This bill lets the State of North Dakota trade certain state land grant parcels for unappropriated Federal land administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) inside North Dakota. The State can choose to relinquish state parcels that lie wholly or partly within Indian reservations. The Secretary of the Interior must approve or reject a State selection within 180 days and start conveyance within 60 days after approval, subject to valid existing rights.
The law requires appraisals or agreed-upon valuation methods to make the parcels substantially equal in value. If values are not equal, the party conveying less value must pay money or record the imbalance in a ledger account. Equalization payments or ledger imbalances may not exceed 25 percent of the value of the Federal parcel. Low-value parcels may use summary appraisals. Selected Federal land is withdrawn from disposal while selection is pending.
If a state parcel conveyed to the Secretary lies within a reservation, an affected Indian Tribe may request that the parcel be taken into trust for the Tribe and treated as part of the reservation. The State and Secretary must consult with affected Tribes before conveyance. The bill requires hazardous materials inspections and certifications before conveyance. Existing leases, permits, grazing agreements, and other valid existing rights survive the transfer, and grazing may continue under current terms for the remainder of a permit or lease. The bill does not affect treaty rights, lands already held in trust, individual allotments, or pending litigation about ownership.
The bill requires appraisals, possible equalization payments, and administration of ledger accounts to balance value differences. Equalization payments or ledger imbalances are capped at 25 percent of the Federal parcel's value. The Secretary or the State may assume certain conveyance costs, and values will be adjusted if they do. No publicly available information on overall federal or State budgetary effects is provided in the bill text.
No publicly available information.
No publicly available information.