S52JUL29

TheWeekInCongress.com

Week Ending July 29, 2005

S.52 A bill to direct the Secretary of the Interior to convey a parcel of real property to Beaver County, Utah.

BRIEF

The bill authorizes the transfer of 200 acres of public land to Beaver County, Utah. The County currently leases the property and after taking ownership could sell off part of it to use the proceeds to maintain the park. If the funds are not spent on maintaining the park the proceeds would go to the US Treasury. The land would be transferred for no consideration.

“In 1961, Beaver County, Utah obtained a lease for 207 acres of land from the Bureau of Land Management to develop a recreational site under the Recreation and Public Purposes Act. In 1963, the lease was transferred to the State of Utah, which developed and managed the site as the Minersville Reservoir State Park. To reduce costs, the State transferred control back to Beaver County in 2002. The County wants to sell some of the property in order to generate revenue to maintain the park. S. 52 would convey the site to Beaver County and provide authority to sell some of the land to pay for park maintenance” the accompanying report said.

Sponsor: Senator Orin G. Hatch (R0UT)

Vote: Passed Senate by Unanimous Consent (July 27, 2005)

Cost to the taxpayers: According to BLM, the land currently generates no significant receipts and is not expected to do so over the next 10 years. Therefore, CBO estimates that conveying it would not significantly affect offsetting receipts (a credit against direct spending)