Protecting Local Communities from Executive Overreach Act

Protecting Local Communities from Executive Overreach Act

This bill declares that the President may not designate lands to be a new or expanded national monument unless within one year before a designation the Department of the Interior consults with each community, county, municipality, city, town, or township with boundaries within or adjacent to the land affected by the designation and obtains concurrence for the designation from:

• the governing body of each such community, county, municipality, city, town, or township; and
• the wildlife management and land management authorities and the governor of each state in which the new or expanded national monument would be located.

Furthermore, a declaration of a national monument shall not:

• include private property without the informed written consent of the property owner;
• be construed to increase the amount of funding for the monument for any fiscal year;
• apply to more than 5,000 acres; or
• be used to create or expand a national monument located in specified counties in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, and Utah.

Water rights associated with a national monument created or expanded by a declaration:

• may not be reserved expressly or by implication by such a declaration, and
• may be acquired for a national monument created or expanded by a declaration only according to the laws of the state in which the water rights are based.

[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3946 Introduced in House (IH)]

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114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3946

  To amend section 320301 of title 54, United States Code, to protect 
private property rights and water rights from infringement as a result 
     of the creation of national monuments, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 5, 2015

Mr. Gosar (for himself, Mr. Amodei, Mr. Buck, Mr. Cramer, Mr. Cook, Mr. 
   Franks of Arizona, Mr. Jones, Mr. King of Iowa, Mrs. Lummis, Mr. 
Nugent, Mr. Pearce, Mr. Salmon, Mr. Stewart, Mr. Zinke, Mr. Hardy, Mr. 
   Duncan of Tennessee, Mr. Huelskamp, Mr. LaMalfa, Mr. Lamborn, Mr. 
 McHenry, Ms. McSally, Mr. Schweikert, Mr. Newhouse, Mr. Labrador, Mr. 
   Babin, and Mr. Russell) introduced the following bill; which was 
             referred to the Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend section 320301 of title 54, United States Code, to protect 
private property rights and water rights from infringement as a result 
     of the creation of national monuments, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Protecting Local Communities from 
Executive Overreach Act''.

SEC. 2. LIMITATIONS ON DECLARATIONS OF NATIONAL MONUMENTS.

    Section 320301 of title 54, United States Code, is amended by 
adding at the end the following:
    ``(e) Consultation Requirement.--The President may not designate 
lands to be a new or expanded national monument under this section 
unless, not more than 1 year before such designation, the Secretary of 
the Interior--
            ``(1) consulted with each community, county, municipality, 
        city, town, or township created pursuant to State law with 
        boundaries within or adjacent to lands affected by the 
        designation; and
            ``(2) obtained the concurrence for the designation from--
                    ``(A) the governing body of each community, county, 
                municipality, city, town, or township described in 
                paragraph (1); and
                    ``(B) the wildlife management and land management 
                authorities and governor of each State in which all or 
                part of the new or expanded national monument would be 
                located.
    ``(f) Limitations on Declarations.--A declaration under this 
section shall not--
            ``(1) include private property without the informed written 
        consent of the owner of that private property;
            ``(2) be construed to increase the amount of funds that are 
        authorized to be appropriated for any fiscal year;
            ``(3) apply to more than 5,000 acres; or
            ``(4) be used to create or expand a national monument 
        located, in part or in whole, in the following:
                    ``(A) The counties of Coconino, Mohave, and Yavapai 
                in the State of Arizona.
                    ``(B) The counties of Modoc and Siskiyou in the 
                State of California.
                    ``(C) The counties of Chaffee, Moffat, and Park in 
                the State of Colorado.
                    ``(D) The counties of Lincoln, Clark, and Nye in 
                the State of Nevada.
                    ``(E) The county of Otero in the State of New 
                Mexico.
                    ``(F) The counties of Jackson, Josephine, and 
                Malheur in the State of Oregon.
                    ``(G) The counties of Wayne, Garfield, and Kane in 
                the State of Utah.
    ``(g) Water Rights.--Water rights associated with a national 
monument created or expanded by a declaration under this section--
            ``(1) may not be reserved expressly or by implication by a 
        declaration under this section; and
            ``(2) may be acquired for a national monument created or 
        expanded by declaration under this subsection only in 
        accordance with the laws of the States in which the water 
        rights are based.''.
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