Public Lands in Public Hands Act

This bill, titled the "Public Lands in Public Hands Act," establishes a prohibition on the transfer of certain federal lands by the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture to non-federal entities. This restriction applies to any publicly accessible tract of federal land, defined as land reachable by public road, trail, waterway, easement, or right-of-way, or land contiguous to such a tract. The prohibition also covers federal land contiguous with publicly accessible tracts owned by state, county, or municipal governments. However, several exceptions exist, including transfers of federal land under 300 acres (or 5 acres if waterway accessible) that are authorized by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976. Additional exemptions are provided for transfers authorized by a list of specific federal laws, such as the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act and the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. Any transfer explicitly authorized by federal law or completed through a federally authorized land exchange is also exempt, with a clear limitation that federal land cannot be subdivided to meet acreage minimums for these exceptions.