II 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2501 

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 

MARCH 6, 2018 

Mr. GARDNER (for himself, Mr. BENNET, 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. 

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. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ski Area Fee Reten5 tion Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF SKI AREA FEE RETENTION AC7 COUNT. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 701 of division I of the 

9 Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act of 


lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 2501 IS

1 1996 (16 U.S.C. 497c) is amended by adding at the end 

2 the following: 

3 ‘‘(k) SKI AREA FEE RETENTION ACCOUNT.— 

4 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

5 ‘‘(A) ACCOUNT.—The term ‘Account’ 

6 means the Ski Area Fee Retention Account es7 tablished under paragraph (2). 

8 ‘‘(B) COVERED UNIT.—The term ‘covered 

9 unit’ means a National Forest which collects a 

10 rental charge under this section. 

11 ‘‘(C) REGION.—The term ‘Region’ means a 

12 Forest Service Region. 

13 ‘‘(D) RENTAL CHARGE.—The term ‘rental 

14 charge’ means a permit rental charge that is 

15 charged under subsection (a). 

16 ‘‘(E) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ 

17 means the Secretary of Agriculture. 

18 ‘‘(2) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of the 

19 Treasury shall establish in the Treasury a special 

20 account, to be known as the ‘Ski Area Fee Retention 

21 Account’, into which there shall be deposited— 

22 ‘‘(A) in the case of a covered unit at which 

23 not less than $15,000,000 is collected by the 

24 covered unit from rental charges in a fiscal 

25 year, an amount equal to 50 percent of the 


lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 2501 IS

1 rental charges collected at the covered unit in 

2 the fiscal year; or 

3 ‘‘(B) in the case of any other covered unit, 

4 an amount equal to 65 percent of the rental 

5 charges collected at the covered unit in a fiscal 

6 year. 

7 ‘‘(3) AVAILABILITY.—Subject to paragraphs 

8 (4), (5), and (6), any amounts deposited in the Ac9 count under paragraph (2) shall remain available for 

10 expenditure, without further appropriation, until ex11 pended. 

12 ‘‘(4) LOCAL DISTRIBUTION OF AMOUNTS IN

13 THE ACCOUNT.— 

14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

15 subparagraph (B), 100 percent of the amounts 

16 deposited in the Account from a specific covered 

17 unit shall remain available for expenditure at 

18 the covered unit at which the rental charges 

19 were collected. 

20 ‘‘(B) REDUCTION.— 

21 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Subject to clause 

22 (ii), the Secretary may reduce the percent23 age of amounts available to a covered unit 

24 under subparagraph (A) if the Secretary 

25 determines that the rental charges colVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:38 Mar 12, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2501.IS S2501

lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 2501 IS

1 lected at the covered unit exceed the rea2 sonable needs of the covered unit for that 

3 fiscal year for authorized expenditures de4 scribed in paragraph (5)(A). 

5 ‘‘(ii) LIMITATION.—The Secretary 

6 may not reduce the percentage of amounts 

7 available under clause (i)— 

8 ‘‘(I) in the case of a covered unit 

9 described in paragraph (2)(A), to less 

10 than 35 percent of the amount of 

11 rental charges deposited in the Ac12 count from the covered unit in a fiscal 

13 year; or 

14 ‘‘(II) in the case of any other 

15 covered unit, to less than 50 percent 

16 of the amount of rental charges de17 posited in the Account from the cov18 ered unit in a fiscal year. 

19 ‘‘(C) TRANSFER TO OTHER COVERED

20 UNITS.— 

21 ‘‘(i) DISTRIBUTION.—If the Secretary 

22 determines that the percentage of amounts 

23 otherwise available to a covered unit under 

24 subparagraph (A) should be reduced under 

25 subparagraph (B), the Secretary may 


lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 2501 IS

1 transfer to other covered units, for alloca2 tion in accordance with clause (ii), the per3 centage of the amounts withheld from the 

4 covered unit under subparagraph (B), to 

5 be expended by the other covered units in 

6 accordance with paragraph (5). 

7 ‘‘(ii) CRITERIA.—In determining the 

8 allocation of amounts to be transferred 

9 under clause (i) among other covered 

10 units, the Secretary shall consider— 

11 ‘‘(I) the number of proposals for 

12 ski area improvements in the other 

13 covered units; 

14 ‘‘(II) any backlog in ski area per15 mit administration or the processing 

16 of ski area proposals in the other cov17 ered units; and 

18 ‘‘(III) any need for services, 

19 training, staffing, or streamlining pro20 grams in the other covered units or 

21 the Region in which they are located 

22 that would improve the administration 

23 of the Forest Service Ski Area Pro24 gram. 

