I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3247

To provide consistent enforcement authority to the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, the United States Fish and Wildlife 

Service, and the Forest Service to respond to violations of regulations 

regarding the management, use, and protection of public lands under 

the jurisdiction of these agencies, to clarify the purposes for which 

collected fines may be used, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 2, 2003

Mr. TANCREDO (for himself, Mr. MCINNIS, and Mr. UDALL of Colorado) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period 

to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 

concerned 

A BILL

To provide consistent enforcement authority to the Bureau 

of Land Management, the National Park Service, the 

United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Forest 

Service to respond to violations of regulations regarding 

the management, use, and protection of public lands 

under the jurisdiction of these agencies, to clarify the 

purposes for which collected fines may be used, 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 ‘‘Trail Responsibility 

3 and Accountability for the Improvement of Lands Act 

4 (TRAIL Act) of 2003’’. 

5 SEC. 2. CONSISTENT ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITY REGARD6 ING NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM LANDS, NA7 TIONAL FOREST LANDS, AND OTHER PUBLIC 

8 LANDS. 

9 (a) LANDS UNDER JURISDICTION OF BUREAU OF

10 LAND MANAGEMENT.—Section 303(a) of the Federal 

11 Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 

12 1733(a)) is amended by striking the second sentence and 

13 inserting the following new sentences: ‘‘A violation of any 

14 such regulation shall be a Class B misdemeanor, except 

15 that a person who knowingly and willfully violates any 

16 such regulation shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor, 

17 subject to fine as provided in section 3571 of title 18, 

18 United States Code, or imprisonment as provided in sec19 tion 3581 of that title, or both. A person who violates any 

20 such regulation may also be adjudged to pay all costs of 

21 the proceedings.’’. 

22 (b) NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM LANDS.—

23 (1) ENFORCEMENT.—Section 3 of the Act of 

24 August 25, 1916 (popularly known as the National 

25 Park Service Organic Act; 16 U.S.C. 3) is amended 

26 in the first sentence—
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1 (A) by striking ‘‘That the Secretary’’ and 

2 inserting ‘‘(a) Regulations for Use and Manage3 ment of National Park System; Enforcement.—

4 The Secretary’’; and 

5 (B) by striking ‘‘Service,’’ and all that fol6 lows through ‘‘proceedings.’’ and inserting the 

7 following: ‘‘Service. A violation of any such rule 

8 or regulation shall be a Class B misdemeanor, 

9 except that a person who knowingly and will10 fully violates any such rule or regulation shall 

11 be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor, subject to 

12 fine as provided in section 3571 of title 18, 

13 United States Code, or imprisonment as pro14 vided in section 3581 of that title, or both. A 

15 person who violates any such rule or regulation 

16 may also be adjudged to pay all costs of the 

17 proceedings.’’. 

18 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Such section 

19 is further amended—

20 (A) by striking ‘‘He may also’’ the first 

21 place it appears and inserting the following: 

22 ‘‘(b) SPECIAL MANAGEMENT AUTHORITIES.—The 

23 Secretary of the Interior may’’; 
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1 (B) by striking ‘‘He may also’’ the second 

2 place it appears and inserting ‘‘The Secretary 

3 may’’; and 

4 (C) by striking ‘‘No natural,’’ and insert5 ing the following: 

6 ‘‘(c) LEASE AND PERMIT AUTHORITIES.—No nat7 ural’’. 

8 (c) NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE SYSTEM LANDS.—

9 Subsection (f) of section 4 of the National Wildlife Refuge 

10 System Administration Act of 1966 (16 U.S.C. 668dd) is 

11 amended to read as follows: 

12 ‘‘(f) PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS.—

13 ‘‘(1) PENALTIES.—A violation of this Act or 

14 any regulation issued thereunder shall be a Class B 

15 misdemeanor, except that a person who knowingly 

16 and willfully violates this Act or any regulation 

17 issued thereunder shall be guilty of a Class A mis18 demeanor, subject to fine as provided in section 

19 3571 of title 18, United States Code, or imprison20 ment as provided in section 3581 of that title, or 

21 both. A person who violates this Act or any regula22 tion issued thereunder may also be adjudged to pay 

23 all costs of the proceedings.’’. 

24 (d) NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM LANDS.—The elev25 enth undesignated paragraph under the heading ‘‘sur-
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1 veying the public lands’’ of the Act of June 4, 1897 (16 

2 U.S.C. 551), is amended by striking ‘‘destruction; and 

3 any’’ and all that follows through ‘‘or both.’’ and inserting 

4 the following: ‘‘destruction. A violation of any such rule 

5 or regulation shall be a Class B misdemeanor, except that 

6 a person who knowingly and willfully violates any such 

7 rule or regulation shall be guilty of a Class A mis8 demeanor, subject to fine as provided in section 3571 of 

9 title 18, United States Code, or imprisonment as provided 

10 in section 3581 of that title, or both. A person who violates 

11 any such rule or regulation may also be adjudged to pay 

12 all costs of the proceedings.’’. 

