Action Plan for Public Lands and Education Act of 2005 - Makes grants of land to the following states in lieu of receiving, for the support of the common schools, five percent of the proceeds of the sales of federally land owned within such states which have not been sold by the United States as of July 1, 2005: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
Makes the amount of land granted to each state five percent of the number of acres of federally owned land within that state as of July 1, 2005. Requires land selected to be held in trust to be sold or leased and the proceeds to be used only for the support of public education.
[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3463 Introduced in House (IH)]
109th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3463
To authorize Western States to make selections of public land within
their borders in lieu of receiving five per centum of the proceeds of
the sale of public land lying within said States as provided by their
respective Enabling Acts.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 27, 2005
Mr. Bishop of Utah (for himself, Mr. Cannon, Mr. Culberson, Mr. Otter,
Mr. Herger, Mr. Gibbons, and Mr. Walden of Oregon) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Resources
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize Western States to make selections of public land within
their borders in lieu of receiving five per centum of the proceeds of
the sale of public land lying within said States as provided by their
respective Enabling Acts.
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 ``Action Plan for Public Lands and
Education Act of 2005''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds as follows:
(1) Western States, as a group, are falling behind in
education funding as measured by growth of real per pupil
expenditures from 1979 to 1998.
(2) Eleven of the 12 States with the lowest real growth in
per pupil expenditures are Western States.
(3) The growth rate of real per pupil expenditures in the
13 Western States is less than half such rate in the 37 other
States (28 percent versus 57 percent).
(4) One effect of less funding for public education in the
West is higher pupil-per-teacher ratios.
(5) Ten of the twelve States with the largest pupil-per-
teacher ratios are Western States.
(6) On average, the 13 Western States have 3 more students
per classroom than the 37 other States.
(7) Over the next 10 years, the rate of enrollment growth
is projected to be much higher in Western States than in other
States.
(8) On average, the rate of enrollment growth of Western
States is projected to increase dramatically, while the rate of
enrollment growth other States is projected to actually
decrease.
(9) The State and local taxes of Western States as a
percentage of personal income are as high as or higher than
other States.
(10) Despite the fact that Western States tax at a
comparable rate and allocate as much of their budgets to public
education as other States, Western States have lower real
growth in per pupil expenditures and have higher pupil per
teacher ratios.
(11) The Federal Government is the source and potential
solver of the problem because of the enormous amount of land
the Federal Government owns in Western States.
(12) All States east of an imaginary vertical line from
Montana to New Mexico have, on average, 4.1 percent of their
land federally owned, while the Western States on average have
51.9 percent of their land federally owned.
(13) The Acts enabling the people of territories of the
American West to form their constitutions and State governments
and providing for the admission of such States into the Union
on equal footing with the original States, included a common
provision of which the following example is typical: ``That
five per centum of the proceeds of the sales of public land
lying within said State, which shall be sold by the United
States subsequent to the admission of said State into the
Union, after deducting all the expenses incident to the same,
shall be paid to the said State, to be used as a permanent
fund, the interest of which only shall be expended for the
support of the common schools within said State.''.
(14) The plain language of these enabling acts proclaims
that the public land ``shall be sold by the United States''
subsequent to the admission of the States into the Union.
(15) The United States honored the foregoing language by
selling public land within the Western States until the passage
of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, wherein
Congress declared that the policy of the United States was to
retain public land in Federal ownership and management.
(16) The United States has broken its solemn compact with
the Western States and breached its fiduciary duty to the
school children who are designated beneficiaries of the sale of
pubic land under the terms of the respective enabling Acts of
the Western States.
(17) The current shortfall in funding public education in
the Western States requires immediate Congressional action to
remedy the above-described discriminatory Federal land policy
and prevent the further disadvantaging of the school children
of the Western States.
(18) The most efficient and cost effective remedy now
available to the United States is to grant to the Western
States 5 percent of the remaining federal land located within
each State, authorizing each State to select such land from the
unappropriated public land of the United States within the
boundaries of said State as will satisfy the grant.
SEC. 3. QUANTITY GRANTS TO WESTERN STATES FOR EDUCATION IMPROVEMENT.
(a) Quantity Land Grants.--Instead of receiving, for the support of
the common schools, 5 percent of the proceeds of the sales of federally
owned land lying within the Western States which have not been sold by
the United States as of July 1, 2005, grants of land are hereby made to
the Western States. The amount of land granted to each State shall be
equal to 5 percent of the number of acres of federally owned land
within the State as of July 1, 2005.
(b) Selection Process.--
(1) In general.--Each Western State shall select from the
unappropriated public lands within the borders of the State in
such manner as the legislature of the State may provide, land
equal in acreage to five percent of the federally own land in
the State as of July 1, 2005.
(2) Calculation of acreage and notification of state.--The
Secretary shall calculate the exact acreage of federally owned
land in each Western State as of July 1, 2005, and designate
the unappropriated public land, as defined herein, eligible for
selection by the State. The Secretary shall communicate to each
of the Western States the respective acreage calculation and
designation of land eligible for selection not later than 1
year after the date of the enactment of this Act.
(c) Application of Certain Law.--Selection and transfer of land
under this Act shall not be considered a major Federal action for the
purposes of section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act
of 1969.
(d) Mineral and Oil and Gas Rights.--
(1) In general.--All mineral, oil, and gas rights to the
land selected by the Western States under this Act shall become
the property of the relevant Western State unless the Federal
lessee of the selected land is making royalty payments to the
United States from production of minerals, oil, or gas,
whereupon the particular leasehold interest shall remain in the
ownership of the United States until the leasehold interest
terminates. After that termination; the mineral, oil, and gas
rights shall become the property of the relevant Western State.
(2) Selection of surface rights.--Western States may select
only the surface of eligible land if the land is located on
subsurface mineral, oil, or gas deposits that are generating
royalty payments to United States. The entire mineral, oil, and
gas estate shall become the property of the Western State upon
termination of the Federal lease.
(e) Permanent School Fund.--All land selected by each of the
Western States shall be held in trust by a State educational agency
empowered to sell or lease such land, the proceeds of which shall be
used as a permanent fund, the interest of which shall be expended only
for the support of public education.
(f) Definitions.--In this Act:
(1) The term ``Western States'' means Alaska, Arizona,
California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico,
Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
(2) The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of the
Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture, as appropriate.
(3) The term ``State educational agency'' means the agency
of the State primarily responsible for the supervision of
education.
(4) The term ``federally owned land'' means all land held
in the name of the United States or any agency thereof,
including land held in trust, United States military
reservations, Indian reservations, and any other land used for
Federal purposes.
(5) The term ``unappropriated public lands'' means any and
all land under the management and control of the Bureau of Land
Management or United States Forest Service, excluding land that
is--
(A) held in trust;
(B) located within a United States military
reservation;
(C) a unit of the National Park System;
(D) a Wildlife Refuge;
(E) a Wilderness Area designated by Congress; or
(F) a National Historic Site.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Resources.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health.
Referred to the Subcommittee on National Parks.
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR H8951-8952)
Llama 3.2 · runs locally in your browser
Ask anything about this bill. The AI reads the full text to answer.
Enter to send · Shift+Enter for new line