YourVoice.Now Summary
EnvironmentTargeted & Unrelated ProvisionsCivil LibertiesTransparency & AccountabilityNearly 29,000 acres of northern Nevada land would go to towns, counties and a tribe — and 148,464 acres would become wilderness.
Environment
Eight areas in Douglas and Pershing Counties would join the national wilderness system. Mining and drilling would be barred there, while grazing and hunting go on.
Six transfers say the state, city, county or district taking the land pays every cost of the deal, naming environmental response and restoration. Federal law would still make the government disclose pollution it knows about before handing land over.
A 1976 law holds these acres as possible wilderness while Congress decides. The bill ends that hold, and ordinary land plans could then allow mining.
The bill orders a sale of 31.5 acres. It also opens for sale any Douglas County parcel that a federal land plan marks for disposal, with no acre limit set.
These choices normally run through a public land planning process. The bill skips that step for most sales here, though a separate law still requires an environmental study.
A 2009 law let Carson City ask that land be held back from a sale, and the Secretary had to agree. The bill swaps in a two-year deadline to sell, and that right goes away.
Targeted & Unrelated Provisions
Douglas County would get 8,861 acres free, Sparks 754 acres, and the state 67 acres at Lake Tahoe. Carson City, Elko, Fernley and Incline Village would pay market value for theirs.
Anyone holding a mining claim in Pershing County could offer market value for the land under it. The Interior Department would have to accept, and the buyer would then own the land.
Elko, Elko County and Fernley would buy about 16,204 acres at market value. Every dollar would go into a 1998 fund that spends mostly in Clark County.
About 2,423 acres of federal land would be held in trust for the Washoe Tribe, plus 199 acres its owners hand over. The land could never be used for tribal gaming.
When federal parcels in the Pershing checkerboard go up for bid, the owners next door get the first offer. The government can skip that step if other qualified buyers appear.
Title XI covers a power line that runs through seven counties, including Clark County in the south. Title XII gives up federal claims on state land at Jean, south of Las Vegas.
Civil Liberties
The Greenlink West power line would cross land set to be held in trust for the Walker River Paiute Tribe. Rules today require the tribe's written consent; the bill counts it as given.
Transparency & Accountability
Before any Pershing County sale or trade, the final value estimates would be open for public review at the Bureau of Land Management office in Nevada. Notice would go on the agency website and in a Nevada newspaper.
A new federal office complex would take 10 percent of three land sale accounts, with no cost limit. If that falls short, agencies could pull from other Nevada budgets.
More about this bill
If you live in northern Nevada, public land near your town could change hands. Douglas County would get 7,777 acres at no cost, plus 1,084 acres for open space. Sparks would get 754 acres for two parks and a cemetery. Carson City, Elko, Elko County, Fernley and Incline Village would pay market value for theirs. Fernley's share, about 12,085 acres, is the largest single piece. Outside Nevada, most people would notice nothing. The bill would also redraw protection lines. About 148,464 acres in Douglas and Pershing Counties would become wilderness, closed to mining and drilling. One new area would join the existing Cain Mountain Wilderness, bringing it to about 26,389 acres. Grazing and hunting that happen there now would go on. At the same time, 49,665 acres held as possible wilderness would lose that status. More Douglas County land could be sold on top of that. The bill sets no acre limit on those sales. Sales would have to bring at least fair market value. Douglas and Pershing Counties would each keep 10 percent of their sale money. Nevada schools would get 5 percent. Money from the Elko and Fernley sales would work differently: all of it would go to a fund built for southern Nevada. Ten percent of three new accounts would help build a federal office complex, with no cost limit. A town or county taking land would have to pay the cleanup costs that come with the deal. Two titles reach outside northern Nevada. One would treat the Walker River Paiute Tribe as having consented to a power line across land held in trust for it. The tribe would still be paid and would still negotiate terms, but could not refuse. The other would give up federal claims on state land at Jean, south of Las Vegas, for a proposed airport. In Pershing County, people holding mining claims could buy the federal land under them at market value. The Interior Department would have to sell. Other Pershing sales would carry the minerals under the land. The official value estimates would be open to the public 30 days before each sale.
Congressional Summary
Congress's official summary of this bill still describes an earlier version of the text, so we have left it out here. You can read it on Congress.gov.
Legislative Subjects
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Passed House
- Action Date
- 2026-09-14
- Date Added
- 2026-09-09
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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