[Senate Report 109-38]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 53
109th Congress Report
SENATE
1st Session 109-38
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DANDINI RESEARCH PARK CONVEYANCE ACT
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March 14 , 2005.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Domenici, from the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources,
submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 252]
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was
referred the bill (S. 252) to direct the Secretary of the
Interior to convey certain land in Washoe County, Nevada, to
the Board of Regents of the University and Community College
System of Nevada, having considered the same, reports favorably
thereon without amendment and recommends that the bill do pass.
PURPOSE OF THE MEASURE
The purpose of S. 252 is to direct the Secretary of the
Interior to convey approximately 467 acres of land in Washoe
County, Nevada, to the Board of Regents of the University and
Community College System of Nevada.
BACKGROUND AND NEED
S. 252 directs the Secretary of the Interior to convey,
without consideration, approximately 467 acres of land in
Washoe County, Nevada, to the Board of Regents of the
University and Community College System of Nevada. The land in
question, which is located in Reno, Nevada, was patented to the
University and Community College System of Nevada in the 1970's
and is now known as the Dandini Research Park. The site is used
by the Desert Research Institute and Truckee Meadows Community
College.
Because patents were issued under the authority of the
Recreation and Public Purposes Act, the Board of Regents is
limited by the terms of the patents as to how it can use the
property. The patent terms and conditions prohibit the Board of
Regents from transferring control of the property or using it
for other than public purposes. These limitations are
preventing the Board of Regents from developing a University-
sponsored research park that would provide for technology
transfer, science-based economic development and partnering
among academic, governmental and industrial sectors in Nevada.
The terms of the patents also restrict the Board of Regents
from using the land as security or collateral for private
financing of buildings on the site.
S. 252 will allow the Board of Regents to continue with the
development of the Dandini Research Park while ensuring that
the net proceeds of any future sale of the site be returned to
the Secretary of the Interior for use by the Bureau of Land
Management in Nevada.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
S. 252 was introduced by Senators Reid and Ensign on
February 1, 2005. The Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests
held a hearing on a similar bill, S. 1826, on May 5, 2004. S.
Hrg. 108-575. The text of S. 1826 was included in S. Amdt. 4084
to H.R. 620, which passed the Senate on December 7, 2004.
At the business meeting on February 9, 2005, the Committee
on Energy and Natural Resources ordered S. 252 favorably
reported.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in an open
business session on February 9, 2005, by a unanimous vote of a
quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass S. 252.
SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS
Section 1 provides the short title of the bill, the
``Dandini Research Park Conveyance Act.''
Section 2 defines key terms used in the bill.
Section 3 provides for the conveyance of approximately 467
acres of land, already patented to University of Nevada under
the Recreation and Public Purposes Act, to the Board of Regents
of the University and Community College System of Nevada. The
section requires the Board of Regents to reimburse the
Secretary for the costs of the conveyance. It also directs that
should any portion of land be sold by the Board of Regents it
reflect fair market value and the proceeds be paid to the
Secretary for use by the Director of the Bureau of Land
Management in Nevada, without further appropriation.
COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS
The following estimate of costs of this measure has been
provided by the Congressional Budget Office.
February 14, 2004.
Hon. Pete V. Domenici,
Chairman, Committee on Energy and Natural Resources,
U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 252, the Dandini
Research Park Conveyance Act.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contacts are Deborah
Reis and Megan Carroll.
Sincerely,
Douglas Holtz-Eakin,
Director.
Enclosure.
S. 252--Dandini Research Park Conveyance Act
S. 252 would direct the Department of the Interior to
convey to the Board of Regents of the University and Community
College System of Nevada approximately 467 acres of land in
Washoe County, Nevada. The bill would require the board to
reimburse the department for any costs associated with the
conveyance of the property. If the board sells the property in
the future, it would also have to pay the department the net
proceeds of the sale, which would then be available to the
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) without further appropriation.
CBO estimates that enacting S. 252 would have no
significant impact on the federal budget and no effect on
revenues. According to BLM, the land to be conveyed under the
bill is already leased to the Board of Regents, which operates
university-constructed research facilities on that site. It is
very unlikely that the property would have been sold under
current law; therefore, donating it to the university would not
reduce future offsetting receipts from surplus land sales. We
estimate that any reimbursements made by the board would be
minimal. For this estimate, we assume that the conveyed land
would remain in the university system.
S. 252 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.
The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Deborah Reis
and Megan Caroll. This estimate was approved by Peter H.
Fontaine, Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.
REGULATORY IMPACT EVALUATION
In compliance with paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee makes the following
evaluation of the regulatory impact which would be incurred in
carrying out S. 252.
The bill is not a regulatory measure in the sense of
imposing Government-established standards or significant
economic responsibilities on private individuals and
businesses.
No personal information would be collected in administering
the program. Therefore, there would be no impact on personal
privacy.
Little, if any, additional paperwork would result from the
enactment of S. 252, as ordered reported.
EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS
Views of the Administration were included in testimony
received by the Committee on a substantially similar bill at a
hearing on May 5, 2004.
Statement of Bob Anderson, Deputy Assistant Director, Minerals, Realty
and Resource Protection Bureau of Land Management
Thank you for inviting me to testify regarding a number of
land conveyance bills of interest to the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM).
s. 1826
The BLM originally patented the lands referenced in S. 1826
to the Board of Regents of the University and Community College
System of Nevada in 1972 and 1974. Subsequent legislation,
Public Law 99-358, provided for the development of a research
park on the conveyed lands. P.L. 99-358 restricts the Board of
Regents' use of the patented lands to research and development
activities. S. 1826 would provide the remaining right, title
and interest of the United States in these lands to the Board
of Regents, which would allow the University full discretion in
the use or sale of these lands, with proceeds returned to the
Secretary of the Interior. The Administration supports S. 1826,
but requests technical corrections to add specificity to the
conveyance, clarify ``market value,'' and modify the
disposition of ``net proceeds'' in Section 2(c)(2) of the bill
as introduced.
We look forward to working with the Committee and local
interests to address the concerns we have identified in S.
1826.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify. I'll be happy to
answer any questions.
changes in existing law
In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee notes that no
changes in existing law are made by the bill S. 252, as ordered
reported.