II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 500 

To amend title 54, United States Code, to establish, fund, and provide 

for the use of amounts in a National Park Service Legacy Restoration 

Fund to address the maintenance backlog of the National Park Service, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 14, 2019 

Mr. PORTMAN (for himself, Mr. WARNER, Mr. ALEXANDER, Mr. KING, Mr. 

TILLIS, Ms. COLLINS, Ms. HARRIS, Mr. HOEVEN, Mr. GARDNER, Ms. 

KLOBUCHAR, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. PETERS, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. BLUNT, Ms. 

BALDWIN, Mrs. CAPITO, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. CASEY, Mr. SULLIVAN, Mr. 

HEINRICH, Mr. BENNET, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. DAINES, and Mr. BROWN) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural 

Resources 

A BILL 

To amend title 54, United States Code, to establish, fund, 

and provide for the use of amounts in a National Park 

Service Legacy Restoration Fund to address the maintenance backlog of the National Park Service, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Restore Our Parks 

3 Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE LEGACY RESTORATION 

5 FUND. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 1049 of title 54, United 

7 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘§ 104908. National Park Service Legacy Restoration 

10 Fund 

11 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

12 ‘‘(1) FUND.—The term ‘Fund’ means the Na13 tional Park Service Legacy Restoration Fund estab14 lished by subsection (b). 

15 ‘‘(2) PROJECT.—The term ‘project’ means the 

16 overall plan of remediation of deferred maintenance 

17 for an asset, which may include resolving directly re18 lated infrastructure deficiencies of the asset. 

19 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 

20 Treasury of the United States a fund, to be known as the 

21 ‘National Park Service Legacy Restoration Fund’. 

22 ‘‘(c) DEPOSITS.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para24 graph (2), for each of fiscal years 2019 through 

25 2023, there shall be deposited in the Fund an 

26 amount equal to 50 percent of all energy developVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:49 Feb 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S500.IS S500

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1 ment revenues due and payable to the United States 

2 from oil, gas, coal, or alternative or renewable en3 ergy development on Federal land and water that 

4 would otherwise be credited, covered, or deposited as 

5 miscellaneous receipts under Federal law. 

6 ‘‘(2) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—The amount depos7 ited in the Fund under paragraph (1) shall not ex8 ceed $1,300,000,000 for any fiscal year. 

9 ‘‘(3) EFFECT ON OTHER REVENUES.—Nothing 

10 in this section affects the disposition of revenues 

11 that— 

12 ‘‘(A) are due to the United States, special 

13 funds, trust funds, or States from mineral and 

14 energy development on Federal land and water; 

15 or 

16 ‘‘(B) have been otherwise appropriated 

17 under Federal law, including the Gulf of Mexico 

18 Energy Security Act of 2006 (43 U.S.C. 1331 

19 note; Public Law 109–432), the Mineral Leas20 ing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.), and chapter 

21 2003. 

22 ‘‘(d) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Amounts deposited 

23 in the Fund shall be available to the Secretary without 

24 further appropriation or fiscal year limitation. 

25 ‘‘(e) INVESTMENT OF AMOUNTS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may request 

2 the Secretary of the Treasury to invest any portion 

3 of the Fund that is not, as determined by the Sec4 retary, required to meet the current needs of the 

5 Fund. 

6 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENT.—An investment requested 

7 under paragraph (1) shall be made by the Secretary 

8 of the Treasury in a public debt security— 

9 ‘‘(A) with a maturity suitable to the needs 

10 of the Fund, as determined by the Secretary; 

11 and 

12 ‘‘(B) bearing interest at a rate determined 

13 by the Secretary of the Treasury, taking into 

14 consideration current market yields on out15 standing marketable obligations of the United 

16 States of comparable maturity. 

17 ‘‘(3) CREDITS TO FUND.—The income on in18 vestments of the Fund under this subsection shall be 

19 credited to, and form a part of, the Fund. 

20 ‘‘(f) USE OF FUNDS.—Amounts in the Fund shall be 

21 used for the priority deferred maintenance needs of the 

22 Service, as determined by the Secretary, to carry out re23 pair, restoration, or rehabilitation projects as follows: 


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1 ‘‘(1) Not less than 65 percent of amounts in 

2 the Fund shall be allocated for non-transportation 

3 projects, including— 

4 ‘‘(A) historic structures, facilities, and 

5 other historic assets; 

6 ‘‘(B) structures, facilities, and other non7 historic assets that relate directly to the visitor 

8 experience, including— 

9 ‘‘(i) access, including making facilities 

10 accessible to visitors with disabilities; 

11 ‘‘(ii) health and safety; and 

12 ‘‘(iii) recreation; and 

13 ‘‘(C) administrative facilities, water and 

14 utility systems, and employee housing. 

