Bush’s plan for federal land sales resurfaces

Suzanne Struglinski

Thursday, May 5, 2005 | 11:09 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- A provision passed in a House subcommittee spending bill Wednesday revives the Bush administration's proposal to reduce Nevada's share of federal land sale money.

The House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee passed a bill ordering the Interior Department to detail how the government has spent money earned through Bureau of Land Management land auctions in Clark County for 2003 and 2004.

The subcommittee has jurisdiction over the agency and wants to know how that money has been spent, a committee aide said, but the bill could bring back the Bush administration's proposal to change Nevada's share of the money.

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., and Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., sent a letter today to Appropriations Interior Subcommittee Chairman Charles Taylor, R-N.C., expressing concern about the provision.

"While this language appears to be a measure of sound government and accountability, we have significant concerns that this could be used as a placeholder for future language that will shift the revenues of the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act to the federal treasury," the lawmakers wrote.

Currently under the 1998 Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act (SNPLMA), all the money from public land auctions in Nevada stays within the state and different percentages go to the education fund, water treatment and for federal land conservation projects.

But the Bush administration proposed a change in its 2006 budget request, planning to funnel 70 percent of money earned from Nevada public land sales to the nation's treasury, mainly for deficit relief, leaving 30 percent to the state.

The land sales have generated much more money than lawmakers anticipated when the law passed, with $1.2 billion coming in this year so far.

Nevada lawmakers successfully thwarted the proposal earlier this year, when the House and Senate Budget Committees opted to leave language sending the bulk of the money to the federal treasury out of the 2006 budget resolutions.

But Nevada lawmakers fear the appropriators may have put the report in as a placeholder to try to include the administration's proposal in the Interior spending bill, said David Cherry, spokesman for Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev. Berkley has told Democrats on the committee she opposes this idea and Cherry said they are going to have to take "no" for answer.

The subcommittee aide said the provision should not be characterized as a "placeholder" but added that it does keep options open for the Bush proposal. The aide said there has been no legislation introduced yet to advance the proposal and so far it has only been recommended in the budget proposal.

Gibbons and Porter point out in their letter that Nevadans' federal tax share burden is "unfairly high," with only 70 cents coming back to the state for every dollar paid in federal tax.

"The administration's proposal to divert revenue from SNPLMA to the federal treasury means Nevada would be sending more money to Washington, D.C., and getting even less back," according to the letter. "Additionally, this funding is even more critical when you consider that close to 91 percent of the state of Nevada is owned by the federal government and thereby removed from any property tax rolls. This de facto tax will only further this unjust burden and it is imperative that these funds stay in Nevada."

Gibbons still objects to the Bush proposal.

"Any report on SNPLMA should show the great benefits it has had on our state in balancing economic growth with conservation, protecting sensitive lands, and supporting education," Gibbons said. "And any report should show how much our state needs these revenues, especially because we continue to struggle under the unique economic burden caused by the federal government owning over 90 percent of our land."

Gibbons sits on the House Resources Committee, where he is chairman of the Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee. The committee also has jurisdiction over the act.