May 22, 2017 -- The "Federal Land Asset Inventory Reform (FLAIR) Act of 2017", a bill to create a current, accurate federal inventory or "cadastre" of all federal land, has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and MAPPS has been invited to testify at the bill's hearing on Tuesday, May 23.

The FLAIR Act,  H.R. 2199, was introduced last month by Representatives Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Ron Kind (D-WI), earning praise from  MAPPS, the national association of private sector geospatial firms. "We commend Reps. Kind and Cramer for working in a bipartisan manner," said MAPPS Government Affairs Manager John "JB" Byrd.

Since 2003, and as recently as February 2017, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has repeatedly designated ' Managing Federal Real Property' one of the high-risk areas within the federal government most prone to waste, fraud and abuse. One of the reasons cited by the GAO is the fact that the government does not have a current, accurate inventory of the land it owns. A national cadastre has been recommended by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, and the FLAIR Act has been endorsed by its Committee on Land Parcel Databases. 

The bill was referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources. Its Subcommittee on Federal Lands will hold a legislative hearing on the FLAIR Act on Tuesday May 23 at 10:00 AM EDT. MAPPS Executive Director John Palatiello has been invited to testify in support of the bill. The hearing will be webcast live on the Committee's  website.

"Versions of the FLAIR Act have previously passed the House Natural Resources Committee and the full United States Senate. The early introduction and hearing on the bill in the current Congress is a positive sign that this Congress will enact it into law," Byrd said.