The bipartisan Public Lands Integrity Act would require public land sale or transfer proposals to receive full congressional consideration instead of moving through expedited budget procedures.

Organ Mountain News report

WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez introduced a bipartisan bill Friday aimed at preventing federal public land sales from being rushed through Congress using the budget reconciliation process.

The Public Lands Integrity Act would amend the Congressional Budget Act’s Byrd Rule to clarify that provisions resulting in the sale, transfer or disposal of federal public lands are outside the scope of budget reconciliation. That would prevent such proposals from advancing through expedited reconciliation procedures and require 60 votes in the Senate.

Vasquez, D-N.M., introduced the bill with U.S. Reps. Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz.; Joe Neguse, D-Colo.; and Dina Titus, D-Nev.

“Public lands are America’s best idea, and they belong to all of us and must remain in the public trust,” Vasquez said. “Treating public lands as another item on a balance sheet goes against the will of the people, and Americans have made it clear that our public lands are not for sale.”

The bill builds on the bipartisan Public Lands Caucus, which Vasquez co-founded last year. Vasquez’s office said caucus members helped defeat attempts last summer to sell millions of acres of public land under a Republican tax law.

The bill would not affect legitimate land exchanges, local conveyances, permitting reforms, grazing, timber management, energy development or other public land management decisions, according to Vasquez’s office.

New Mexico Wild praised the bill, saying public lands are “too important and too beloved by citizens of all political stripes to be sold off.”

“We at New Mexico Wild are grateful to Representatives Vasquez, Ciscomani, Neguse, and Titus for their leadership in the House to ensure that anti-public lands members of Congress can no longer attempt to use the budget reconciliation process to force the fly-by-night sale, disposal, or transfer of our — the American people’s — public lands out of public ownership,” said Bjorn Fredrickson, the group’s conservation director.

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., introduced the bill in the Senate.

Vasquez’s office said groups including New Mexico Wild, the National Wildlife Federation, The Nature Conservancy, Nuestra Tierra Conservation Project, the Sierra Club, the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, Trout Unlimited and The Wilderness Society endorse the bill.