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106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 5496

To amend the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 1966

to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide for maintenance

and repair of buildings and properties located on lands in the National

Wildlife Refuge System by lessees of such facilities, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 18, 2000

Mr. SOUDER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Resources

A BILL

To amend the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 1966 to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide for maintenance and repair of buildings

and properties located on lands in the National Wildlife

Refuge System by lessees of such facilities, 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. LEASES, PERMITS, AND CONTRACTS FOR

2 BUILDINGS, FACILITIES, AND PROPERTIES IN

3 THE NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE SYSTEM.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The National Wildlife Refuge

5 System Administration Act of 1966 (16 U.S.C. 668dd et

6 seq.) is amended by—

7 (1) striking section 6 (relating to amendments

8 to other laws, which have executed);

9 (2) redesignating section 5 (16 U.S.C. 668ee)

10 as section 6; and

11 (3) inserting after section 4 the following:

12 ‘‘SEC. 5. LEASES, PERMITS, AND CONTRACTS FOR BUILD13 INGS, FACILITIES, AND PROPERTIES IN NA14 TIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE SYSTEM.

15 ‘‘(a) MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR.—Notwithstanding

16 any other provision of law, the Secretary may include, in

17 any agreement, lease, permit, or contract granted by the

18 Secretary that authorizes a person to use land or water

19 in the System for purposes of providing accommodations,

20 facilities, or services to visitors to an area in the System,

21 provisions that—

22 ‘‘(1) authorize the person to maintain or repair

23 any improvement on or in such land or water that

24 the person is authorized to use for such purposes;

25 and
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1 ‘‘(2) treat costs incurred by the person for such

2 maintenance or repair as consideration otherwise re3 quired to be paid to the United States for such use.

4 ‘‘(b) EXPENDITURE OF FEES AND OTHER PAY5 MENTS.—

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Amounts received by the

7 United States as fees or other payments required

8 under any agreement, lease, permit, or contract for

9 use of real property located in an area in the System

10 shall be available to the Secretary for expenditure in

11 accordance with this subsection, without further ap12 propriation, to increase the quality of the visitor ex13 perience and enhance the protection of resources.

14 ‘‘(2) AUTHORIZED USES.—Amounts available

15 for expenditure under this section may only be used

16 for the area, site, or project concerned for the fol17 lowing:

18 ‘‘(A) Backlogged repair and maintenance

19 projects (including projects relating to health

20 and safety).

21 ‘‘(B) Interpretation, signage, habitat, or

22 facility enhancement.

23 ‘‘(C) Resource preservation.
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1 ‘‘(D) Annual operation (including fee col2 lection), maintenance, and law enforcement re3 lating to public use.

4 ‘‘(3) REFUGE REVENUE SHARING ACT OF

5 1935.—Paragraph (1) shall not affect the application

6 of the Act of June 15, 1935 (chapter 261; 16 U.S.C.

7 715s), commonly referred to as the Refuge Revenue

8 Sharing Act, to amounts referred to in paragraph

9 (1) that are not expended by the Secretary under

10 paragraph (1).’’.

11 (b) PRIOR AMENDMENTS NOT AFFECTED.—Nothing

12 in this section shall be construed to affect any amendment

13 made by section 6 of the National Wildlife Refuge System

14 Administration Act of 1966), as in effect before the enact15 ment of this Act, or any provision of law amended by such

16 section.

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