the control of speculation on a sound basis; and (3) the acquisition and disposal of land, as an aid to providing holders of excess lands with a means of conforming their holdings to the limitations of the bill.

JOHN C. PAGE, Commissioner.

THE REDRAFTED BILL

[H. R. 6522]

A BILL

A BILL To amend an act entitled "An act to prevent speculation in lands in the Columbia Basin prospectively irrigable by reason of the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam project and to aid actual settlers in securing such lands at the fair appraised value thereof as arid land, and for other purposes" (Act of May 27, 1937, 50 Stat. 208), and for other purposes

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Act entitled "An Act to prevent speculation in lands in the Columbia Basin prospectively irrigable by reason of the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam project and to aid actual settlers in securing such lands at the fair appraised value thereof as arid land, and for other purposes," approved May 27, 1937 (50 Stat. 208), is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 1. In addition to the purposes for which the Grand Coulee Dam project (hereafter to be known as the 'Columbia Basin Project' and herein called the "Project') was authorized under the provisions of the Act of August 30, 1935 (49 Stat. 1028), which are the primary purposes of such project, the project is hereby authorized and reauthorized as a project subject to the Reclamation Project Act of 1939; and the provisions of said Act of August 30, 1935, together with the Reclamation Project Act of 1939 and the specific provisions of this Act shall govern the repayment of expenditures and the construction, operation and maintenance of the works constructed as a part of the project.

"SEC. 2 (a). No part of the funds heretofore or hereafter appropriated or allotted for the construction of the project or for the reclamation of land in connection with the project, shall be expended in the construction of any irrigation features of the project, exclusive of Grand Coulee Dam and appurtenant works now under construction and of the pumping plant and equalizing reservoir and dams, until after the following provisions have been complied with: "(i) The lands proposed to be irrigated under the project (including county lands and such State lands as the State may desire and be able to subscribe for irrigation under the project and to subject to the terms of this Act) shall have been impartially appraised by the Secretary of the Interior (hereinafter called the secretary) for the determination of their value at the date of appraisal without reference to the proposed construction of the said irrigation works and without increment on account of the construction of the project. In the administration of sections 2 and 3 hereof it may be necessary from time to time to reappraise such lands. In such reappraisals the Secretary shall take into account, in addition to the value found in the first appraisal, improvements made after said appraisal and such construction charges on the land as have been paid. The term 'appraised value' as used in sections 2 (b) and (c) and 3 shall mean appraised values determined as provided in this subsection. Reappraisals may be made at any time upon the request of the landowner concerned accompanied by an advance to the United States of fifteen dollars ($15) for each quarter section or fraction thereof involved, on account of expense thereof.

"(ii) A contract or contracts shall have been made with an irrigation or reclamation district or districts or a conservancy district or districts organized under State law providing for payment by the district or districts of that part of the cost of construction of the project determined by the Secretary as the part thereof to be repaid by said district or districts. The contract or contracts shall require repayment within such term or terms of years as the Secretary may fix. not to exceed the maximum term permitted under the Act of June 17, 1902 (32 Stat. 388) and Acts amendatory therof or supplementary thereto (hereinafter called the Federal reclamation laws), and provide that payments shall be enforceable by all means and remedies provided in the Federal reclamation laws. Said contract or contracts shall also conform to the special requirements of this section.

"(b) (i) Prior to the initial delivery of water to each irrigation block, as said term is defined in section 2 (k) of the Reclamation Project Act of 1939, the Secretary shall establish and shall file in the office of the county auditor of the county or counties in which such block is located a farm-unit plat setting forth the farm units within such block in sizes and with boundaries which are in accordance with his findings of the respective areas sufficient in size for the support of an average-sized family at a suitable level of living, in view of the various classes and combinations of classes of land within such block, of the land's topography and its relation to an economical distribution system and of other factors which, in his judgment, should be considered.

"No farm unit shall contain more than one hundred and sixty (160) or less than ten (10) acres of irrigable land, except that, whenever the actual irrigable area of any nominal quarter section exceeds one hundred and sixty (160) acres, the full quarter section may be included in one farm unit, and except that on lands owned by the United States in each irrigation block, units of lesser size may be established for part-time farming purposes.

"To the end that such farm unit plats may be laid out within each irrigation block in a manner best promoting the successful settlement and economical development of the project, notice of the intention to establish a given farm unit plat shall be given not less than sixty (60) days prior to the filing of such farm unit plat by publication in the county or counties in which the irrigation block is located. Each owner of land within the irrigation block to which the notice relates may, at the time or the times and place specified in such notice, examine the farm unit plat proposed, and, in cooperation with the United States or other landowners, may conform the lands so owned by him, to the fullest extent practicable in the Secretary's judgment, by purchase, sale or exchange at the appraised values, to the area and boundaries of the farm unit or units shown on said proposed plat or revisions thereof. The Secretary, with the consent of the owners of all farm units affected, may revise from time to time the established farm unit plats to the extent necessary or advisable to meet conditions that may arise during the development of the project.

"As to land held by an owner who had equitable or legal title thereto on May 27, 1937, or heir or devisee of such owner, the farm unit or units, as established or revised, shall be laid out to afford such owner or heir or devisee, to the fullest extent consistent, in the Secretary's judgment, with successful settlement and economical development of the project and subject to the other provisions of this subsection (b), an area comprising said lands of not to exceed the maximum irrigable acreage permitted in this subdivision (i).

"(ii) No water shall be delivered from, through or by means of the project works to or for lands not conforming in area and boundaries with the area and boundaries of the pertinent unit or units established in the farm unit plat or plats applicable to the lands involved. Water shall not be delivered from, through or by means of the project works to or for more than one farm unit held by any one landowner, except as to lands held as permitted by the last paragraph of subdivision 2 (b) (i) while held by an owner, his heirs or devisees as therein defined. Lands within the project in excess of one farm unit held by any one landowner shall, except as otherwise provided in this Act, be deemed excess land: Provided, That if excess land is acquired by foreclosure or other process of law, by conveyance in satisfaction of mortgages, by inheritance or by devise under will, water therefor may be furnished temporarily for a period not exceeding five years from the effective date of such acquisition, thereafter ceasing until the transfer thereof to a landowner duly qualified to secure water therefor.

"As used in this Act, the terms 'owner,' 'landowner,' and 'any one landowner,' denote any person, corporation, joint stock association, or family; the term 'family' denotes a group consisting of either or both husband and wife, together with their children under eighteen (18) years of age, or all of such children if both parents are dead; the term 'their children,' includes the issue and lawfully adopted children of either or both husband and wife; and the term 'lands within the project,' denotes those lands within the boundaries of the existing Columbia Basin irrigation districts, or extensions thereof approved by the Secretary, which the Secretary determines may be supplied with water from, through, or by means of the project works. Lands shall be deemed to be held by a family, if held as separate property of husband or wife, or constitute a part or all of the their community property, or, if they are the property of any or all of their children under eighteen (18) years of age.

69725-42-15

"None of the limitations of this subdivision 2 (b) (ii) shall apply to lands owned by the United States or any agency or instrumentality thereof, corporate or otherwise.

"(c) As a condition precedent to receiving water from the project and in consideration thereof, each landowner shall be required to execute, within six months from the date of the execution of the contract between the United States and the district within which the land is located, a valid, recordable contract covering all his lands within that district whereby he agrees as to such lands for and on behalf of himself, his heirs, successors, and assigns to the provisions set forth in this subsection (c): Provided, That any landowner, having failed to execute such a contract within this period, may be permitted to execute such contract within one year after the date of judicial confirmation of the validity of the contract between the United States and the district but only in accordance with such rules and regulations as may be prescribed under section 8 concerning this privilege.

"Each such recordable contract shall provide:

"(i) That in the event the landowner's lands within the project do not conform to the pertinent farm unit or units shown on the plats filed under subsection 2 (b), he will conform them by purchase, sale, or exchange at the appraised values to the area and boundaries of said farm unit or units and will dispose of excess land then or thereafter owned by him at its appraised value; that the Secretary is thereby given an irrevocable power of attorney to sell in behalf of the landowner any such excess land at said appraised value; and that the United States is thereby given, without further consideration, an option to buy any such excess land at said appraised value: Provided, That no sale under such power or such option shall, except with the written approval of said owner, be upon terms other than cash or require relinquishment of possession until when, by reason of similar or other sales of other excess land owned by the same landowner, he will be enabled to transfer substantially contemporaneously the possession of all excess land which is both owned by him and operated as a single operating unit for dry farming or grazing purposes.

