[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 633 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 633
To authorize States to select and acquire certain National Forest
System lands to be managed and operated by the State for timber
production and for other purposes under the laws of the State, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 28, 2021
Mr. Young 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 authorize States to select and acquire certain National Forest
System lands to be managed and operated by the State for timber
production and for other purposes under the laws of the State, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``State National
Forest Management Act of 2021''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as
follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Definitions.
Sec. 3. State selection of eligible portions of the National Forest
System for acquisition and management.
Sec. 4. Transition provisions during the exchange-transition period.
Sec. 5. Transition provisions outside the transition period.
Sec. 6. Miscellaneous duties of the parties and other provisions
relating to the transfer.
Sec. 7. Conditions on changes to land management plans regarding
management of young-growth stands.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) The term ``Commissioner'' means the head of the
Department of Natural Resources of a State or comparable State
agency.
(2) The term ``eligible portions of the National Forest
System'' means all right, title, and interest of the United
States in and to the surface and subsurface lands and real
property (including structures and facilities owned by the
Forest Service) included as part of the National Forest System
in a State. The term does not include Conservation System Units
(as that term is defined in the Alaska National Interest Lands
Conservation Act) and areas or national memorials protected by
an Act of Congress.
(3) The term ``Federal obligation''--
(A) means any obligation or duty of the Forest
Service arising out of any lease, permit, license,
contract, and other legal instruments issued by or with
the Forest Service relating to eligible portions of the
National Forest System; and
(B) does not include any obligation with respect to
a Federal law, regulation, or policy.
(4) The term ``forest operations'' means the development of
forest operating plans for eligible portions of the National
Forest System acquired by a State, including the conduct of
inventories of timber resources and the engineering of
necessary access needed necessary for timber management and
related management activities.
(5) The term ``patent date'' means the last day of the
selection-transition period.
(6) The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of
Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the Forest Service.
(7) The term ``selection date'' means the date on which a
State elects to acquire eligible portions of the National
Forest System and notifies the Secretary of such election under
section 3(a).
(8) The term ``selection-transition period'' means the
period beginning on the selection date and ending no more than
one year thereafter, on the patent date.
(9) The term ``State'' means each of the several States and
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(10) The term ``State forest practices law'' means a forest
practices law applicable to State or privately owned forest
land in a State, including established silvicultural best
management practices or other regulations for forest management
practices related to clean water, soil quality, wildlife or
forest health.
(11) The term ``State obligation'' means any obligation or
duty of the State arising out of any lease, permit, license,
contract and other legal instruments issued by or with the
State relating to the selected lands under this Act.
SEC. 3. STATE SELECTION OF ELIGIBLE PORTIONS OF THE NATIONAL FOREST
SYSTEM FOR ACQUISITION AND MANAGEMENT.
(a) Selection Authorized; Conveyance Required.--During the 10-year
period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, if a State
elects pursuant to subsection (b) to select and acquire eligible
portions of the National Forest System in that State under the terms
and conditions of this Act and notifies the Secretary of such
selection, then the Secretary shall convey the eligible portions of the
National Forest System so selected to the State in accordance with
subsection (d). All conveyances shall be subject to valid existing
rights.
(b) Form of Election.--The election by a State to select and
acquire eligible portions of the National Forest System in that State
pursuant to subsection (a) shall be executed in the form of a bill
enacted into law by the legislature of that State. Such a law shall
provide, at a minimum, the following:
(1) That the State elects to acquire eligible portions of
the National Forest System in that State--
(A) pursuant to purchase for fair-market value;
(B) in exchange for State lands of equal value;
(C) in satisfaction of land selection rights
pursuant to the law by which the State was admitted to
the Union; or
(D) any combination of the preceding paragraphs.
(2) Identifies the eligible portions of the National Forest
System to be acquired and the method by which the State will
acquire the land.
(3) Acceptance by the State that acquisition of the
identified eligible portions of the National Forest System is
subject to valid existing rights.
(4) Acceptance by the State of the procedures specified in
this Act and the transition provisions of this Act.
(5) In the case of the State of Alaska, acceptance by the
State of the rights and obligations of the United States under
the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act with respect to
acquired lands, rights in such lands, and use of lands acquired
by that State shall not be infringed by that State.
(6) Specification that up to 50 percent of the annual
harvest of timber from eligible portions of the National Forest
System to be acquired shall be offered in at least 10-year
contracts, and timber sales shall, to the maximum extent
practicable, provide sufficient volume to meet the needs of all
wood processing operations existing in that State as of the
date of the enactment of this Act, and forest operations shall
be performed in compliance with the State forest practices law.
