WASHINGTON DC – U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) released the following statement applauding the news that Congressman Mark Amodei’s (R-NV-02) hastily-drafted and misguided proposal to sell off public lands in Nevada was removed from the House Republicans’ extreme budget reconciliation package that they passed this morning.
“It’s great news for Nevada that Congressman Amodei’s flawed, hastily-drafted proposal to sell our state’s public lands has been removed from the extreme House Republican budget that passed today. This proposal would have led to Nevada losing out on the opportunity for hundreds of millions of dollars in funding so that it could instead pay for more tax cuts for billionaires,” dijo el Senador Rosen. “I’ll keep working in the Senate to make sure my Washoe and Pershing County Lands Bills, which have been endorsed by a wide range of stakeholders in Nevada, are passed.”
The flawed amendment proposed by Congressman Amodei would have sold off nearly 16,000 acres of public lands in Washoe County and hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands in Pershing County to pay for Congressional Republicans’ budget reconciliation proposal. It would have abandoned key provisions in the Truckee Meadows Public Lands Management Act, also known as the Washoe County Lands Bill, and directed funds from public land sales in Nevada to the U.S. Treasury, instead of keeping the funding in Nevada. It also ignored the balance struck in the Pershing County Economic Development and Conservation Act.
Senator Rosen’s Washoe County Lands Bill would:
- Permanently protect a million acres of public lands, which Congressman Amodei cut in his proposal.
- Promote sustainable growth and economic development by directing over 15,200 acres of public lands to be made eligible for sale, all of which must be assessed for its suitability for new affordable housing. An additional 33 acres are set aside to only be sold for affordable housing. Any land sold for affordable housing would have to be sold at less than fair market value.
- Support local Tribal communities by expanding land held in trust by more than 8,400 acres for the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, 11,300 acres for the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, and over 1,000 acres for the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California, none of which was in the Amodei proposal.
- Provide local governments over 3,700 acres for public purposes such as parks, water treatment facilities, fire stations, and schools, all of which was excluded from the Amodei proposal. Land is specifically conveyed to Washoe County, the City of Reno, the City of Sparks, the Incline Village General Improvement District, the Gerlach General Improvement District, the State of Nevada, the Truckee River Flood Management Authority, the Washoe County School District, and the University of Nevada, Reno.
- Keep proceeds from land sales in Nevada for priorities like education and restoration around the Truckee River.
For years, Senator Rosen has worked closely with a wide range of stakeholders across Washoe County to develop this comprehensive legislation. In 2023, she unveiled a working draft of the bill and collected feedback from hundreds of Nevadans during a public comment period, which she then incorporated into this legislation, which was previously introduced last year with the support of local government officials, conservation advocates, and business leaders.
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