Borderland Takings Defense Fund Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1233 To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish a fund for private landowners, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 14, 2019 Mrs. DEMINGS (for herself and Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Secu- rity, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider- ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish a fund for private landowners, 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Borderland Takings 4 Defense Fund Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:52 Feb 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1233.IH H1233 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 1233 IH SEC. 2. DEFENSE FUND FOR PRIVATE LANDOWNERS. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle H of title VIII of the 2 Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 451 et seq.) 3 is amended by adding at the end the following new section: 4 ‘‘SEC. 890B. DEFENSE FUND FOR PRIVATE LANDOWNERS. 5 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall estab- 7 lish a fund to assist eligible property owners whose 8 property the Federal Government seeks to condemn 9 or acquire for the purpose of constructing or install- 10 ing additional physical barriers or roads between 11 ports of entry along the land border with Mexico. 12 ‘‘(2) ADMINISTRATION.— 13 ‘‘(A) APPOINTMENT.—The Officer for Civil 14 Rights and Civil Liberties of the Department 15 shall appoint an individual to serve as the ad- 16 ministrator of the fund established pursuant to 17 paragraph (1). 18 ‘‘(B) QUALIFICATIONS.—The individual 19 appointed under subparagraph (A) to serve as 20 the administrator of the fund shall be an indi- 21 vidual who— 22 ‘‘(i) has at least three years of rel- 23 evant experience in pro bono legal assist- 24 ance; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:52 Feb 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1233.IH H1233 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 1233 IH ‘‘(ii) to the maximum extent prac- 1 ticable, has a demonstrated record of advo- 2 cacy on behalf of litigants in actions 3 brought by or against the Federal Govern- 4 ment. 5 ‘‘(b) PROHIBITION.—Notwithstanding section 102 of 6 the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsi- 7 bility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1103 note), the Secretary 8 may not take such actions, such as the removal of obsta- 9 cles, to construct or install additional physical barriers or 10 roads between ports of entry along the land border with 11 Mexico until— 12 ‘‘(1) the fund described in subsection (a) is es- 13 tablished and made available to eligible property de- 14 scribed in such subsection; and 15 ‘‘(2) such property owners are provided infor- 16 mation on how to access legal support through such 17 fund. 18 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible for assistance 19 through the fund referred to in subsection (a), a property 20 owner shall— 21 ‘‘(1) own property along the land border with 22 Mexico that— 23 ‘‘(A) is subject to the condemnation or ac- 24 quisition referred to in such subsection; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:52 Feb 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1233.IH H1233 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 1233 IH ‘‘(B) is determined by the Administrator to 1 be at risk of such action; and 2 ‘‘(2)(A) be the head of a low-income household; 3 or 4 ‘‘(B) if such property owner is not the head of 5 a low-income household, be determined by the ad- 6 ministrator of the fund to be in need of such assist- 7 ance but lacking adequate resources to secure rep- 8 resentation against the Federal Government. 9 ‘‘(d) OUTREACH.—The Secretary, acting through the 10 administrator of the fund, shall— 11 ‘‘(1) implement a targeted outreach strategy to 12 identify and communicate with eligible property own- 13 ers whose property the Federal Government seeks to 14 condemn or acquire for the purpose of constructing 15 or installing additional physical barriers or roads be- 16 tween ports of entry along the land border with 17 Mexico; and 18 ‘‘(2) submit to the Committee on Homeland Se- 19 curity of the House of Representatives and the Com- 20 mittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Af- 21 fairs of the Senate a copy of such targeted outreach 22 strategy. 23 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:03 Feb 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1233.IH H1233 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 1233 IH ‘‘(1) LOW-INCOME HOUSEHOLD.—The term 1 ‘low-income household’ means a household— 2 ‘‘(A) in which one or more individuals are 3 receiving— 4 ‘‘(i) assistance under a State program 5 funded under part A of title IV of the So- 6 cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 601 et seq.); 7 ‘‘(ii) supplemental security income 8 payments under title XVI of the Social Se- 9 curity Act (42 U.S.C. 1381 et seq.); 10 ‘‘(iii) supplemental nutrition assist- 11 ance program benefits under the Food and 12 Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et 13 seq.); or 14 ‘‘(iv) payments under— 15 ‘‘(I) section 1315, 1521, 1541, or 16 1542 of title 38, United States Code; 17 or 18 ‘‘(II) section 306 of the Veterans’ 19 and Survivors’ Pension Improvement 20 Act of 1978 (38 U.S.C. 1521 note; 21 Public Law 95–588); or 22 ‘‘(B) that has an income that, as deter- 23 mined by the State in which such household is 24 located, does not exceed the greater of— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:52 Feb 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1233.IH H1233 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 1233 IH ‘‘(i) an amount equal to 150 percent 1 of the poverty level for such State; and 2 ‘‘(ii) an amount equal to 60 percent of 3 the median income for such State. 4 ‘‘(2) PROPERTY.—The term ‘property’ means 5 land, including an estate or interest in land, includ- 6 ing an easement or right of way in land. 7 ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—In addi- 8 tion to any amounts otherwise authorized to be appro- 9 priated for such purpose, there is authorized to be appro- 10 priated $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2019 through 11 2025 to carry out this section.’’. 12 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 13 in section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 is 14 amended by inserting after the item relating to section 15 890A the following new item: 16 ‘‘Sec. 890B. Defense fund for private landowners.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:52 Feb 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1233.IH H1233 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS