I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 743

To amend the National Park Service Concessions Policy Act to foster competition among concessioners, to improve management of concessions consistent with the preservation of resources and the purposes of the National

Park System, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 2, 1993

Mr. SYNAR introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on Natural Resources

A BILL

To amend the National Park Service Concessions Policy Act

to foster competition among concessioners, to improve

management of concessions consistent with the preservation of resources and the purposes of the National Park

System, 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,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE AND DEFINITION.

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

5 ‘‘National Park Revitalization Act’’.

6 (b) DEFINITION.—As used in this Act, the term ‘‘Na7 tional Park Service Concessions Policy Act’’ means the
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1 Act entitled ‘‘An Act relating to the establishment of con2 cession policies in the areas administered by National

3 Park Service and for other purposes’’ (16 U.S.C. 20–20g).

4 SEC. 2. CONTRACTS.

5 (a) MAXIMUM PERIOD; REQUIREMENTS.—Section

6 3(a) of the National Park Service Concessions Policy Act

7 (16 U.S.C. 20b(a)) is amended—

8 (1) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘(a)’’;

9 (2) in paragraph (1) (as designated by para10 graph (1) of this subsection), by inserting after the

11 first sentence the following: ‘‘Except as provided in

12 paragraph (3), the period of a contract entered into

13 under this Act may not exceed 10 years.’’; and

14 (3) by adding at the end the following new

15 paragraphs:

16 ‘‘(2) Contracts entered into under this Act after the

17 date of enactment of this paragraph shall—

18 ‘‘(A) be consistent with the laws relating to the

19 National Park System and the unit concerned;

20 ‘‘(B) be implemented in accordance with the

21 purposes of the National Park System and the gen22 eral management plan for the unit of the National

23 Park System concerned;
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1 ‘‘(C) to the maximum extent practicable, con2 tain similar terms and conditions in order to facili3 tate administration;

4 ‘‘(D) to the extent applicable, provide for acqui5 sition of the possessory interest of a concessioner in

6 a manner consistent with the objective of section

7 6(c); and

8 ‘‘(E) shall be transferable or assignable only

9 upon the consent of the Secretary after reconsider10 ation and possible redetermination of the contract

11 terms, including the franchise fee.

12 ‘‘(3) The period of a contract may be for a period

13 greater than 10 years if the Secretary finds that a longer

14 period is necessary for the acquisition of possessory inter15 est under section 6(c); except that in no event may the

16 period be greater than 15 years.

17 ‘‘(4) In entering contracts under this Act, consider18 ation of revenue to the United States shall be subordinate

19 to the objectives of protecting and preserving areas admin20 istered by the National Park Service and of providing ade21 quate and appropriate services for visitors at reasonable

22 rates.’’.

23 (b) REPEAL OF OBLIGATION OF UNITED STATES TO

24 COMPENSATE FOR LOSS OF INVESTMENT.—Paragraph

25 (1) of section 3(a) of the National Park Service Conces-
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1 sions Policy Act (16 U.S.C. 20b(a)) (as amended by sub2 section (a)) is further amended by striking the last sen3 tence and inserting the following: ‘‘Effective with respect

4 to contracts entered into, renewed, transferred, assigned,

5 or renegotiated under this Act after the date of enactment

6 of this sentence, the United States shall not be obligated

7 to compensate the concessioner for such structures, fix8 tures, or improvements.’’.

9 (c) FRANCHISE FEES.—Section 3(d) of the National

10 Park Service Concessions Policy Act (16 U.S.C. 20b(d))

11 is amended to read as follows:

12 ‘‘(d) Franchise fees, however stated, shall be based

13 on annual gross receipts from the concession and shall not

14 be less than 22.5 percent of the annual gross receipts from

15 that concession. Provision shall be made for reconsider16 ation and possible readjustment of franchise fees at least

17 every 5 years unless the contract period is for a lesser

18 period of time.’’.

19 (d) UTILITY COSTS.—(1) Section 3 of the National

20 Park Service Concessions Policy Act (16 U.S.C. 20b) is

21 amended by adding at the end the following:

22 ‘‘(e) The concessioner shall be responsible for all util23 ity costs incurred by the concessioner in the operation of

24 the concession under contracts entered into, renewed,
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1 transferred, assigned, or renegotiated under this Act after

2 the date of enactment of this subsection.’’.

3 (2) Paragraph 4 of the first section of the Act enti4 tled ‘‘An Act to facilitate the management of the National

5 Park System and miscellaneous areas administered in con6 nection with that System, and for other purposes’’ (16

7 U.S.C. 1b(4)) is amended by striking ‘‘concessioners,’’.

8 SEC. 3. REPEAL OF PREFERENTIAL RIGHTS AND

9 POSSESSORY INTEREST.

10 (a) ADDITIONAL CONTRACTS.—Section 4 of the Na11 tional Park Service Concessions Policy Act (16 U.S.C.

