December 20, 2013
As ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on November 21, 2013
H.R. 862 would authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to sell certain federal lands located within the Coconino National Forest. Based on information provided by the Forest Service, CBO estimates that implementing the act would have a negligible impact on the federal budget. Implementing the legislation would increase offsetting receipts and associated direct spending; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. However, CBO estimates that those changes would have no significant impact on future budget deficits. Enacting H.R. 862 would not affect revenues.
H.R. 862 would authorize the Secretary to sell 19 small parcels of federal land totaling less than 3 acres to a representative of several private homeowners. The act would require the homeowners to pay a total of $20,000 for the parcels and to cover any administrative costs associated with the sale. The Secretary has the authority to sell the lands under current law; however, the act would allow the Secretary to sell the parcels in a single transaction rather than through separate transactions with each affected homeowner. The act also would allow the Forest Service to retain and spend proceeds from the sale, without further appropriation, to acquire other lands. CBO estimates that the agency would spend those proceeds within the next three years.
H.R. 862 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
On May 15, 2013, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R. 862 as ordered reported by the House Committee on Natural Resources on April 24, 2013. The two versions of the legislation are similar, and the CBO cost estimates are the same.