II 

Calendar No. 204 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 145 

[Report No. 114–124] 

To require the Director of the National Park Service to refund to States 

all State funds that were used to reopen and temporarily operate a 

unit of the National Park System during the October 2013 shutdown. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 12, 2015 

Mr. FLAKE (for himself, Mr. ALEXANDER, Mr. BENNET, Mr. CORKER, Mr. 

GARDNER, Mr. LEE, Mr. MCCAIN, Mr. HATCH, Mr. THUNE, Mr. 

INHOFE, and Mr. HEINRICH) introduced the following bill; which was 

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

SEPTEMBER 9, 2015 

Reported by Ms. MURKOWSKI, without amendment 

A BILL 

To require the Director of the National Park Service to 

refund to States all State funds that were used to reopen 

and temporarily operate a unit of the National Park 

System during the October 2013 shutdown. 

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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•S 145 RS

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Park Access 

3 Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds that— 

6 (1) during the period in October 2013 in which 

7 there was a lapse in appropriations (referred to in 

8 this section as the ‘‘Government shutdown’’), the 

9 National Park Service entered into agreements with 

10 the States of Arizona, Colorado, New York, South 

11 Dakota, Tennessee, and Utah to temporarily reopen 

12 iconic national treasures in the National Park Sys13 tem, such as the Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore, 

14 and the Statue of Liberty; 

15 (2) pursuant to the agreements described in 

16 paragraph (1), the States listed in paragraph (1) ad17 vanced approximately $2,000,000 to the National 

18 Park Service to pay for park operations during the 

19 Government shutdown; 

20 (3) the units of the National Park System that 

21 were temporarily reopened using State funds also 

22 collected gate entry fees; 

23 (4) the Government shutdown ended when Con24 gress passed the Continuing Appropriations Act, 

25 2014 (Public Law 113–46), which retroactively 

26 funded Federal agencies and Federal employee salaVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:41 Sep 10, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S145.RS S145

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•S 145 RS

1 ries for the period of time during which the Govern2 ment was shut down; 

3 (5) by virtue of the retroactive appropriation 

4 made by Congress, the National Park Service re5 tained an unintended shutdown windfall from the 

6 States listed in paragraph (1) of approximately 

7 $2,000,000; and 

8 (6) the States listed in paragraph (1) that en9 tered into agreements described in paragraph (1) 

10 with the National Park Service should be fully reim11 bursed for advancing funds to maintain public ac12 cess to iconic national treasures in the National 

13 Park System during the Government shutdown. 

14 SEC. 3. REFUND OF FUNDS USED BY STATES TO OPERATE 

15 NATIONAL PARKS DURING SHUTDOWN. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National 

17 Park Service shall refund to each State all funds of the 

18 State that were used to reopen and temporarily operate 

19 a unit of the National Park System during the period in 

20 October 2013 in which there was a lapse in appropriations 

21 for the unit. 

22 (b) FUNDING.—Funds of the National Park Service 

23 that are appropriated after the date of enactment of this 

24 Act shall be used to carry out this section. 


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Calendar No. 204 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 145 

[Report No. 114–124] 

A BILL 

To require the Director of the National Park Serv2013 shutdown. the National Park System during the October used to reopen and temporarily operate a unit of ice to refund to States all State funds that were 

SEPTEMBER 9, 2015 

Reported without amendment 


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