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115th Congress } { Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
1st Session } { 115-280
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UDALL PARK LAND EXCHANGE COMPLETION ACT
_______
August 29, 2017.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the
State of the Union and ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Bishop of Utah, from the Committee on Natural Resources, submitted
the following
R E P O R T
together with
ADDITIONAL VIEWS
[To accompany H.R. 1547]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred
the bill (H.R. 1547) to provide for the unencumbering of title
to non-Federal land owned by the city of Tucson, Arizona, for
purposes of economic development by conveyance of the Federal
reversionary interest to the City, having considered the same,
report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that
the bill do pass.
PURPOSE OF THE BILL
The purpose of H.R. 1547 is to provide for the
unencumbering of title to non-Federal land owned by the city of
Tucson, Arizona, for purposes of economic development by
conveyance of the Federal reversionary interest to the City.
BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION
In 1980, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued a
Recreation and Public Purposes lease for approximately 173
acres of land to the City of Tucson for the purpose of
operating a public park. As a part of the lease, BLM included a
reversionary interest that specified it could take back the
park if the City no longer used the land for public purposes or
if the City used the park for commercial purposes. After
acquiring the land through the lease, the City of Tucson began
making improvements to the park (named Udall Park) and invested
millions of dollars to establish a large community recreation
and senior center, swimming pool, walking track, athletic
fields and picnic areas.
While making these improvements, the City of Tucson and BLM
began negotiating a deal in 1989 to give the City clear title
to the park and remove the reversionary interest in exchange
for 297 acres of land owned by the City valued at $4
million.\1\ After accepting this land from the City, BLM
participated in further land exchanges with other entities to
obtain an area that included office buildings for BLM's Tucson
headquarters, and environmentally sensitive parcels in the Las
Cienegas National Conservation Area and Empirita Ranch Multi
Species Conservation Area.\2\ In addition to the exchange, the
City agreed to resolve a long-standing legal dispute between
BLM, Browne/Tankersley Trust and Pioneer Trust regarding a sand
and gravel trespass on an adjacent parcel of land to the
park.\3\ Despite a clear agreement between the City of Tucson
and BLM, the City never received clear title to Udall Park even
after transferring the 297 acres of land and resolving the
trespass issue for BLM.
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\1\Rep. Martha McSally, ``Udall Park Land Exchange Completion
Act'', https://mcsally.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/us-rep-
mcsally-introduces-bipartisan-bill-help-improve-udall-park.
\2\Information provided by the City of Tucson to the Committee on
Natural Resources.
\3\City of Tucson, ``Summary of Recent Historical Records of Udall
Park Issue'', pg. 2.
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For nearly three decades, officials in the City of Tucson
believed the agreement from 1989 removed the United States'
reversionary interest in Udall Park. However, in 2010, BLM sent
a letter to the City of Tucson threatening to invoke the
reversionary interest if the City did not stop a small farmer's
market located within the park.\4\ The prohibition on
commercial uses in the park also prevented the City from siting
cellular towers in the park to offset the cost of its
maintenance.\5\ Following the letter from BLM, the City began
pursuing legislative options to resolve the reversionary
interest issue to have clear title to the land and complete
control over the use of the park.
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\4\Information provided by the City of Tucson to the Committee on
Natural Resources.
\5\Id.
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H.R. 1547, Udall Park Land Exchange Completion Act, removes
the United States' reversionary interest in Udall Park so the
City of Tucson can continue to make improvements and expand
amenities and activities within the park, including commercial
uses. The bill directs BLM to make this conveyance without
further consideration, reflecting the completion of the deal
the City and BLM negotiated over 28 years ago. The bipartisan
bill is supported by the entire Arizona Congressional
delegation, with the exception of one member. Senators Jeff
Flake (R-AZ) and John McCain (R-AZ) introduced a Senate
companion bill, S. 612, on March 13, 2017.
COMMITTEE ACTION
H.R. 1547 was introduced on March 15, 2017, by
Congresswoman Martha McSally (R-AZ). The bill was referred to
the Committee on Natural Resources, and within the Committee to
the Subcommittee on Federal Lands. On July 14, 2017, the
Subcommittee held a hearing on the bill. On July 25, 2017, the
Natural Resources Committee met to consider the bill. The
Subcommittee was discharged by unanimous consent. No amendments
were offered, and the bill was ordered favorably reported to
the House of Representatives by unanimous consent on July 26,
2017.
COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the
Committee on Natural Resources' oversight findings and
recommendations are reflected in the body of this report.
COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XIII AND CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET ACT
1. Cost of Legislation and the Congressional Budget Act.
With respect to the requirements of clause 3(c)(2) and (3) of
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and
sections 308(a) and 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of
1974, the Committee has received the following estimate for the
bill from the Director of the Congressional Budget Office:
U.S. Congress,
Congressional Budget Office,
Washington, DC, August 18, 2017.