"(ii) That in the period from and after the date of execution thereof and to a date ten (10) years from the time water becomes available for the lands covered thereby, no conveyance of or contract to convey a freehold estate in such lands, whether excess or nonexcess lands, shall be made for a consideration exceeding its appraised value, and in connection with any conveyance of, or contract to convey, such an estate within such period the grantor or vendor or the grantee or vendee or any lien holder thereof, shall, within thirty (30) days from and after the date of such conveyance or contract, file in the office of the county auditor in the county or counties in which the land is located, an affidavit describing the conveyance or contract and the consideration therefor. "(iii) That in the event that within such period such a conveyance of, or contract to convey, is made without filing within said thirty (30) days the affidavit required in (ii) of this subsection, or is made for a consideration in excess of the appraised value, the Secretary, at any time within two years of the day on which there is filed for recording in the official county records the contract or deed involved, whichever is filed earliest in the event both the contract and deed are filed in a given transaction, may cancel the right of such estate to receive water from, through, or by means of the project works by a written notice of cancellation: Provided, That said power to cancel as to any given parcel of land may be waived by the Secretary at any time within said two-year period by a written notice of waiver: And provided further, That after any such cancellation a project water right for the estate involved may be acquired only on terms and conditions satisfactory to the Secretary. Such cancellation of a project water right shall be effective, as to subsequent purchases for value without notice, only from the date of its filing in the official records of the county or counties in which lies the land involved.

"(iv) That should any freehold estate in land covered thereby be conveyed or contracted to be conveyed within the period defined in (ii) of this subsection, the transaction, and any mortgage or other lien covering any deferred consideration thereunder, shall be subject to all the provisions of subsection 3 (c) hereof. "Any or all of the provisions of this subsection (c) required to be included in the recordable contracts may be made covenants running with the land when, in the Secretary's opinion, this is desirable and when said recordable contracts expressly so provide.

"(d) The contract or contracts made pursuant to subdivision 2 (a) (ii) shall provide that no water will be delivered from, through, or by means of the project works except in accordance with the provisions and limitations of section 2 hereof.

“(e) Each district contract may include a provision:

“(i) Requiring that all lands within the district not covered by recordable contracts provided for under subsection (c) or otherwise not eligible to receive water shall be subject to assessment in the same manner and to the same extent as like lands subscribed to the recordable contracts and eligible to receive water.

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“(ii) That the date for beginning any assessments under (i) of this subsection in excess of two cents per acre per annum, as to lands not immediately qualified to receive water or as to lands not covered by such recordable contracts, may be postponed until ten (10) years after water is available for lands in the irrigation block of which such lands are a part or until after the expiration of the ten-year period during which the price limit provided for under subsection 2 (c) applies.

"(iii) That, in addition to compliance with any conditions otherwise required by this Act, as a prerequisite to the receipt of water for lands having the benefit of (ii) of this subsection there shall be paid to the district an amount equal to the sum of such assessments as would otherwise have been levied against such lands during the period of postponement, for repayment of construction costs pursuant to section 2 (a) and twenty-five (25) percent of the sum of such other assessments, as would otherwise have been levied against such lands during the perior of postponement.

“(iv) That, without compliance with other provisions of State law for the exclusion of lands, lands may be withdrawn from the district by the filing of a written notice of withdrawal with the board of directors of the district in which the lands are included on or before such date as may be fixed by such board between a date ten (10) days after the official notice of the election on the contract between the United States and the district and the date of such election. The date limiting the time of such filing shall be announced in the official notice of the proposed election, and lands for which such notice is filed shall be deemed excluded from the district for all purposes as of the time of such filing. Thereafter lands so withdrawn and excluded so long as they remain in private ownership shall not be entitled to receive water from, through or by means of the project works.

"(f) Any instrument, action, determination, rule, or regulation of the Secretary or his duly authorized representatives under the authority of this section 2 which is or may be determinative of the title to lands or interest in lands in private ownership within the project shall be effective as to any given parcel of land, as against purchases for value without actual notice, only from the time of the filing for record in the office of the county auditor of the county or counties in which the lands affected are located of a copy thereof authenticated in the manner authorized by law. Such filing shall impart legal notice to the public of the matters and things set out therein.

