Public Lands in Public Hands Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 718 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 718

    To prohibit the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of 
   Agriculture from transferring certain Federal land, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 23, 2025

Mr. Zinke (for himself and Mr. Vasquez) 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 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To prohibit the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of 
   Agriculture from transferring certain Federal land, 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 ``Public Lands in Public Hands Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act, the term ``publicly accessible tract'' means a tract 
of Federal land managed by the Secretary of the Interior or the Chief 
of the Forest Service that can be accessed by public road, public 
trail, public waterway, public easement, or public right-of-way.

SEC. 3. RESTRICTION ON TRANSFER OF CERTAIN FEDERAL LAND.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of 
Agriculture are prohibited from transferring title to Federal land to a 
non-Federal entity, if the Federal land is--
            (1) a publicly accessible tract; or
            (2) contiguous with--
                    (A) a publicly accessible tract; or
                    (B) a tract of land that--
                            (i) is owned by a State, county, or 
                        municipal government; and
                            (ii) can be accessed by public road, public 
                        trail, public waterway, public easement, or 
                        public right-of-way.
    (b) Exception.--Subsection (a) shall not apply to a transfer--
            (1) of Federal land that is--
                    (A)(i) less than 300 acres; or
                            (ii) less than 5 acres and accessible via a 
                        public waterway; and
                    (B) authorized to be transferred under and subject 
                to the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976;
            (2) authorized by--
                    (A) the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act 
                of 1998;
                    (B) the Sisk Act (16 U.S.C. 479a);
                    (C) Public Law 85-569, commonly known as the 
                ``Townsites Act of 1958'';
                    (D) the Small Tract Act of 1983;
                    (E) the Act of May 17, 1906, commonly known as the 
                ``Native Allotment Act of 1906'';
                    (F) Public Law 85-508, commonly known as the 
                ``Alaska Statehood Act of 1959'';
                    (G) the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act;
                    (H) the Alaska Native Vietnam-era Veterans Land 
                Allotment Program authorized by section 1119 of the 
                John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and 
                Recreation Act;
                    (I) the Recreation and Public Purposes Act; or
                    (J) the Weeks Act of 1911;
            (3) explicitly authorized by Federal law; or
            (4) completed through a land exchange authorized by Federal 
        law.
    (c) Limitation.--The Secretary shall not subdivide Federal land to 
meet acreage minimums described in subsection (b)(1).

SEC. 4. STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION.

    Nothing in this Act shall be used to influence or interpret the 
legality of stepping over a property corner from one parcel of public 
land to another.
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