§1713 Sales of Public Land Tracts

Summary

The Secretary may sell public land tracts unless they are in the National Wilderness Preservation System, the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, or the National System of Trails. A tract can be sold if one of three things is true: it is hard or too expensive to manage as public land and no other federal agency should manage it; it was bought for a specific federal purpose that is no longer needed; or selling it will meet important public goals (like community growth or economic development) that cannot be met on other land and are more important than keeping the land in federal ownership. If the land sold for those public goals is both agricultural and desert in character, it can be sold under this rule or under other laws. If a sale involves more than 2,500 acres, the Secretary must notify Congress and wait 90 days (not counting long adjournments) and the sale can only go ahead if Congress does not pass a concurrent resolution disapproving. If a committee does not act in 30 days, a privileged motion to discharge the committee is allowed, with only one hour of debate, no amendments, and no reconsideration; once the committee is reprinted or discharged, a nondebatable privileged motion to proceed is allowed. Sales must be for at least fair market value as set by the Secretary. The Secretary decides tract sizes based on land use and development needs; land mainly valuable for farming must be no larger than needed for a family farm. Sales are normally by competitive bidding under rules the Secretary makes, but the Secretary can modify or skip bidding to ensure fair distribution or to follow public policies and may consider buyers such as the State, local governments, neighbors, individuals, or others. The Secretary must accept or reject invited competitive bids in writing within 30 days after receiving them, or for tracts over 2,500 acres, within 30 days after the end of the 90-day congressional waiting period, unless the bidder waives that deadline. Before these deadlines, the Secretary may refuse an offer or withdraw land from sale if the sale would not follow this Act or other law.