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Show attempt to provide full equivalency with payments that would be received if the property was in private ownership. A public benefits discount of at least 10 percent but not more than 40 percent should be applied to payments made by the Government in order to give recognition to the intangible benefits that some public lands provide, while, at the same time, recognizing the continuing burdens imposed on state and local governments through the increased use of public lands. The payments to states should be conditioned on distribution to those local units of government where the Federal lands are located, subject to criteria and formulae established by the states. Extraordinary benefits and burdens should be treated separately and payments made accordingly. Page 237. 103. In a payments-in-lieu-of-taxes system, a transition period should be provided for states and counties to adjust in changing from the existing system. Page 241. Chapter Fifteen (Land Grants to States): 104. No additional grants should be made to any of the 50 states. Page 243. 105. Within a relatively brief period, perhaps from 3 to 5 years, the Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the involved states, should be required to classify land as suitable for state indemnity selection, in reasonably compact units, and such classifications should aggregate at least 3 or 4 times the acreage due to each state. In the event the affected states do not agree, within 2 years thereafter, to satisfy their grants from the lands so classified, the Secretary should be required to report the differences to the Congress. If no resolution, legislative or otherwise, is reached at the end of 3 years after such report, making a total of 10 years of classification, selection, and negotiation, all such grants should be terminated. Page 245. 106. Limitations originally placed by the Federal Government on the use of grant lands, or funds derived from them, should be eliminated. Page 247. 107. The satisfaction of Federal land grants to Alaska should be expedited with the aim of completing selection by 1984 in accordance with the Statehood Act, and selections of land under the Alaska Statehood Act should have priority over any land classification program of the Bureau of Land Management. Page 249. Chapter Sixteen (Administrative Procedures): 108. Congress should require public land management agencies to utilize rulemaking to the fullest extent possible in interpreting statutes and exercising delegated discretion, and should provide legislative restrictions to insure compliance with this goal. Page 251. 109. Congress should direct the public land agencies to restructure their adjudication organization and procedures in order to assure: (1) procedural due process; (2) greater third party participation; (3) objective administrative review of initial decisions; and (4) more expeditious decisionmaking. Page 253. 110. Judicial review of public land adjudications should be expressly provided for by Congress. Page 256. Chapter Seventeen (Trespass and Disputed Title): 111. Statutes and administrative practices defining unauthorized use of public lands should be clarified, and remedies available to the Federal Government should be uniform among land management agencies. Where necessary, statutory authority for policing by Federal agencies should be provided. Page 259. 112. An intensified survey program to locate and mark boundaries of all public lands based upon a system of priorities, over a period of years, should be undertaken as the public interest requires. Page 260. 113. The doctrine of adverse possession should be made applicable against the United States with respect to the public lands where the land has been occupied in good faith. Citizens should be permitted to bring quiet title actions in which the Government could be named as defendant. The defenses of equitable estoppel and laches should be available in a suit brought by the Government for the purpose of trying title to real property or for ejectment. In cases where questions of adverse possession, equitable estoppel, and laches do not apply, persons who claim an interest in public land based upon good faith, undisturbed, unauthorized occupancy for a substantial period of time, should be afforded an opportunity to purchase or lease such lands. Page 260. Chapter Eighteen (Disposals, Acquisitions, and Exchanges) : 114. Statutory eligibility qualifications of applicants for public lands subject to disposal should generally avoid artificial restraints and promote maximum competition for such lands. Preferences for certain classes of applicants should be used sparingly. Page 265. 115. Disposals in excess of a specified dollar or acreage amount should require congressional authorization. Page 265. 116. Where land is disposed of at less than fair-market value, or where it is desired to assure that lands be used for the purpose disposed of for a limited period to avoid undue speculation, transfers should provide for a possibility of reverter, which 15 |
