II
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 20
To achieve domestic energy independence by empowering States to control
the development and production of all forms of energy on all available
Federal land.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY23 (legislative day, JANUARY3), 2023
Mr. M
ULLINintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
A BILL
To achieve domestic energy independence by empowering
States to control the development and production of all
forms of energy on all available Federal land.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Land Freedom 4
Act of 2023’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
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(1) AVAILABLE FEDERAL LAND .—The term 1
‘‘available Federal land’’ means any Federal land 2
that, as of May 31, 2013— 3
(A) is located within the boundaries of a 4
State; 5
(B) is not held by the United States in 6
trust for the benefit of a federally recognized 7
Indian tribe; 8
(C) is not a unit of the National Park Sys-9
tem; 10
(D) is not a unit of the National Wildlife 11
Refuge System; and 12
(E) is not a congressionally designated wil-13
derness area. 14
(2) S
TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means— 15
(A) a State; and 16
(B) the District of Columbia. 17
(3) S
TATE LEASING, PERMITTING, AND REGU-18
LATORY PROGRAM .—The term ‘‘State leasing, per-19
mitting, and regulatory program’’ means a program 20
established pursuant to State law that regulates the 21
exploration and development of oil, natural gas, and 22
other forms of energy on land located in the State. 23
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SEC. 3. STATE CONTROL OF ENERGY DEVELOPMENT AND 1
PRODUCTION ON ALL AVAILABLE FEDERAL 2
LAND. 3
(a) S
TATELEASING, PERMITTING, ANDREGU-4
LATORYPROGRAMS.—Any State that has established a 5
State leasing, permitting, and regulatory program may— 6
(1) submit to the Secretaries of the Interior, 7
Agriculture, and Energy a declaration that a State 8
leasing, permitting, and regulatory program has 9
been established or amended; and 10
(2) seek to transfer responsibility for leasing, 11
permitting, and regulating oil, natural gas, and 12
other forms of energy development from the Federal 13
Government to the State. 14
(b) S
TATEACTIONAUTHORIZED.—Notwithstanding 15
any other provision of law, on submission of a declaration 16
under subsection (a)(1), the State submitting the declara-17
tion may lease, permit, and regulate the exploration and 18
development of oil, natural gas, and other forms of energy 19
on Federal land located in the State in lieu of the Federal 20
Government. 21
(c) E
FFECT OFSTATEACTION.—Any action by a 22
State to lease, permit, or regulate the exploration and de-23
velopment of oil, natural gas, and other forms of energy 24
pursuant to subsection (b) shall not be subject to, or con-25
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sidered a Federal action, Federal permit, or Federal li-1
cense under— 2
(1) subchapter II of chapter 5, and chapter 7, 3
of title 5, United States Code (commonly known as 4
the ‘‘Administrative Procedure Act’’); 5
(2) division A of subtitle III of title 54, United 6
States Code; 7
(3) the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 8
U.S.C. 1531 et seq.); or 9
(4) the National Environmental Policy Act of 10
1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). 11
SEC. 4. NO EFFECT ON FEDERAL REVENUES. 12
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Any lease or permit issued by a 13
State pursuant to section 3 shall include provisions for 14
the collection of royalties or other revenues in an amount 15
equal to the amount of royalties or revenues that would 16
have been collected if the lease or permit had been issued 17
by the Federal Government. 18
(b) D
ISPOSITION OFREVENUES.—Any revenues col-19
lected by a State from leasing or permitting on Federal 20
land pursuant to section 3 shall be deposited in the same 21
Federal account in which the revenues would have been 22
deposited if the lease or permit had been issued by the 23
Federal Government. 24
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(c) EFFECT ONSTATEPROCESSINGFEES.—Nothing 1
in this Act prohibits a State from collecting and retaining 2
a fee from an applicant to cover the administrative costs 3
of processing an application for a lease or permit. 4
Æ
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