43 U.S.C. § 1722: Sale of public lands subject…

Summary

People who had applications pending under the 1968 Act and who have a legal preference to buy must be given the first chance to purchase any lands the Secretary approves for sale. The Secretary must offer those lands at their fair market value as of September 26, 1973, but he cannot charge for any value added by the applicants or their predecessors. Within three years after October 21, 1976, the Secretary must tell each filer whether he will offer the land and what the price is. He must also tell the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House which lands he will not sell and why. For lands he decides not to sell, he cannot convey them for 90 days after notifying Congress (days when either House is adjourned more than three consecutive days do not count). Congress can pass a concurrent resolution to extend that pause. If a committee holds up such a resolution for more than 30 days after referral, any member may move to force it out of committee; that motion and a later motion to proceed are privileged, tightly limited in debate, not amendable, and not open to reconsideration. The Secretary must finish processing all 1968 Act applications and hold sales for lands he will sell within five years after October 21, 1976.

Title 43, §1722

Public Lands, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Preference right of contiguous landowners; offering price

Notwithstanding the provisions of the Act of September 26, 1968 (82 Stat. 870; 43 U.S.C. 1431–1435), hereinafter called the “1968 Act”, with respect to applications under the 1968 Act which were pending before the Secretary as of the effective date of this subsection and which he approves for sale under the criteria prescribed by the 1968 Act, he shall give the right of first refusal to those having a preference right under section 2 of the 1968 Act [43 U.S.C. 1432]. The Secretary shall offer such lands to such preference right holders at their fair market value (exclusive of any values added to the land by such holders and their predecessors in interest) as determined by the Secretary as of September 26, 1973.

(b)Procedures applicable

Within three years after October 21, 1976, the Secretary shall notify the filers of applications subject to paragraph (a) of this section whether he will offer them the lands applied for and at what price; that is, their fair market value as of September 26, 1973, excluding any value added to the lands by the applicants or their predecessors in interest. He will also notify the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the lands which he has determined not to sell pursuant to paragraph (a) of this section and the reasons therefor. With respect to such lands which the Secretary determined not to sell, he shall take no other action to convey those lands or interests in them before the end of ninety days (not counting days on which the House of Representatives or the Senate has adjourned for more than three consecutive days) beginning on the date the Secretary has submitted such notice to the Senate and House of Representatives. If, during that ninety-day period, the Congress adopts a concurrent resolution stating the length of time such suspension of action should continue, he shall continue such suspension for the specified time period. If the committee to which a resolution has been referred during the said ninety-day period, has not reported it at the end of thirty calendar days after its referral, it shall be in order to either discharge the committee from further consideration of such resolution or to discharge the committee from consideration of any other resolution with respect to the suspension of action. A motion to discharge may be made only by an individual favoring the resolution, shall be highly privileged (except that it may not be made after the committee has reported such a resolution), and debate thereon shall be limited to not more than one hour, to be divided equally between those favoring and those opposing the resolution. An amendment to the motion shall not be in order, and it shall not be in order to move to reconsider the vote by which the motion was agreed to or disagreed to. If the motion to discharge is agreed to or disagreed to, the motion may not be made with respect to any other resolution with respect to the same suspension of action. When the committee has reprinted, or has been discharged from further consideration of a resolution, it shall at any time thereafter be in order (even though a previous motion to the same effect has been disagreed to) to move to proceed to the consideration of the resolution. The motion shall be highly privileged and shall not be debatable. An amendment to the motion shall not be in order, and it shall not be in order to move to reconsider the vote by which the motion was agreed to or disagreed to.

(c)Time for processing of applications and sales

Within five years after October 21, 1976, the Secretary shall complete the processing of all applications filed under the 1968 Act and hold sales covering all lands which he has determined to sell thereunder.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Act of

September 26, 1968, referred to in subsec. (a), is Pub. L. 90–516, Sept. 26, 1968, 82 Stat. 870, which was classified generally to subchapter VII [§ 1431 et seq.] of chapter 30 of this title, and was omitted from the Code pursuant to section 1435 of this title, which provided that the authority granted by that subchapter was to expire three years from

September 26, 1968, with certain exceptions. For complete classification of this Act to the Code prior to omission, see Tables. The

Effective Date

of this subsection, referred to in subsec. (a), probably means the date of the enactment of such subsection (a) by Pub. L. 94–579, which was approved Oct. 21, 1976.

§1722 Sale of Public Lands Subject to Unintentional Trespass