Assembly Joint Resolution No. 6–Assemblymen Hardy, Gibbons, Collins, Marvel, Mabey, Andonov, Beers, Brown, Christensen, Geddes, Goicoechea, Grady, Griffin, Gustavson, Hettrick, Knecht, Koivisto, Manendo, McCleary, Pierce, Sherer and Weber
Joint Sponsors: Senators
McGinness, Schneider,
Washington and Wiener
Assembly Joint RESOLUTION—Urging Congress to increase payments in lieu of taxes and make certain other reparations for the detrimental effects of federally held lands in Nevada.
Whereas, An average of 52 percent of the land in 13 western
states is held by the Federal Government, while the Federal
Government holds an average of only 4.1 percent of the land in the
remaining 37 states; and
Whereas, In Nevada, approximately 87 percent of the land,
which amounts to approximately 61 million acres, is held by the
Federal Government; and
Whereas, In 15 of the 17 counties in Nevada, more than 50
percent of the land is held by the Federal Government, and in 4 of
the 17 counties, more than 90 percent of the land is held by the
Federal Government; and
Whereas, The management and control of such an extensive
amount of the land in Nevada by the Federal Government has had
substantial adverse effects on Nevadans; and
Whereas, When the Territory of Nevada was admitted to
statehood on October 31, 1864, the Federal Government provided
the newly admitted state with 2 sections of land in each township for
the benefit of common schools, which amounted to 3.9 million
acres, while other states that were subsequently admitted to
statehood received 4 sections of land in each township for the
benefit of common schools; and
Whereas, In 1880, it was necessary for Nevada to agree to
exchange its 3.9 million acres for only 2 million acres of its own
selection as Nevada had an immediate need for public school
revenues and the land originally granted by the Federal Government
to Nevada for common schools was not providing sufficient revenue
because it included many undesirable sections that were on steep
mountainsides or salt flats, the sections of the land could not be
received from the Federal Government until they were surveyed and
only a small fraction of the land had been surveyed and sold; and
Whereas, The disproportionately small amount of land
received from the Federal Government for the benefit of common
schools contributes only a small amount of revenue for the schools
in Nevada in comparison to other states, and places an excessive
burden on the financial resources of each county in Nevada; and
Whereas, Because the land held by the Federal Government is
exempt from property taxes, the management and control of such an
extensive amount of land in Nevada by the Federal Government has
the effect of worsening the tremendous fiscal burdens experienced
by counties in Nevada for those counties with a considerable
amount of federally held land located within their boundaries; and
Whereas, The annual impact of this property tax exemption in
the western states has been estimated at billions of dollars, which
greatly hinders the ability of those western states, including Nevada,
to develop and prosper economically; and
Whereas, In 1976, Congress enacted Public Law 94-565,
which is codified as 31 U.S.C. §§ 6901 to 6907, inclusive, and as
amended, is commonly known as the Payments In Lieu of Taxes
Act; and
Whereas, The Act requires the Federal Government to make
annual payments to local governments to compensate the local
governments for the loss of revenue they experience because of the
presence of land within their boundaries that is held by the Federal
Government; and
Whereas, Congress appropriates money each year that the
Bureau of Land Management distributes to each of the 17 counties
in the State of Nevada pursuant to several statutory formulas set
forth in the Act; and
Whereas, The annual payments received by the counties in
Nevada pursuant to the Act are significantly less than the annual
revenue that those counties could collect from property taxes if the
land held by the Federal Government were privately held; and
Whereas, From the inception of the payments in 1977 to the
end of the 2001-2002 Fiscal Year, the money appropriated by
Congress has been insufficient to provide full payment to the
counties in Nevada pursuant to the statutory formulas; and
Whereas, Even though Nevada is the state with the second
highest percentage of land held by the Federal Government, Nevada
only ranks as the eighth highest state in terms of the amount of the
payments it receives from the Bureau of Land Management pursuant
to the Act because the statutory formula set forth in 31 U.S.C. §
6903 is based in part on the population of the local government that
will be receiving the payments, and 14 of the 17 counties in Nevada
have populations that are less than 50,000; and
Whereas, Another example of the adverse effects of the
management and control of the extensive amount of land in Nevada
held by the Federal Government is the management and control of
the Nevada Test Site, which was established in December 1950, by
President Truman, upon the recommendation of the Atomic Energy
Commission, as the location at which nuclear weapons testing
