H.R. 2745, a bill to amend the Mesquite Lands Act of 1986 to facilitate implementation of a multispecies habitat conservation plan for the Virgin River in Clark County, Nevada

As ordered reported by the House Committee on Natural Resources on February 29, 2012

H.R. 2745 would give the city of Mesquite, Nevada, the exclusive right to purchase certain federal lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The bill also would authorize BLM and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to spend a portion of the proceeds from those sales on specified activities. Based on information provided by the affected agencies, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 2745 would increase direct spending by $3 million over the 2012-2022 period; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. Enacting H.R. 2745 would not affect revenues.

Based on information from BLM and the city of Mesquite, CBO expects that, under current law, the affected lands would be sold under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA). CBO estimates that proceeds from those sales would total about $7 million over the 2012-2020 period. Under FLPMA, 96 percent of all proceeds from lands sales are deposited in the U.S. Treasury. Because H.R. 2745 would authorize BLM and USFWS to spend roughly half of those proceeds, without further appropriation, to pay for certain administrative costs and to implement a multispecies habitat conservation plan in Clark County, Nevada, CBO estimates that implementing the bill would increase direct spending.

H.R. 2745 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.