15 ‘‘(2) The remaining amounts in the Fund may 

16 be allocated to road, bridge, tunnel, or other trans17 portation-related projects that may be eligible for 

18 funding made available to the Service through— 

19 ‘‘(A) the transportation program under 

20 section 203 of title 23; or 

21 ‘‘(B) any similar Federal land highway 

22 program administered by the Secretary of 

23 Transportation. 

24 ‘‘(g) PROHIBITED USE OF FUNDS.—No amounts in 

25 the Fund shall be used— 


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1 ‘‘(1) for land acquisition; 

2 ‘‘(2) to supplant discretionary funding made 

3 available for the annually recurring facility oper4 ations, maintenance, and construction needs of the 

5 Service; or 

6 ‘‘(3) for bonuses for employees of the Federal 

7 Government that are carrying out this section. 

8 ‘‘(h) SUBMISSION OF LIST OF PROJECTS TO CON9 GRESS.—As soon as practicable after the date of enact10 ment of this section, the Secretary shall submit to the ap11 propriate committees of Congress— 

12 ‘‘(1) a list of each project that— 

13 ‘‘(A) as of the date of enactment of this 

14 section, is identified by the Secretary as a high15 est-priority deferred maintenance project of the 

16 Service; and 

17 ‘‘(B) as of the date of the report, is ready 

18 to be commenced immediately; and 

19 ‘‘(2) for any project identified under paragraph 

20 (1)(A) that is not ready to be commenced imme21 diately, a schedule for the completion of all reviews 

22 with respect to the project (including the prepara23 tion of any environmental documents and historic 

24 preservation analyses) that are necessary to com25 mence the project immediately. 


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1 ‘‘(i) SUBMISSION TO CONGRESS.—The Secretary 

2 shall submit to the Committee on Energy and Natural Re3 sources of the Senate and the Committee on Natural Re4 sources of the House of Representatives, as part of the 

5 annual budget submission of the President— 

6 ‘‘(1) a report that describes, and provides an 

7 explanation for, any cost overruns or delays relating 

8 to deferred maintenance projects carried out using 

9 amounts from the Fund for the previous fiscal year; 

10 and 

11 ‘‘(2) a list of projects for which the amounts in 

12 the Fund are allocated under this section, including 

13 a description and cost-benefit analysis of each 

14 project, after considering the list and schedules sub15 mitted under subsection (h). 

16 ‘‘(j) PUBLIC DONATIONS.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary and the Di18 rector may accept public cash or in-kind donations 

19 that advance efforts— 

20 ‘‘(A) to reduce the deferred maintenance 

21 backlog of the Service; and 

22 ‘‘(B) to encourage relevant public-private 

23 partnerships. 


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1 ‘‘(2) CREDITS TO FUND.—Any cash donations 

2 accepted under paragraph (1) shall be credited to, 

3 and form a part of, the Fund. 

4 ‘‘(3) REPORTING.—Each donation received 

5 under paragraph (1) that is used for, or directly re6 lated to, the reduction of the deferred maintenance 

7 backlog of the Service shall be included with the an8 nual budget submission of the President to Con9 gress. 

10 ‘‘(k) ANNUAL REPORTS.—Not later than 1 year after 

11 the date on which the first distributions are made from 

12 the Fund and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall sub13 mit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report 

14 that describes, with respect to each project provided 

15 amounts from the Fund during the period covered by the 

16 report— 

17 ‘‘(1) any progress with respect to the project, 

18 including a comparison of the progress with respect 

19 to other highest-priority deferred maintenance 

20 projects of the Service; 

21 ‘‘(2) the expenditure of amounts from the Fund 

22 with respect to the project; and 

23 ‘‘(3) the projected cyclic maintenance needs of 

24 the project on completion of the project.’’. 


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1 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

2 for chapter 1049 of title 54, United States Code, is 

3 amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘104908. National Park Service Legacy Restoration Fund.’’. 

4 SEC. 3. GAO STUDY. 

5 Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 

6 of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 

7 shall— 

8 (1) conduct a study with respect to the imple9 mentation of the National Park Service Legacy Res10 toration Fund under section 104908 of title 54, 

11 United States Code (as added by section 2(a)) (re12 ferred to in this section as the ‘‘Fund’’), including 

13 whether the Director of the National Park Service 

14 is, with respect to projects carried out using 

15 amounts from the Fund— 

16 (A) properly estimating the cost for those 

17 projects; 

18 (B) adhering to time schedules and cost 

19 projections for those projects; 

20 (C) properly prioritizing deferred mainte21 nance projects; and 

22 (D) properly moving completed projects off 

23 of the high-priority deferred maintenance list of 

24 the National Park Service in a timely manner; 

25 and 


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1 (2) submit to Congress a report that describes 

2 the results of the study under paragraph (1). 

Æ 


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