Henderson land deal stripped from war bill

Wednesday, April 16, 2003 | 10:12 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- An amendment designed to goad the Bureau of Land Management into finalizing a languishing Henderson land deal was stripped from the final Iraq war bill.

The provision, which Nevada senators had quietly slipped into the $78.5 billion war bill, required the BLM to produce a report about its intentions for about 980 acres of land that the Lake Las Vegas resort developers have long been trying to obtain. The land was originally part of a land swap talks between developer Transcontinental Corp. and the BLM, the federal agency that manages much of Nevada's public land.

Delays have swamped the deal, although the agency still intends to sell the land to the developer. The BLM is now in the process of re-assessing its value. An appraisal in 2000 said it was worth $11.9 million. Agency policy requires appraisals within 12 months of a land sale.

The developer through a lawsuit is trying to spur an immediate land sale to avoid paying a higher price, alleging that the BLM has unnecessarily delayed the land sale.

Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., stepped into the fray when they negotiated to have their provision attached to the war spending bill, which was approved by the Senate on April 3. But the legislation was removed from the final version of the bill approved by House and Senate negotiators on Saturday. Lawmakers removed more than a dozen provisions that were not war-related.

In other action, House and Senate negotiators working out the final details of a $2.2. trillion federal budget last week removed a provision sponsored by Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev. Porter had introduced a bill that would create $3,000 accounts for unemployed workers looking for jobs. People would be required to use the money for job-seeking expenses, such as child care, transportation and training.

President Bush backed the $3.6 billion bill and it was popular with Republican House members, but Democrats had criticized the legislation for its focus on future unemployed workers and not those who are jobless now. The provision was stripped from the final version of the budget approved Friday, largely because lawmakers were looking for budget trims in the face of increasing war costs, Porter spokeswoman Traci Scott said. Porter vows to look for other opportunities to pass the legislation.

"It's still on the radar screen," Scott said. "It's not dead."