Hon. Rob Bishop,
Chairman, Committee on Natural Resources,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 1547, the Udall
Park Land Exchange Completion Act.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Jeff LaFave.
Sincerely,
Keith Hall.
Enclosure.
H.R. 1547--Udall Park Land Exchange Completion Act
H.R. 1547 would require the Secretary of the Interior to
convey the reversionary interest of the United States in 173
acres of land to the city of Tucson, Arizona. Under current
law, the city holds title to those lands and will retain title
as long as the lands are used for public purposes. If the city
stops using the lands for such purposes, title would revert
back to the federal government.
Based on information provided by the city of Tucson, CBO
expects that, under current law, the city will continue to use
the affected lands for public purposes and will hold title to
those lands over the next 10 years. Furthermore, under the
bill, any administrative costs associated with conveying the
reversionary interest in those lands would be paid by the city;
therefore, CBO estimates that implementing the bill would have
no effect on the federal budget.
Because enacting H.R. 1547 would not affect direct spending
or revenues, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
CBO estimates that enacting the bill would not increase net
direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four
consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2028.
H.R. 1547 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and
would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Jeff LaFave. The
estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, Assistant Director for
Budget Analysis.
2. General Performance Goals and Objectives. As required by
clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII, the general performance goal or
objective of this bill is to provide for the unencumbering of
title to non-Federal land owned by the city of Tucson, Arizona,
for purposes of economic development by conveyance of the
Federal reversionary interest to the City.
EARMARK STATEMENT
This bill does not contain any Congressional earmarks,
limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined
under clause 9(e), 9(f), and 9(g) of rule XXI of the Rules of
the House of Representatives.
COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104-4
This bill contains no unfunded mandates.
COMPLIANCE WITH H. RES. 5
Directed Rule Making. This bill does not contain any
directed rule makings.
Duplication of Existing Programs. This bill does not
establish or reauthorize a program of the federal government
known to be duplicative of another program. Such program was
not included in any report from the Government Accountability
Office to Congress pursuant to section 21 of Public Law 111-139
or identified in the most recent Catalog of Federal Domestic
Assistance published pursuant to the Federal Program
Information Act (Public Law 95-220, as amended by Public Law
98-169) as relating to other programs.
PREEMPTION OF STATE, LOCAL OR TRIBAL LAW
This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local or
tribal law.
CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW
If enacted, this bill would make no changes in existing
law.
ADDITIONAL VIEWS
H.R. 1547 transfers the reversionary interest associated
with Udall Park to the City of Tucson, Arizona (Tucson). Udall
Park was originally leased in 1980 to Tucson by the Bureau of
Land Management (BLM) under the Recreation and Public Purposes
Act, a program that conveys federal land to local governments
and non-profits, free of charge, to establish parks and other
allowable public purposes. These conveyances include what is
known as reversionary interest, which stipulates that the land
must permanently remain in use for a public purpose or
ownership reverts back to the United States.
BLM only has the authority to convey reversionary interest
if it receives fair market value for the land in question. This
is a critical component of the law that ensures fair use of
taxpayer owned assets. However, in the case of Udall Park,
Tucson executed a land exchange with the BLM to compensate the
federal government for the reversionary interest.
Unfortunately, Congress never completed the exchange.
At the July 14, 2017, Federal Lands Subcommittee hearing on
the bill, Michael Ortega, Tucson City Manager, Arizona,
presented testimony regarding the 1989 land exchange between
Tucson and the BLM that led to the patent transfer of Udall
Park. In exchange for the patent and reversionary interest on
Udall Park, the City of Tucson provided the BLM with a 297 acre
parcel known as the ``Freeman Road Property,'' which was then
valued at $4 million. As evidence that the land exchange was
part of the agreement to transfer the reversionary interest,
the testimony points to a 1989 letter from the BLM State
Director. The letter recognized the ``agreement between the
City and Bureau of Land Management regarding Udall Park'' and
emphasized BLM's commitment to ``support legislative efforts to
eliminate the reverter clause.'' Elimination of the
reversionary interests without payment of fair market value
requires an act of Congress. Congress never ratified the 1989
land exchange by eliminating the reversionary interest.
H.R. 1547 honors the federal government's long forgotten
commitment. The unique circumstances of Udall Park justify
transferring the reversionary interest without further
consideration or compensation.
Raul M. Grijalva,
Ranking Member,
House Natural Resources
Committee.
Nanette Diaz Barragan.
Darren Soto.
Grace F. Napolitano.
A. Donald McEachin.
Colleen Hanabusa.
[all]