II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 909
To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain land to La
Paz County, Arizona, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH10, 2025
Mr. G
ALLEGO(for himself and Mr. KELLY) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Nat-
ural Resources
A BILL
To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain
land to La Paz County, Arizona, and for other purposes.
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 ‘‘La Paz County Solar 4
Energy and Job Creation Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
(1) C
OUNTY.—The term ‘‘County’’ means La 8
Paz County, Arizona. 9
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(2) FEDERAL LAND.—The term ‘‘Federal land’’ 1
means the approximately 3,400 acres of land man-2
aged by the Bureau of Land Management and des-3
ignated as ‘‘Federal Land To Be Conveyed’’ on the 4
map. 5
(3) M
AP.—The term ‘‘map’’ means the map en-6
titled ‘‘BLM Arizona—La Paz County Land Con-7
veyance Map, Bureau of Land Management—Colo-8
rado River District, Yuma Field Office’’ and dated 9
June 29, 2023. 10
(4) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 11
the Secretary of the Interior. 12
SEC. 3. CONVEYANCE TO LA PAZ COUNTY, ARIZONA. 13
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Notwithstanding the planning re-14
quirement of sections 202 and 203 of the Federal Land 15
Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1712, 16
1713) and in accordance with this section and other appli-17
cable law, as soon as practicable after receiving a request 18
from the County to convey the Federal land, the Secretary 19
shall convey the Federal land to the County. 20
(b) R
ESTRICTIONS ONCONVEYANCE.— 21
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The conveyance under sub-22
section (a) shall be subject to— 23
(A) valid existing rights; and 24
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(B) such terms and conditions as the Sec-1
retary determines to be necessary. 2
(2) E
XCLUSION.—The Secretary shall exclude 3
from the conveyance under subsection (a) any Fed-4
eral land that contains significant cultural, environ-5
mental, wildlife, or recreational resources. 6
(c) P
AYMENT OFFAIRMARKETVALUE.—The con-7
veyance under subsection (a) shall be for the fair market 8
value of the Federal land to be conveyed, as determined— 9
(1) in accordance with the Federal Land Policy 10
and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et 11
seq.); and 12
(2) based on an appraisal that is conducted in 13
accordance with— 14
(A) the Uniform Appraisal Standards for 15
Federal Land Acquisitions; and 16
(B) the Uniform Standards of Professional 17
Appraisal Practice. 18
(d) P
ROTECTION OF TRIBALCULTURALARTI-19
FACTS.—As a condition of the conveyance under sub-20
section (a), the County shall, and as a condition of any 21
subsequent conveyance, any subsequent owner shall— 22
(1) make good faith efforts to avoid disturbing 23
Tribal artifacts; 24
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(2) minimize impacts on Tribal artifacts if the 1
artifacts are disturbed; 2
(3) coordinate with the Colorado River Indian 3
Tribes Tribal Historic Preservation Office to identify 4
artifacts of cultural and historic significance; and 5
(4) allow Tribal representatives to rebury un-6
earthed artifacts at or near where the artifacts were 7
discovered. 8
(e) A
VAILABILITY OFMAP.— 9
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The map shall be on file and 10
available for public inspection in the appropriate of-11
fices of the Bureau of Land Management. 12
(2) C
ORRECTIONS.—The Secretary and the 13
County may, by mutual agreement— 14
(A) make minor boundary adjustments to 15
the Federal land to be conveyed under sub-16
section (a); and 17
(B) correct any minor errors in the map, 18
an acreage estimate, or the description of the 19
Federal land. 20
(f) W
ITHDRAWAL.—The Federal land is withdrawn 21
from the operation of the mining and mineral leasing laws 22
of the United States. 23
(g) C
OSTS.—As a condition of the conveyance of the 24
Federal land under subsection (a), the County shall pay— 25
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(1) an amount equal to the appraised value de-1
termined in accordance with subsection (c)(2); and 2
(2) all costs related to the conveyance, including 3
all surveys, appraisals, and other administrative 4
costs associated with the conveyance of the Federal 5
land to the County under subsection (a). 6
(h) P
ROCEEDSFROM THESALE OFLAND.—The pro-7
ceeds from the sale of land under this section shall be— 8
(1) deposited in the Federal Land Disposal Ac-9
count established by section 206(a) of the Federal 10
Land Transaction Facilitation Act (43 U.S.C. 11
2305(a)); and 12
(2) used in accordance with that Act (43 U.S.C. 13
2301 et seq.). 14
Æ
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