Sponsors
The bill gives two rural counties small parcels of National Forest land for cemeteries at no purchase price—providing local control and modest federal cost savings—but shifts conveyance costs, legal/title and environmental risks to the counties and reduces federal public land holdings.
Residents and county governments in Navajo and Apache counties gain designated cemetery land (about 5 and 10.62 acres) at no purchase price, enabling local control to meet burial needs.
Federal taxpayers and agencies face lower administrative and acquisition costs because the counties assume surveys, environmental analyses, and conveyance work.
Reversion clauses and the Secretary’s authority to set terms limit the risk of permanent misuse by requiring land to remain cemetery use or revert to federal ownership, protecting federal interests.
Local county governments (and therefore local taxpayers) must pay for surveys, environmental reviews, and other conveyance costs, which could be a meaningful financial burden for small rural budgets.
Excluding the parcels from CERCLA §120(h) and transferring them by quitclaim (no warranty) reduces federal environmental liability protections and disclosure, raising the risk that contamination or cleanup responsibility falls to counties or local residents.
Conveying federal National Forest land for free and removing it from public holdings foregoes potential future public uses or federal receipts and reduces the amount of federally managed public land available to the broader public.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Transfers small, specific National Forest parcels in Arizona to Navajo County and Apache County at no purchase price for use as cemeteries, if each county requests the conveyance within a set time window. The counties must pay all conveyance-related costs, the land must be used as cemetery property, inconsistent uses cause automatic reversion to the United States, and the transfers are by quitclaim deed and expressly not subject to CERCLA section 120(h).
Introduced March 4, 2025 by Eli Crane · Last progress March 4, 2026