[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1723 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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116th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1723
To amend the Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act of 1996 to
provide for the establishment of a Ski Area Fee Retention Account.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 5, 2019
Mr. Gardner (for himself, Mr. Bennet, Mr. Barrasso, Ms. Hassan, Mr.
Crapo, and Mr. Wyden) introduced the following bill; which was read
twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act of 1996 to
provide for the establishment of a Ski Area Fee Retention Account.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Ski Area Fee Retention Act''.
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF SKI AREA FEE RETENTION ACCOUNT.
(a) In General.--Section 701 of division I of the Omnibus Parks and
Public Lands Management Act of 1996 (16 U.S.C. 497c) is amended by
adding at the end the following:
``(k) Ski Area Fee Retention Account.--
``(1) Definitions.--In this subsection:
``(A) Account.--The term `Account' means the Ski
Area Fee Retention Account established under paragraph
(2).
``(B) Covered unit.--The term `covered unit' means
a national forest that collects a rental charge under
this section.
``(C) Region.--The term `Region' means a Forest
Service region.
``(D) Rental charge.--The term `rental charge'
means a permit rental charge that is charged under
subsection (a).
``(E) Secretary.--The term `Secretary' means the
Secretary of Agriculture.
``(2) Establishment.--The Secretary of the Treasury shall
establish in the Treasury a special account, to be known as the
`Ski Area Fee Retention Account', into which there shall be
deposited--
``(A) in the case of a covered unit at which not
less than $15,000,000 is collected by the covered unit
from rental charges in a fiscal year, an amount equal
to 50 percent of the rental charges collected at the
covered unit in the fiscal year; or
``(B) in the case of any other covered unit, an
amount equal to 65 percent of the rental charges
collected at the covered unit in a fiscal year.
``(3) Availability.--Subject to paragraphs (4), (5), and
(6), any amounts deposited in the Account under paragraph (2)
shall remain available for expenditure, without further
appropriation, until expended.
``(4) Local distribution of amounts in the account.--
``(A) In general.--Except as provided in
subparagraph (B), 100 percent of the amounts deposited
in the Account from a specific covered unit shall
remain available for expenditure at the covered unit at
which the rental charges were collected.
``(B) Reduction.--
``(i) In general.--Subject to clause (ii),
the Secretary may reduce the percentage of
amounts available to a covered unit under
subparagraph (A) if the Secretary determines
that the rental charges collected at the
covered unit exceed the reasonable needs of the
covered unit for that fiscal year for
authorized expenditures described in paragraph
(5)(A).
``(ii) Limitation.--The Secretary may not
reduce the percentage of amounts available
under clause (i)--
``(I) in the case of a covered unit
described in paragraph (2)(A), to less
than 35 percent of the amount of rental
charges deposited in the Account from
the covered unit in a fiscal year; or
``(II) in the case of any other
covered unit, to less than 50 percent
of the amount of rental charges
deposited in the Account from the
covered unit in a fiscal year.
``(C) Transfer to other covered units and use for
non-ski area permits.--
``(i) Distribution.--If the Secretary
determines that the percentage of amounts
otherwise available to a covered unit under
subparagraph (A) should be reduced under
subparagraph (B), the Secretary may transfer to
other covered units, for allocation in
accordance with clause (ii), the percentage of
the amounts withheld from the covered unit
under subparagraph (B), to be expended by the
other covered units in accordance with
paragraph (5).
``(ii) Criteria.--In determining the
allocation of amounts to be transferred under
clause (i) among other covered units, the
Secretary shall consider--
``(I) the number of proposals for
ski area improvements in the other
covered units;
``(II) any backlog in ski area
permit administration or the processing
of ski area proposals in the other
covered units; and
``(III) any need for services,
training, staffing, or the streamlining
of programs in the other covered units
or the Region in which the covered
units are located that would improve
the administration of the Forest
Service Ski Area Program.
``(5) Authorized expenditures.--
``(A) In general.--Amounts distributed from the
Account to a covered unit under this subsection may be
used for--
``(i) ski area special use permit
administration and processing of proposals for
ski area improvement projects in the covered
unit, including staffing and contracting for
such administration or processing or related
services in the covered unit or the applicable
Region;
``(ii) training programs on processing ski
area applications, administering ski area
permits, or ski area process streamlining in
the covered unit or the Region in which the
covered unit is located;
``(iii) interpretation activities, visitor
information, visitor services, and signage in
the covered unit to enhance--
``(I) the ski area visitor
experience on National Forest System
land; and
``(II) avalanche information and
education activities carried out by the
Forest Service; and
``(iv) the costs of leasing administrative
sites under section 8623 of the Agriculture
Improvement Act of 2018 (16 U.S.C. 580d note;
Public Law 115-334) for ski area-related
purposes.
``(B) Other uses.--
``(i) Authorized uses.--Subject to clause
(ii), if any remaining amounts are available in
the Account after all ski area permit-related
expenditures have been made under subparagraph
(A), including amounts transferred to other
covered units under paragraph (4)(C), the
Secretary may use any remaining amounts for--
``(I) the costs of administering
non-ski area Forest Service recreation
special use permits; and
``(II) the costs of leasing
administrative sites under section 8623
of the Agriculture Improvement Act of
2018 (16 U.S.C. 580d note; Public Law
115-334) for purposes not related to a
ski area.
``(ii) Requirement.--Before making amounts
available from the Account for a use authorized
under clause (i), the Secretary shall make a
determination that all ski area-related permit
administration, processing, and interpretation
needs have been met in all covered units and
Regions.
``(C) Limitation.--Amounts in the Account may not
be used for--
``(i) the conduct of wildfire suppression
or preparedness activities;
``(ii) the conduct of biological monitoring
on National Forest System land under the
Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531
et seq.) for listed species or candidate
species, except as required by law for
environmental review of ski area projects; or
``(iii) the acquisition of land for
inclusion in the National Forest System.
``(6) Savings provisions.--
``(A) In general.--Nothing in this subsection
affects the applicability of section 7 of the Act of
April 24, 1950 (commonly known as the `Granger-Thye
Act') (16 U.S.C. 580d), to ski areas on National Forest
System land.
``(B) Supplemental funding.--Rental charges
retained and expended under this subsection shall
supplement (and not supplant) appropriated funding for
the operation and maintenance of each covered unit.''.
(b) Effective Date.--This section (including the amendments made by
this section) shall take effect on the date that is 60 days after the
date of enactment of this Act.
(c) Implementation.--The Secretary of Agriculture shall not be
required to issue regulations or policy guidance to implement this
section (including the amendments made by this section).
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