"SEC. 3. (a) Fraudulent misrepresentation as to the true consideration involved in the conveyance of, or contract to convey, any freehold estate in land covered by a recordable contract made under subsection 2 (c) hereof, in the affidavit required by that subsection, shall constitute a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500) or by imprisonment not exceeding six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

"(b) Fraudulent misrepresentation or withholding of any material fact with respect to any lands within the project, from and after the date of this Amendatory Act and within ten (10) years from the time water becomes available for such lands, for the purpose of inducing any person or persons to purchase or to sell any such lands shall constitute a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500) or by imprisonment not exceeding six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

"(c) Should any freehold estate in lands subject to the recordable contract made under subsection 2 (c) hereof be conveyed or contracted to be conveyed, after the date of execution of such recordable contract and within ten (10) years from the time water becomes available for such lands, at a consideration in excess of the appraised value of said estate, the transaction, and any mortgage or other lien covering any deferred consideration thereunder, shall be

invalid and unenforceable by the vendor or grantor, his successors or assigns as to that part of the consideration in excess of the appraised value of the estate involved.

"In the case of any such transaction involving deferred payments of any part of the consideration, said invalid portion of the consideration shall be deducted first from the deferred payments in the inverse order of their due dates. At any time within two years from the date of any such conveyance or contract to convey, the following remedies shall be available to the grantee or vendee, as the case may be, on filing a correct affidavit as required in subdivision 2 (c) (ii) hereof if one has not theretofore been filed:

"(i) If at the time the election of remedies is made, less than the appraised value of the estate involved has been paid on the agreed consideration, the grantee or vendee may rescind the transaction, as against the vendor, his successors or assigns, on offering and being able to reconvey to the proper party the title involved, if there has been a conveyance, and may recover of the vendor, all payments made on the contract, or may have the contract, and any mortgage or other lien covering the deferred consideration, re-formed as against the vendor or grantor, his successors or assigns, by the cancellation of all payments agreed to be made in excess of the appraised value, the cancellations to be against the deferred payments in the inverse order in which they were to come due;

"(ii) If at the time the election of remedies is made, one hundred (100) percent or more of said appraised value of the estate has been paid on the agreed consideration: The grantee or vendee, as against any successors or assigns of the vendor, may have the contract, and any mortgage or other lien covering any deferred consideration, re-formed by the cancellation of all remaining payments; and, as against the vendor, the grantee or vendee may have the contract, and any mortgage or other lien covering any deferred consideration, re-formed by the cancellation of all payments in excess of said appraised value and shall also have the right to recover an amount equal to the amount paid to the vendor in excess of the appraised value.

"In connection with any judgment or decree hereunder in favor of a vendee or grantee, said vendee or grantee shall have the right to recover court costs and reasonable attorneys' fees.

"SEC. 4 (a). For the purposes of providing opportunities for permanent settlement of farm families, rehabilitating farmers on the land, protecting project lands, facilitating development of the project, preventing speculation in project lands, and providing for the general welfare, the Secretary is authorized to administer public lands of the United States in the project area and lands acquired under this section; to sell or lease such lands; to improve such lands or other lands in the project area by clearing, leveling, and preparing them for the handling of irrigation water; to make provision for domestic water for farms in the project; to acquire in the name of the United States, at prices satisfactory to him, such lands or interests in lands, within or without the project area, as he deems appropriate for the protection, development or improvement of the project; to accept donations of real and personal property for the purposes of this Act; and to disseminate information by appropriate means and methods. Any moneys realized on account of donations for purposes of this Act shall be covered into the Treasury as trust funds and are hereby appropriated for expenditure for such purposes.

"(b) In connection with any lands acquired under this section or any reserved lands of the United States in the project area, the Secretary may (i) establish and lay out town sites of such size and location as will, in his judgment, best serve the needs of orderly and economical development of the project, and in connection with any town sites so established and laid out, dedicate to public purposes, upon such conditions respecting operation and maintenance as he deems proper, streets, alleys, school sites, cemeteries, and town or municipal parks and recreational areas; (ii) establish and dedicate to public purposes in rural areas, parks, recreational areas, school sites and cemeteries; and (iii) with respect to any such lands as, in his judgment, are not suitable for irrigation farming, establish dry farming units, grazing units, or other units in accordance with his findings as to the uses to which such areas should be devoted consistent with the orderly development of the project.