(7) Acceptance by the State that eligible portions of the
National Forest System open to mineral entry under the general
mining laws of the United States shall remain open to mineral
entry under State law unless subsequently changed by a State
mineral closing order.
(c) Multiple State Laws; Acreage Limitation.--During the selection
period specified in subsection (a), a State may enact more than one law
to select and acquire eligible portions of the National Forest System
in that State, except that the total quantity of National Forest System
land acquired by the State under this Act may not exceed 2,000,000
acres.
(d) Procedure.--Beginning on the selection date for a State's
acquisition of eligible portions of the National Forest System in that
State, the Secretary shall prepare patents conveying the National
Forest System lands selected by the State and shall convey such patents
to the State on the patent date. The duty of the Secretary to prepare
and convey such patents under this Act shall be purely ministerial and
conveyance of the patent on the patent date shall not be withheld or
conditioned by any other provision of law except as provided herein.
The United States Supreme Court shall have exclusive jurisdiction to
issue such writs and compel such actions as may be necessary to
accomplish the conveyance made under this Act.
(e) Other Property.--Beginning on the selection date for a State's
acquisition of eligible portions of the National Forest System in that
State, in addition to other conveyances made under this Act, the
Secretary shall convey the right and title to and interest of the
United States in all other types of property (including real and
personal property) used for purposes of operating, administering, and
managing the acquired National Forest System land in that State. Such
property shall be transferred on the patent date and include only that
property which is owned by the United States and used by the Forest
Service primarily on the eligible portions of the National Forest
System selected by the State.
(f) Other Uses.--Beginning on the selection date and concurrent
with the selection and conveyance of the National Forest System lands
and property under this Act, the Secretary shall transfer all existing
special use permits related to the acquired National Forest System
lands and property to the State.
SEC. 4. TRANSITION PROVISIONS DURING THE EXCHANGE-TRANSITION PERIOD.
(a) Existing Obligations of the United States.--The United States
shall remain obligated for all Federal obligations incurred prior to
the patent date.
(b) Employees.--During the selection-transition period, to the
extent practicable, the State shall interview each person employed by
the Forest Service on the date of the enactment of this Act whose
employment is made redundant by this Act for purposes of reemployment
by the State in a comparable job within the new State administrative
system for the National Forest System lands acquired by the State under
this Act. Employees who do not secure employment with the State shall
have the option of placement in an equivalent position available within
the Federal Government.
(c) Management Pending Conveyance.--During the selection-transition
period and until the patent date, except as provided otherwise under
this Act, eligible portions of the National Forest System not yet
patented to the State under this Act shall be administered and managed
under applicable Federal law and land management plans.
(d) Transfer of Certain Receipts.--Receipts from all rentals or
sales occurring on eligible portions of the National Forest System
selected by a State during the selection-transition period shall be
kept in escrow and transferred to the State on the patent date.
SEC. 5. TRANSITION PROVISIONS OUTSIDE THE TRANSITION PERIOD.
(a) Management of Selected Lands.--Beginning on the patent date,
eligible portions of the National Forest System conveyed to a State
under this Act shall be administered and managed primarily for timber
production pursuant to the State forest practices law, except as
otherwise provided in this Act for the period provided by this Act.
(b) Land Designations.--Land use designations in effect on the date
of the enactment of this Act for eligible portions of the National
Forest System conveyed to a State under this Act under the applicable
land management plan shall continue in effect until the patent date.
(c) Subsistence Use After the Selection Date.--In the case of
eligible portions of the National Forest System in the State of Alaska,
the Secretary of the Interior shall retain continuing authority to
manage subsistence uses of fish and wildlife on National Forest System
lands conveyed under this Act until the patent date.
(d) Access.--
(1) Easements.--The Secretary, in accordance with the
applicable forest transportation plan for a unit of the
National Forest System and any transportation plan of the
State, shall provide access in the form of easements across
lands owned by the United States to and from eligible portions
of the National Forest System conveyed to the State. The duty
of the Secretary to deliver patents for such easements shall be
purely ministerial and shall not be withheld or conditioned by
any other provision of law. The Secretary shall enter into
agreements with the Commissioner for the purpose of sharing the
costs of common use roads.
