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The House of Representatives today passed 10 bills that improve the way our public lands are managed and accessed. Included in the bipartisan package of bills was the Land Disposal Transparency and Efficiency Act [H.R. 2095], authored by Chairman of the House Natural Resources Public Lands and Environmental Regulation Subcommittee Rob Bishop (UT-01).

The Land Disposal Transparency and Efficiency Act would require the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to create a centralized online database that would track and identity surplus federal lands.  By statute, the BLM is required to identify federal lands that no longer serve a federal purpose and can be returned to state or private use.  Surplus lands are currently identified through more than 150 separate Resource Management Plans. Tracking this data and the plans is time consuming, burdensome, and inefficient.  The Land Disposal Transparency and Efficiency Act would help modernize the way this information is organized and made available to the public.  

“This database is something that should already exist within the BLM. It would help improve the way the federal government manages and shares information about surplus lands. As we continue to work to find new ways to improve transparency in Washington, we ought to consider proposals such as this that give the American people greater access to information. This bill is a no brainer and I am hopeful it gets the consideration it deserves from the Senate,” said Bishop.    

Other bills included in the public lands package:

1.       H.R. 2954, Escambia County, FL Land Conveyance (Miller-FL)

2.       H.R. 585, Anchorage Land Conveyance (Young-AK)

3.       H.R. 1170, Fernley, NV Land Conveyance (Amodei)

4.       H.R. 819,  Preserving Access to Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreational Area Act (Jones)

5.       H.R. 908, Green Mountain Lookout Heritage Protection Act (DelBene)

6.       H.R. 3492, River Paddling Protect Act (Lummis)

7.       H.R. 657, Grazing Improvement Act (Labrador)

8.       H.R. 3188,  Rim Fire Emergency Salvage Act (McClintock)

9.       H.R. 739, Chesapeake Bay Accountability and Recovery Act (Wittman)