would be conducted within the continental United States; and
Whereas, Approximately 5,470 square miles of federally held
land in Nevada was used to provide:
1. The Nevada Test Site, which is owned and controlled by the
United States Department of Energy and encompasses
approximately 1,350 square miles of desert and mountainous terrain,
an area which is larger than the State of Rhode Island; and
2. An additional 4,120 square miles of unpopulated land area
surrounding the site which was withdrawn from the public domain
for use as a protected wildlife range and for a military gunnery
range; and
Whereas, More than 1,100 nuclear weapons tests were
conducted at the Nevada Test Site, located 65 miles northwest of
Las Vegas, Nevada, before the Limited Test Ban Treaty, which
effectively banned atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons, was
signed on August 5, 1963; and
Whereas, While the primary mission of the Nevada Test Site
has been the testing of nuclear weapons, after the signing of the
Limited Test Ban Treaty in 1963 and the initiation of a voluntary
worldwide moratorium on nuclear weapons testing in 1992, the
Nevada Test Site has been used for other purposes, including,
without limitation, hazardous chemical spill testing, emergency
response training, conventional weapons testing, conducting studies
relating to waste management and environmental technology, and
storing low-level waste; and
Whereas, In 1978, the United States Department of Energy
established two Radioactive Waste Management Sites at the Nevada
Test Site which have received approximately 21 million cubic feet
of low-level waste for disposal from 1978 until the present, making
the Nevada Test Site one of the largest regional low-level waste
storage facilities in the country; and
Whereas, Because the Nevada Test Site is centrally located
within the Death Valley regional ground-water flow system, which
includes much of southern Nevada and the Death Valley region of
eastern California, the residents of Nevada and California are
subject to risks from subsurface contaminants that may be
transported from the Nevada Test Site by ground water as a result of
past and future activities conducted at the Nevada Test Site; and
Whereas, The residents and resources of Nevada may be
exposed to additional risks because most of the ground water
leaving the ground-water flow system is limited to local areas where
geologic and hydrologic conditions force ground water upward
toward the surface to discharge at springs and seeps; now, therefore,
be it
Resolved by the Assembly and Senate of the State of
Nevada, Jointly, That the members of the 72nd Session of the
Nevada Legislature hereby urge Congress to:
1. Authorize the transfer of land in Nevada from the Federal
Government to the State of Nevada in the amount necessary to
provide Nevada with the same amount of land received by the states
that received 4 sections of land for the benefit of common schools
upon admission to statehood;
2. Either:
(a) Amend 31 U.S.C. § 6906 to provide permanent funding in
the amount necessary to carry out the Payments In Lieu of Taxes
Act as set forth in 31 U.S.C. §§ 6901 to 6907, inclusive; or
(b) Appropriate for distribution to the counties in the State of
Nevada a sufficient amount of money each fiscal year to provide the
entire amount of the payments required by the statutory formulas set
forth in the Payments In Lieu of Taxes Act;
3. Amend 31 U.S.C. § 6903 by deleting the current population-
based statutory formula and replacing it with a provision that
authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to compensate the counties in
Nevada and the local governments of other states in an amount that
is equal to the amount that those counties and other local
governments would be able to collect in property taxes if the land
held by the Federal Government were privately held; and
4. Either:
(a) Authorize the transfer of an additional 5,470 square miles of
land in Nevada and any water rights appurtenant thereto from the
Federal Government to the State of Nevada to fairly compensate
Nevada for the approximately 5,470 square miles of land that were
withdrawn from the public domain for the purpose of establishing
the Nevada Test Site; or
(b) Appropriate for distribution to the State of Nevada the
amount of money necessary to fairly compensate Nevada for the
approximately 5,470 square miles of land that were withdrawn from
the public domain for the purpose of establishing the Nevada Test
Site and any detrimental effects to that land and to the Death Valley
regional ground-water flow system that resulted from the activities
conducted at the Nevada Test Site; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly prepare and
transmit a copy of this resolution to the Vice President of the United
States as presiding officer of the United States Senate, the Speaker
of the House of Representatives, the Secretary of the Interior, the
Secretary of Energy, the Director of the Bureau of Land
Management and each member of the Nevada Congressional
Delegation; and be it further
Resolved, That this resolution becomes effective upon
passage.
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