(2) State duty.--Following the patent date, a State shall
issue easements to the United States for reasonable access
across acquired eligible portions of the National Forest System
in the manner provided in paragraph (1).
(e) Mining Claims.--
(1) In general.--Federal mining claims located pursuant to
the General Mining Law of 1872 (30 U.S.C. 22 et seq.) on
eligible portions of the National Forest System before the
selection date shall remain subject to the laws, rules,
regulations, and policies of the United States, but such laws,
rules, regulations, and policies shall be administered by the
State. The right and ability of a claimholder to patent such a
mining claim and enjoy reasonable access to the claim shall not
be infringed. An application to patent a Federal mining claim
located on eligible portions of the National Forest System may
be made by the claimholder with the State and shall constitute
an election by the claim holder to be subject to Federal mining
claim patent procedures administered by the State.
(2) Escrow and subsequent transfer.--During the selection-
transition period, the Federal Government shall escrow all fees
and revenues, if any, due on Federal mining claims on eligible
portions of the National Forest System and on the patent date
transfer those receipts to the State on the patent date to the
account established by the State for purposes of the law
specified in section 3(b)(7).
(3) State duty.--Any mining claims filed on eligible
portions of the National Forest System in a State after the
selection date shall be subject only to the laws of the State.
(f) Transfer of Other Receipts.--Beginning with the fiscal year of
a State after the patent date, escrowed fees and fees from all existing
and future issued special use permits and all other land management
receipts on eligible portions of the National Forest System conveyed to
the State under this Act, net of reasonable cost of administration,
shall be transferred to the State.
(g) Existing Obligations After Patent Date.--On the patent date, a
State shall assume all Federal obligations and duties and receive all
rights of the Forest Service, except that the State shall assume no
obligation for any claim for damages or specific performance relating
to a contract or permit, if such claim arose before the patent date,
unless the State receives the benefit from such an obligation.
SEC. 6. MISCELLANEOUS DUTIES OF THE PARTIES AND OTHER PROVISIONS
RELATING TO THE TRANSFER.
(a) Hazardous Materials.--As promptly as practicable after the date
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall make available to a
State for review and inspection, all pertinent records relating to
hazardous materials, if any, on eligible portions of the National
Forest System available for selection under this Act. The
responsibility for costs of remedial action related to such materials
shall be borne by those entities responsible under existing law. If no
party responsible for the hazardous materials can be determined,
remediation responsibility and all costs shall remain with the
Secretary and remediation as agreed to by the Commissioner shall be
initiated as soon as practical after the patent date.
(b) Judicial Review.--Selection of land pursuant to this Act shall
not be subject to judicial review in any court of the United States,
except--
(1) to the extent a right of judicial review is conferred
specifically by the United States Constitution;
(2) otherwise conferred by this Act; or
(3) when sought by the State on matters pertaining to
rights conferred by this Act.
(c) Rulemaking.--No formal rules under section 553 of title 5,
United States Code, are required to implement this Act.
(d) Survey.--The patent for and use of eligible portions of the
National Forest System conveyed to a State pursuant to this Act shall
not be subject to completion of a field survey and may be issued based
on a protraction survey. However, the Secretary shall complete a field
survey following patent.
(e) Encumbrances.--For purposes of an orderly transfer of eligible
portions of the National Forest System to State ownership and
transition to State management, the Secretary shall provide a list of
encumbrances and uses of record and otherwise known on the selected
lands to the Commissioner during the selection-transition period. The
lands selected under this Act shall be subject to all existing
encumbrances.
SEC. 7. CONDITIONS ON CHANGES TO LAND MANAGEMENT PLANS REGARDING
MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG-GROWTH STANDS.
(a) Changes Conditioned on Comprehensive Inventory of the Young-
Growth Stands.--Before any change to an applicable land management plan
takes effect that will alter management of young-growth stands covered
by the land management plan, the Secretary shall--
(1) conduct a comprehensive inventory of the young-growth
stands;
(2) provide public notice of the availability of the
comprehensive inventory; and
(3) after such public notice, provide a period of not less
than 90 days for public comment on the comprehensive inventory.
(b) Inventory Requirements.--At a minimum, the comprehensive
inventory required by subsection (a) shall--
(1) include stand-level field work with respect to all
462,000 acres of young-growth timber located within the Tongass
National Forest; and
(2) assess all age classes of timber inventoried for the
purpose of refining inventory and growth data to properly
forecast yields from stands and future economic manufacturing
feasibility with respect to the timber inventoried.
<all>