HR 718 Re-checks Congress.gov for new actions and updates the bill's status, and fills in any sponsors, committees, or related bills that are missing. It does not re-pull sponsors/cosponsors/committees/related — those rarely change — and it skips all work if nothing has changed upstream, so it's cheap to click.
Public Lands in Public Hands Act
To prohibit the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture from transferring certain Federal land, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill would prohibit the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture from transferring federal land to non-federal entities if the land is publicly accessible or contiguous to publicly accessible land or state/local public land. "Publicly accessible" is defined as land that can be accessed by public road, trail, waterway, easement, or right-of-way. The prohibition includes exceptions for transfers of land under 300 acres (or 5 acres if accessible via public waterway) authorized under existing federal land laws, transfers authorized by specific named federal statutes such as the Recreation and Public Purposes Act, and land exchanges authorized by federal law. The bill also prohibits subdividing federal land to circumvent the acreage thresholds in the exceptions.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Rep. Zinke, Ryan K. [R-MT-1] (R-MT)
18 cosponsors
- Rep. Bynum, Janelle S. [D-OR-5] (D-OR)
- Rep. Ciscomani, Juan [R-AZ-6] (R-AZ)
- Rep. Dingell, Debbie [D-MI-6] (D-MI)
- Rep. Downing, Troy [R-MT-2] (R-MT)
- Rep. Goodlander, Maggie [D-NH-2] (D-NH)
- Rep. Hoyle, Val T. [D-OR-4] (D-OR)
- Rep. Kean, Thomas H. [R-NJ-7] (R-NJ)
- Rep. Kiley, Kevin [I-CA-3] (I-CA)
- Rep. Kim, Young [R-CA-40] (R-CA)
- Rep. Lofgren, Zoe [D-CA-18] (D-CA)
- Rep. Neguse, Joe [D-CO-2] (D-CO)
- Rep. Panetta, Jimmy [D-CA-19] (D-CA)
- Rep. Schrier, Kim [D-WA-8] (D-WA)
- Rep. Simpson, Michael K. [R-ID-2] (R-ID)
- Rep. Stanton, Greg [D-AZ-4] (D-AZ)
- Rep. Vasquez, Gabe [D-NM-2] (D-NM)
- Rep. Vindman, Eugene Simon [D-VA-7] (D-VA)
- Rep. Watson Coleman, Bonnie [D-NJ-12] (D-NJ)
Actions (3)
- Feb 28, 2025 Referred to the Subcommittee on Forestry and Horticulture. · house
- Jan 23, 2025 Referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned. · house
- Jan 23, 2025 Introduced in House
More bills on these subjects (8)
Other bills that carry the most legislative subjects in common with this one (topical discovery — distinct from the procedural related bills above).
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 23, 2025
Mr. Zinke (for himself and Mr. Vasquez) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To prohibit the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture from transferring certain Federal land, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Public Lands in Public Hands Act”.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act, the term “publicly accessible tract” means a tract of Federal land managed by the Secretary of the Interior or the Chief of the Forest Service that can be accessed by public road, public trail, public waterway, public easement, or public right-of-way.
SEC. 3. RESTRICTION ON TRANSFER OF CERTAIN FEDERAL LAND.
(a) In General.—The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture are prohibited from transferring title to Federal land to a non-Federal entity, if the Federal land is—
(1) a publicly accessible tract; or
(2) contiguous with—
(A) a publicly accessible tract; or
(B) a tract of land that—
(i) is owned by a State, county, or municipal government; and
(ii) can be accessed by public road, public trail, public waterway, public easement, or public right-of-way.
(b) Exception.—Subsection (a) shall not apply to a transfer—
(1) of Federal land that is—
(A)(i) less than 300 acres; or
(ii) less than 5 acres and accessible via a public waterway; and
(B) authorized to be transferred under and subject to the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976;
(2) authorized by—
(A) the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act of 1998;
(B) the Sisk Act (16 U.S.C. 479a);
(C) Public Law 85-569, commonly known as the “Townsites Act of 1958”;
(D) the Small Tract Act of 1983;
(E) the Act of May 17, 1906, commonly known as the “Native Allotment Act of 1906”;
(F) Public Law 85-508, commonly known as the “Alaska Statehood Act of 1959”;
(G) the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act;
(H) the Alaska Native Vietnam-era Veterans Land Allotment Program authorized by section 1119 of the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act;
(I) the Recreation and Public Purposes Act; or
(J) the Weeks Act of 1911;
(3) explicitly authorized by Federal law; or
(4) completed through a land exchange authorized by Federal law.
(c) Limitation.—The Secretary shall not subdivide Federal land to meet acreage minimums described in subsection (b)(1).
SEC. 4. STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION.
Nothing in this Act shall be used to influence or interpret the legality of stepping over a property corner from one parcel of public land to another. <all>
Comments