13 SEC. 3. CONSISTENT AUTHORITIES REGARDING USE OF 

14 COLLECTED FINES. 

15 (a) LANDS UNDER JURISDICTION OF BUREAU OF

16 LAND MANAGEMENT.—Section 305 of the Federal Land 

17 Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1735), 

18 is amended by adding at the end the following new sub19 section: 

20 ‘‘(d) USE OF COLLECTED FINES.—

21 ‘‘(1) AVAILABILITY AND AUTHORIZED USE.—

22 Any moneys received by the United States as a re23 sult of a fine imposed under section 3571 of title 18, 

24 United States Code, for a violation of a regulation 

25 prescribed under section 303(a) shall be available to 
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1 the Secretary, without further appropriation and 

2 until expended, for the following purposes: 

3 ‘‘(A) To cover the cost to the United 

4 States of any improvement, protection, or reha5 bilitation work on the public lands rendered 

6 necessary by the action which led to the fine. 

7 ‘‘(B) To increase public awareness of regu8 lations and other requirements regarding the 

9 use of the public lands. 

10 ‘‘(2) RETURN OF EXCESS FUNDS TO TREAS11 URY.—Moneys referred to in paragraph (1) that the 

12 Secretary determines are excess to the amounts nec13 essary to carry out the purposes specified in such 

14 paragraph shall be transferred to miscellaneous re15 ceipts.’’. 

16 (b) NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM LANDS.—Section 3 of 

17 the Act of August 25, 1916 (popularly known as the Na18 tional Park Service Organic Act; 16 U.S.C. 3), as amend19 ed by section 2(b), is further amended by adding at the 

20 end the following new subsection: 

21 ‘‘(d) USE OF COLLECTED FINES.—

22 ‘‘(1) AVAILABILITY AND AUTHORIZED USE.—

23 Any moneys received by the United States as a re24 sult of a fine imposed under section 3571 of title 18, 

25 United States Code, for a violation of a rule or regu-
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1 lation prescribed under this section shall be available 

2 to the Secretary of the Interior, without further ap3 propriation and until expended, for the following 

4 purposes: 

5 ‘‘(A) To cover the cost to the United 

6 States of any improvement, protection, or reha7 bilitation work on the National Park System 

8 lands rendered necessary by the action which 

9 led to the fine. 

10 ‘‘(B) To increase public awareness of rules, 

11 regulations, and other requirements regarding 

12 the use of such lands. 

13 ‘‘(2) RETURN OF EXCESS FUNDS TO TREAS14 URY.—Moneys referred to in paragraph (1) that the 

15 Secretary determines are excess to the amounts nec16 essary to carry out the purposes specified in such 

17 paragraph shall be transferred to miscellaneous re18 ceipts.’’. 

19 (c) NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE SYSTEM LANDS.—

20 Subsection (f) of section 4 of the National Wildlife Refuge 

21 System Administration Act of 1966 (16 U.S.C. 668dd), 

22 as amended by section 2(c), is further amended by adding 

23 at the end the following new paragraphs: 

24 ‘‘(2) USE OF COLLECTED FINES.—Any moneys 

25 received by the United States as a result of a fine 
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1 imposed under section 3571 of title 18, United 

2 States Code, for a violation of this Act or a regula3 tion issued thereunder shall be available to the Sec4 retary, without further appropriation and until ex5 pended, for the following purposes: 

6 ‘‘(A) To cover the cost to the United 

7 States of any improvement, protection, or reha8 bilitation work on the System lands rendered 

9 necessary by the action which led to the fine. 

10 ‘‘(B) To increase public awareness of rules, 

11 regulations, and other requirements regarding 

12 the use of System lands. 

13 ‘‘(3) RETURN OF EXCESS FUNDS TO TREAS14 URY.—Moneys referred to in paragraph (2) that the 

15 Secretary determines are excess to the amounts nec16 essary to carry out the purposes specified in such 

17 paragraph shall be transferred to miscellaneous re18 ceipts.’’. 

19 (d) NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM LANDS.—Section 7 

20 of the Act of June 20, 1958 (16 U.S.C. 579c), is amend21 ed—

22 (1) by inserting ‘‘(a) Treatment of Certain 

23 Moneys Received on Behalf of Forest Service.—’’ 

24 before ‘‘Any funds’’; 
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1 (2) by striking ‘‘contract or (2)’’ and inserting 

2 ‘‘contract, (2)’’; 

3 (3) by inserting after ‘‘improvements,’’ the fol4 lowing: ‘‘or (3) as a result of a fine imposed under 

5 section 3571 of title 18, United States Code, for a 

6 violation of a rule or regulation prescribed by the 

7 Secretary of Agriculture with respect to such 

8 lands,’’; 

9 (4) by striking ‘‘to cover’’ and all that follows 

10 through the end of the section and inserting the fol11 lowing: ‘‘for the purposes specified in subsection 

12 (b).’’; and 

13 (5) by adding at the end the following new sub14 section: 

15 ‘‘(b) AUTHORIZED USE.—

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The moneys referred to in 

17 subsection (a) shall be available to the Secretary of 

18 Agriculture for the following purposes: 

19 ‘‘(A) To cover the cost to the United 

20 States of any improvement, protection, or reha21 bilitation work on National Forest System lands 

22 rendered necessary by the action which led to 

23 the fine, forfeiture, judgment, compromise, or 

24 settlement. 
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1 ‘‘(B) To increase public awareness of rules, 

2 regulations, and other requirements regarding 

3 the use of such lands. 

4 ‘‘(2) RETURN OF EXCESS FUNDS TO TREAS5 URY.—Moneys referred to in subsection (a) that the 

6 Secretary determines are excess to the amounts nec7 essary to carry out the purposes specified in para8 graph (1) shall be transferred to miscellaneous re9 ceipts.’’.

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