25 ‘‘(5) AUTHORIZED EXPENDITURES.— 


lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 2501 IS

1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Amounts distributed 

2 from the Account to a covered unit under this 

3 subsection may be used for— 

4 ‘‘(i) ski area special use permit ad5 ministration and processing of proposals 

6 for ski area improvement projects in the 

7 covered unit, including staffing and con8 tracting for such administration, process, 

9 or services through the unit or the Region; 

10 ‘‘(ii) any expenses that the Forest 

11 Service would have otherwise applied to ski 

12 area permittees through cost recovery pur13 suant to part 251 of title 36, Code of Fed14 eral Regulations (or successor regulations); 

15 ‘‘(iii) training programs on processing 

16 ski area applications, administering ski 

17 area permits, or ski area process stream18 lining in the covered unit or the Region in 

19 which the unit is located; and 

20 ‘‘(iv) interpretation activities, visitor 

21 information, visitor services, and signage in 

22 the covered unit to enhance— 

23 ‘‘(I) the ski area visitor experi24 ence on National Forest System land; 

25 and 


lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 2501 IS

1 ‘‘(II) avalanche information and 

2 education activities carried out by the 

3 Forest Service. 

4 ‘‘(B) OTHER USES.—If any amounts are 

5 still available in the Account after all ski area 

6 permit-related expenditures under subpara7 graph (A) are made, including amounts trans8 ferred to other covered units pursuant to para9 graph (4)(C), such remaining amounts in the 

10 Account may be applied to permit administra11 tion for other (non-ski area) Forest Service 

12 recreation special use permits at the discretion 

13 of the Secretary. The Secretary shall first de14 termine that all ski area-related permit admin15 istration, processing and interpretation needs 

16 have been met in all covered units and Regions 

17 before applying any remaining amounts in the 

18 Account to non-ski area uses. 

19 ‘‘(C) LIMITATION.—Amounts in the Ac20 count may not be used for— 

21 ‘‘(i) the conduct of wildfire suppres22 sion or preparedness activities; 

23 ‘‘(ii) the conduct of biological moni24 toring on National Forest System land 

25 under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 


lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
8 

•S 2501 IS

1 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) for listed species 

2 or candidate species, except as required by 

3 law for environmental review of ski area 

4 projects; 

5 ‘‘(iii) the acquisition of land for inclu6 sion in the National Forest System; or 

7 ‘‘(iv) Forest Service administrative 

8 sites. 

9 ‘‘(6) SAVINGS PROVISIONS.— 

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this sub11 section affects the applicability of section 7 of 

12 the Act of April 24, 1950 (commonly known as 

13 the ‘Granger-Thye Act’) (16 U.S.C. 580d), to 

14 ski areas on National Forest System land. 

15 ‘‘(B) REVENUE ALLOCATION PAYMENTS.— 

16 Rental charges deposited in the Account under 

17 paragraph (2) shall be considered to be 

18 amounts received from the National Forest Sys19 tem for purposes of calculating amounts to be 

20 paid under— 

21 ‘‘(i) the Secure Rural Schools and 

22 Community Self-Determination Act of 

23 2000 (16 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.); 


lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
9 

•S 2501 IS

1 ‘‘(ii) the sixth paragraph under the 

2 heading ‘forest service’ in the Act of May 

3 23, 1908 (35 Stat. 260; 16 U.S.C. 500); 

4 ‘‘(iii) section 13 of the Act of March 

5 1, 1911 (36 Stat. 963; 16 U.S.C. 500); 

6 and 

7 ‘‘(iv) chapter 69 of title 31, United 

8 States Code. 

9 ‘‘(C) SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDING.—Rental 

10 charges retained and expended under this sub11 section shall supplement (and not supplant) ap12 propriated funding for the operation and main13 tenance of each covered unit.’’. 

14 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section (including the 

15 amendments made by this section) shall take effect on the 

16 date that is 60 days after the date of enactment of this 

17 Act. 

18 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary of Agriculture 

19 shall not be required to issue regulations or policy guid20 ance to implement this section (including the amendments 

21 made by this section). 

Æ 


lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS