- 19 quisition, and other terms and conditions of the ac- 20 quisition; and 21 ‘‘(C) a clear statement to Bureau of Land Man- 22 agement and United States Forest Service employ- 23 ees that the Secretary or the Secretary of Agri- 24 culture, as the case may be, has determined that all 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Jan 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H580.IH H580 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 580 IH business information submitted under paragraphs 1 (A), (B), and (C) of subsection (d) is confidential 2 and all information covered by the Privacy Act of 3 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a) will be protected to the extent 4 allowed by law. 5 ‘‘(2) In this subsection, the term ‘third-party 6 facilitator’ means any entity (other than an agent of the 7 United States) whose role in a real estate transaction is 8 to assist the buyer or seller, or both, in reaching agree- 9 ment in the transaction.’’. 10 (2) LAND CONVEYANCES.—Section 208 of the 11 Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 12 (43 U.S.C. 1718) is amended by inserting after sub- 13 section (c), as added by subsection (a)(2), the fol- 14 lowing new subsection: 15 ‘‘(d) OVERSIGHT OF USE OF THIRD-PARTY 16 FACILITATORS.—(1) If the process by which a parcel of 17 public lands or National Forest System lands will be con- 18 veyed by sale, exchange, or other disposal method under 19 section 203 or 206 or other applicable law, involves the 20 use of a third-party facilitator, the Secretary or the Sec- 21 retary of Agriculture, as the case may be, shall require, 22 as a condition of the approval of the conveyance— 23 ‘‘(A) submission of all purchase contracts and 24 related agreements held by the third-party facilitator 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Jan 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H580.IH H580 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 580 IH related to the Federal land to be conveyed on writ- 1 ten request by the appropriate official; 2 ‘‘(B) submission to appraisers of contact infor- 3 mation for prospective end owners of the Federal 4 land to be conveyed; 5 ‘‘(C) supervisor review of such purchase con- 6 tracts and related agreements, the purpose of the 7 conveyance, and other terms and conditions of the 8 conveyance; and 9 ‘‘(D) a clear statement to Bureau of Land 10 Management and United States Forest Service em- 11 ployees that the Secretary or the Secretary of Agri- 12 culture, as the case may be, has determined that all 13 business information submitted under paragraphs 14 (A), (B), and (C) of this subsection is confidential 15 and all information covered by the Privacy Act of 16 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a) will be protected to the extent 17 allowed by law. 18 ‘‘(2) In this subsection, the term ‘third-party 19 facilitator’ means any entity (other than an agent of the 20 United States) whose role in a real estate transaction is 21 to assist the buyer or seller, or both, in reaching agree- 22 ment in the transaction.’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Jan 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H580.IH H580 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 580 IH TITLE II—BUREAU OF LAND 1 MANAGEMENT RESURVEY RE- 2 QUIREMENTS 3 SEC. 201. BUREAU RESURVEY TRANSPARENCY; NOTICE RE- 4 QUIREMENTS. 5 (a) NOTICE.— 6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days be- 7 fore the commencement of a resurvey of Federal 8 land under the administrative jurisdiction of the Bu- 9 reau of Land Management, the Secretary shall no- 10 tify all property owners with land abutting or adja- 11 cent to the Federal land being resurveyed of the 12 pending resurvey. If a resurvey extends the bound- 13 aries of Federal land, the Secretary shall notify af- 14 fected landowners of the results of the resurvey not 15 later than 30 days after the completion of the sur- 16 vey. 17 (2) NOTIFICATION.—The Secretary shall use 18 certified or registered mail to notify landowners 19 under this subsection. 20 (3) IDENTIFICATION OF LANDOWNERS.—When 21 identifying affected landowners for the purpose of 22 notification under this subsection, the Secretary 23 shall use the most recently available property tax 24 records. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Jan 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H580.IH H580 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 580 IH (b) PUBLIC COMMENT.—Not later than 30 days after 1 completing a resurvey, the Secretary shall publish a notice 2 in the Federal Register. Affected landowners may com- 3 ment to the Secretary and by submitting formal comments 4 to the Federal Register notice. 5 SEC. 202. PROTECTION OF PERSONS. 6 If a resurvey results in land previously thought to be 7 privately owned to be reclassified as Federal land, the per- 8 sons thought to be a private owner of such land— 9 (1) shall— 10 (A) be given the right of first refusal to 11 purchase the land for fair market value minus 12 the value of any significant improvements made 13 to such lands; or 14 (B) be reimbursed for the fair market 15 value of any significant improvements made to 16 such lands; and 17 (2) may not be charged with willful trespass 18 onto such land unless the person used such lands 19 with the knowledge that the lands should be classi- 20 fied as Federal land. 21 SEC. 203. DEFINITIONS. 22 For the purposes of this title: 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Jan 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H580.IH H580 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 580 IH (1) RESURVEY.—The term ‘‘resurvey’’ means 1 an official rerunning and remarking intended to su- 2 persede the records of the original survey. 3 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 4 the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Di- 5 rector of the Bureau of Land Management. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Jan 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H580.IH H580 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS