Reversionary Interest Conveyance Act

SI-generated grade · five published checks · not individually reviewed by a person · methodology

This bill directs the Bureau of Land Management to sell a narrow, specific reversionary interest in federal land to the current landowner at fair market value. It involves a routine property transaction within Congress's enumerated power over federal lands, does not restrict any rights, respects due process, and keeps decision-making at the federal level only where necessary. The bill is fully constitutional.

• ✓ Passes · Enumerated powers
  Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2 grants Congress the power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States. This bill exercises that power by directing the sale of a reversionary interest in a specific parcel of federal land. The action is squarely within Congress's enumerated authority over federal property.
• ✓ Passes · Bill of Rights
  The bill does not implicate any provision of the Bill of Rights. It does not restrict speech, religion, assembly, press, petition, arms, quartering, search and seizure, self-incrimination, due process, fair trial, jury, cruel and unusual punishment, unenumerated rights, or reserved powers. It is a straightforward property conveyance.
• ✓ Passes · Individual sovereignty
  The bill imposes no restriction on individual liberty, property, speech, labor, or belief. To the contrary, it facilitates a voluntary transaction: the landowner may request the purchase, and the government must offer the interest at fair market value. The individual is free to accept or decline. No compelling justification is needed because no restriction exists.
• ✓ Passes · Decentralization
  The bill involves federal land, which is constitutionally under federal control. An individual or family cannot unilaterally dispose of federal property; that requires federal action. A local community or county cannot sell a federal reversionary interest. A state cannot sell federal land. The action does not consolidate decision-making upward beyond what is necessary because the property itself b…
• ✓ Passes · Due process and takings
  The bill provides for a voluntary sale at fair market value, with the buyer paying all costs. There is no taking of private property; the government is selling its own interest. The bill subjects the conveyance to valid existing rights, protecting third-party interests. No due process or takings issue arises because the transaction is consensual and market-based.

Sources: Congress.gov: HR 952 summary