PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 341.
Congressional Research Service
Version 79 · Reported to House without amendment · Mar 10, 2016
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The expanded summary of that version is repeated here.)
(Sec. 1) This bill authorizes the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to provide bidding credits for a coal preference right lease applicant to acquire federal mineral rights if such applicant agrees to relinquish its rights to an existing coal lease on federal land. Bidding credits, which are fully transferable, are assigned a dollar value and can be used in lieu of cash to make certain payments to the federal government. The dollar value should be equal to the estimated fair market value of the existing lease being relinquished.
The BLM is required to provide payments, equal to 50% value of any bidding credit, to any state where federal mineral rights are being acquired through the use of bidding credits. Such payments are required to be derived from revenues obtained under federal mineral leases.
A bidding credit terminates five years from its date of issue, not counting any period in which exercise of the bidding credit is precluded by law or suspension of the federal coal leasing program.
People & committees
Rep. Luján, Ben Ray [D-NM-3] · D–NM
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 341.
Reported by the Committee on Natural Resources. H. Rept. 114-446.
Reported by the Committee on Natural Resources. H. Rept. 114-446.
Ordered to be Reported by Unanimous Consent.
Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources Discharged.
Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources.
Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Apr 7, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze H.R.1820 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine H.R.1820 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine H.R.1820 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine H.R.1820 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.