Title 43 — Public LandsRelease 119-73
§433a Preference of needy families
Title 43 › Chapter CHAPTER 12— - RECLAMATION AND IRRIGATION OF LANDS BY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER VI— - WATER RIGHT APPLICATIONS AND LAND ENTRIES › § 433a
Summary
When newly irrigated public lands are opened, they must be offered first to families who have no other way to earn a living or who were forced to leave farms in the United States through no fault of their own. Each family must be carefully checked first, and it must look likely they can make a living on the irrigated land.
Full Legal Text
Title 43, §433a
Public Lands — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
It is declared to be the policy of the Congress that, in the opening to entry of newly irrigated public lands, preference shall be given to families who have no other means of earning a livelihood, or who have been compelled to abandon, through no fault of their own, other farms in the United States, and with respect to whom it appears after careful study, in the case of each such family, that there is a probability that such family will be able to earn a livelihood on such irrigated lands.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
43 U.S.C. § 433a
Title 43 — Public Lands
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73