requires the submittal by contracting entities of certain information
and Section 7 requires the submittal of information by lessees or lessors
for purposes of administering the measure. Some of the information
required by S. 14 is already available from the various contractors;
however, S. 14 would require the submission of additional material
heretofore not required in the administration of the reclamation
program.
 It is not easily ascertained what the economic impact of the new
reporting requirements contained in S. 14 would be since there is in-
sufficient information available as to the present status of landholdings
and farming activities on project lands. The reporting requirements
of this bill, in addition to providing for compliance with the bill will
provide, for the first time, a relatively complete picture of the owner-
ship and leasing patterns on reclamation project lands.
 Pursuant to S. 14, there is the opportunity for contracting entities
to achieve relief from the acreage limitations of Reclamation Law;
the extent that this opportunity is utilized will have a direct bearing
on the amount of reporting which is required; however, until such
time as the pattern of land ownership and leasing is known, there is
no way to estimate the economic or personal costs entailed with the
adoption of S. 14.
 In any event, the various transition periods provided for compli-
ance with the new requirements of this measure will serve to mitigate
the economic impacts it may have. Furthermore, it is the principal
purpose of this measure to simplify and liberalize existing legal
restraints and the overall impact of the measure will be to relieve
many individuals from the regulatory burdens of acreage limitation
and residency requirements and the economic burdens of legal action
to defend against administrative interpretation of current ambiguous
policies.
 EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS
 The pertinent legislative reports and communications received by
the Committee from the Department of the Interior setting forth Ex-
ecutive agency recommendations relating to S. 14 are set forth below:
 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
 OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY,
 Washington, D.C. March 20, 1979.
Hon. HENRY M. JACKSON,
Chairman, Committee on Energy and Natural Resources,
U.S. Senate,
Washington, D.C.
 DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN : This responds to your request for the views
of this Department with respect to S. 14, a bill "To amend and supple-
ment the acreage limitation and residency provisions of the Federal
reclamation laws. as amended and supplemented, and for other pur-
poses."
 The Department would support enactment of legislation containing
provisions of that bill with amendments recommended herein.

 THE BILL
 S. 14 would allow for an acreage limitation under the Federal recla-
mation laws of twelve hundred eighty acres (1280) as the maximum