12 20c) is amended by striking ‘‘and may grant to such con13 cessioner a preferential right to provide such new or addi14 tional accommodations, facilities, or services’’.

15 (b) RENEWAL OF CONTRACTS.—(1) The first sen16 tence of section 5 of the National Park Service Conces17 sions Policy Act is amended by striking ‘‘giving preference

18 in the renewal of contracts or permits and in the negotia19 tion of new contracts or permits to the’’.

20 (2) Section 5 of the National Park Service Conces21 sions Policy Act is amended by adding at the end the fol22 lowing: ‘‘The Secretary may not give a preference in the

23 renewal of contracts or permits under this Act.’’.

24 (c) POSSESSORY INTERESTS.—Section 6 of the Na25 tional Park Service Concessions Policy Act is amended—
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1 (1) by inserting ‘‘(a)’’ after ‘‘SEC. 6’’;

2 (2) by inserting at the end of subsection (a) (as

3 designated by paragraph (1)) the following: ‘‘This

4 subsection shall not apply to contracts entered into,

5 renewed, transferred, assigned, or renegotiated after

6 the date of enactment of this sentence.’’; and

7 (3) by adding at the end the following:

8 ‘‘(b) Effective with respect to contracts entered into,

9 renewed, transferred, assigned, or renegotiated under this

10 Act after the date of enactment of this subsection, all

11 right, title, and interest to any structure, fixture, or im12 provement acquired or constructed on land owned by the

13 United States within an area administered by the National

14 Park Service shall vest in the United States.

15 ‘‘(c) The Secretary shall acquire any possessory inter16 est established before the date of enactment of this sub17 section relating to any contract subject to subsection (a)

18 with funds made available by section 10(2). Possessory in19 terests relating to a concession shall be acquired before

20 the end of the first contract period beginning after the

21 date of enactment of this subsection that relates to that

22 concession.

23 ‘‘(d) Except as provided in section 11 of the Act enti24 tled ‘An Act to establish the National Park Foundation’,

25 approved December 18, 1967, the Secretary may not ap-
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1 prove the direct or indirect transfer of the possessory in2 terest relating to a contract subject to this Act.’’.

3 SEC. 4. AVAILABILITY OF AUDIT INFORMATION.

4 The first undesignated paragraph of section 9 of the

5 National Park Service Concessions Policy Act (16 U.S.C.

6 20g) is amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘A

7 record of each audit under this section shall be available

8 to the public in a manner that does not reveal trade se9 crets and commercial or financial information that is privi10 leged or confidential.’’.

11 SEC. 5. USE OF FRANCHISE FEES.

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—The National Park Service Con13 cessions Policy Act is amended by adding at the end the

14 following new section:

15 ‘‘SEC. 10. USE OF FRANCHISE FEES.

16 ‘‘All receipts from franchise fees, however stated, col17 lected pursuant to this Act after September 30, 1991,

18 shall be covered into a special account established in the

19 Treasury of the United States. Amounts covered into the

20 account in a fiscal year shall be available without further

21 appropriation after the end of the fiscal year as follows:

22 ‘‘(1) 2.5 percent of such receipts shall be avail23 able for the purposes of section 3 of the National

24 Park System Visitor Facilities Fund Act.
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1 ‘‘(2) 77.5 percent of the receipts shall be allo2 cated among the units of the National Park System

3 in the same proportion as franchise fees from a unit

4 bears to the total amount collected from all units

5 under this section and shall be for capital and re6 source management, interpretation, and conservation

7 needs and acquisition of possessory interest under

8 section 6.

9 ‘‘(3) The remaining 20 percent shall be allo10 cated among the units of the National Park System

11 on the basis of capital and resource management, in12 terpretation, and conservation need as determined by

13 the Director.’’.

14 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 3 of the

15 National Park System Visitor Facilities Fund Act (16

16 U.S.C. 19bb) is amended by striking ‘‘all National Park

17 System concession fees, including franchise fees and build18 ing user fees,’’ and inserting ‘‘2.5 percent of all National

19 Park System concession franchise fees and all National

20 Park System concession building user fees’’.

21 (c) NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION.—The Act entitled

22 ‘‘An Act to establish the National Park Foundation’’ (16

23 U.S.C. 19c–19n) is amended by adding at the end the

24 following:
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1 ‘‘SEC. 11. The Foundation is authorized to acquire

2 the possessory interest relating to a concession if that

3 possessory interest, upon acquisition by the Foundation,

4 is transferred to the United States. For the purpose of

5 this section, the term ‘possessory interest’ has the mean6 ing given such term under section 6 of the Act entitled

7 ‘An Act relating to the establishment of concession policies

8 in the areas administered by National Park Service and

9 for other purposes’, approved October 9, 1965.’’.

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