S. 404 would amend an existing land grant patent to ratify a change in the use of the Whitefish Point Light Station in Michigan and related property covered by that patent. (A land grant patent is a method of conveying ownership of land.) Based on information provided by the Department of the Interior, CBO estimates that implementing S. 404 would have no effect on the federal budget. The ratification would enable development plans for the property to go forward, but those plans do not involve federal spending. The Light Station was conveyed by the federal government to two nonprofit organizations in 1996. Enacting S. 404 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
The legislation contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments.
On August 1, 2011, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for S. 404, a bill to modify a land grant patent issued by the Secretary of the Interior, as ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on July 14, 2011. The two versions of the legislation are similar, and the CBO cost estimates are the same.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Jeff LaFave. The estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.