America’s Public Land Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1276 To reaffirm the policy of the United States with respect to management authority over public land, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 14, 2019 Mr. LOWENTHAL (for himself, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. PERLMUTTER, Mr. ROUDA, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. GOMEZ, Ms. JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. CISNEROS, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. MCNERNEY, Ms. HAALAND, and Ms. JUDY CHU of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provi- sions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To reaffirm the policy of the United States with respect to management authority over public land, 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 ‘‘America’s Public Land 4 Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds that— 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:38 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1276.IH H1276 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1276 IH (1) public land in the United States is— 1 (A) iconic, including national parks, wild- 2 life refuges, and national forests; and 3 (B) irreplaceable, including wildlife habi- 4 tat, archaeological resources, and other national 5 treasures; 6 (2) public land— 7 (A) provides unrivaled recreational oppor- 8 tunities; and 9 (B) is enjoyed by hundreds of millions of 10 people in the United States each year; 11 (3) public land— 12 (A) strengthens the United States econ- 13 omy; and 14 (B) powers a recreation industry that sup- 15 ports— 16 (i) 7,600,000 jobs; and 17 (ii) nearly $900,000,000,000 in direct 18 spending annually; 19 (4) United States public land provides numer- 20 ous other benefits to the people of the United States, 21 including— 22 (A) clean air and water; 23 (B) public health gains; and 24 (C) access to the outdoors; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:38 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1276.IH H1276 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1276 IH (5) retaining United States public land is in the 1 public interest; and 2 (6) except as expressly authorized by Congress, 3 United States public land should be retained under 4 the ownership of the United States. 5 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act: 7 (1) MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY.—The term 8 ‘‘management authority’’ means— 9 (A) the ability to determine— 10 (i) which uses to permit on public 11 land, including uses relating to— 12 (I) timber; 13 (II) grazing; 14 (III) renewable and nonrenewable 15 energy and mineral resources; 16 (IV) recreation; and 17 (V) vegetation management; or 18 (ii) where and how those uses of pub- 19 lic land take place; and 20 (B) the ability to regulate, permit, or au- 21 thorize use of public land. 22 (2) PUBLIC LAND.— 23 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘public land’’ 24 means any land or interest in land— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:38 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1276.IH H1276 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1276 IH (i) owned by the United States; and 1 (ii) administered by— 2 (I) the Secretary of the Interior, 3 acting through— 4 (aa) the Director of the Bu- 5 reau of Land Management; 6 (bb) the Director of the Na- 7 tional Park Service; or 8 (cc) the Director of the 9 United States Fish and Wildlife 10 Service; or 11 (II) the Secretary of Agriculture, 12 acting through the Chief of the Forest 13 Service. 14 (B) EXCLUSION.—The term ‘‘public land’’ 15 does not include land held in trust for the ben- 16 efit of an Indian Tribe. 17 (3) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—The term ‘‘Sec- 18 retary concerned’’ means— 19 (A) the Secretary of the Interior, with re- 20 spect to land or an interest in land under the 21 jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior; 22 and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:38 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1276.IH H1276 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1276 IH (B) the Secretary of Agriculture, with re- 1 spect to land or an interest in land under the 2 jurisdiction of the Department of Agriculture. 3 SEC. 4. REAFFIRMATION OF POLICY. 4 Congress reaffirms that the policy of the United 5 States is— 6 (1) to retain public land in Federal ownership 7 unless the disposal of public land has been author- 8 ized by an Act of Congress; 9 (2) to retain management authority over public 10 land, except in any case in which a non-Federal indi- 11 vidual or entity is authorized to exercise manage- 12 ment authority pursuant to— 13 (A) an Act of Congress; or 14 (B) another applicable law; and 15 (3) that retention of public land and the man- 16 agement authority over public land is in the public 17 interest. 18 SEC. 5. RETENTION REQUIREMENTS. 19 (a) PUBLIC LAND.—Except as authorized by an Act 20 of Congress, the Secretary concerned shall not approve or 21 permit the conveyance of public land to any non-Federal 22 individual or entity. 23 (b) MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY.—Except as author- 24 ized by an Act of Congress or other applicable law, the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:38 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1276.IH H1276 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1276 IH Secretary concerned shall not approve or permit the grant- 1 ing of management authority over public land to any non- 2 Federal individual or entity. 3 SEC. 6. EFFECT OF ACT. 4 Nothing in this Act— 5 (1) affects the jurisdiction of any State with re- 6 spect to the management of fish or wildlife on public 7 land; 8 (2) diminishes the rights of any Indian Tribe, 9 including rights regarding access to public land for 10 Tribal activities (including spiritual, cultural, and 11 traditional food-gathering activities); 12 (3) alters, modifies, enlarges, diminishes, or ab- 13 rogates the treaty rights of any Indian Tribe, includ- 14 ing off-reservation reserved rights; 15 (4) creates an express or implied reservation by 16 the United States of any water or water right for 17 any purpose; 18 (5) affects, modifies, or affects the use or allo- 19 cation, as in existence on the date of enactment of 20 this Act, of any water, water right, or interest in 21 water; or 22 (6) affects any interstate water compact in ex- 23 istence on the date of enactment of this Act. 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:38 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1276.IH H1276 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS