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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) applauded the Senate Energy and Natural Resources (ENR) Committee for fulfilling his request to hold a hearing on his Federal Land Asset Inventory Reform (FLAIR) Act, a bipartisan bill to create a single database for lands owned by the federal government. At a recent ENR Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining hearing where his legislation was considered, Senator Cramer submitted comments for the record urging the committee to pass the bill.
“There should be no discrepancy over how much land the federal government does or does not own,” wrote Senator Cramer. “By adopting the FLAIR Act, we can improve federal land management, resource conservation, and recreational access, all while reducing land ownership conflict and saving taxpayer dollars in the maintenance of one efficient database.”
Senator Cramer introduced the FLAIR Act in May 2019 with Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and subsequently requested the bill be considered before the committee. For the hearing, the National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS) and MAPPS, a national association of firms involved in many aspects of the geospatial field in the United States, also offered statements in support of the bill.
“This federal effort helps state and local agencies verify their ongoing efforts to identify what each level of government owns,” said NSPS’s John Palatiello. “This will also enable government at all levels to find missing property.”
“The FLAIR Act is a common-sense solution that seeks to address a long-standing problem; namely, the absence of a comprehensive, up-to-date, and accessible inventory of the federal government’s land and real property assets,” said MAPPS President Mark Brooks. “The FLAIR Act will greatly improve the accountability and management of the federal government’s real property by creating a modern digital register of federal land and real property.”