II

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1693

To renew, reform, reinvigorate, and protect the National Park System.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

FEBRUARY 27, 1998

Mr. THOMAS (for himself and Mr. ABRAHAM) introduced the following bill;

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

A BILL

To renew, reform, reinvigorate, and protect the National

Park System.

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; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Vision 2020 National

5 Parks Restoration Act’’.

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.

Sec. 2. Definitions.

TITLE I—MANAGEMENT REFORM

Sec. 101. Definitions.

Sec. 102. Protection and interpretation of resources.

Sec. 103. Management and career training.

Sec. 104. Strategic management objectives.

Sec. 105. Annual budgets for National Park System.
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TITLE II—PROCEDURES FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW

NATIONAL PARKS

Sec. 201. Studies of areas for potential inclusion in the National Park System.

TITLE III—RECREATIONAL FEE DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM

Sec. 301. Extension of the recreational fee demonstration program.

TITLE IV—CONCESSION REFORM

Sec. 401. Purpose.

Sec. 402. Definitions.

Sec. 403. National Park Service Concession Board.

Sec. 404. Concession Manager.

Sec. 405. Concession contracts.

Sec. 406. Revenue flow; fees to the Government.

Sec. 407. Suspension or termination of concession contract.

Sec. 408. Reporting.

Sec. 409. Promotion of the sales of Indian and Alaska Native handicrafts.

Sec. 410. Use of nonmonetary consideration in leases of Government property.

Sec. 411. Applicability of NEPA to renewals and extensions of similar contracts.

Sec. 412. Miscellaneous.

TITLE V—NATIONAL PARK PASSPORT PROGRAM

Sec. 501. Purposes.

Sec. 502. Definitions.

Sec. 503. National park passport program.

Sec. 504. Administration.

Sec. 505. International park passport program.

Sec. 506. Authorization of appropriations.

Sec. 507. Effect on other laws and programs.

TITLE VI—NATIONAL PARKS RESOURCE INVENTORY AND

MANAGEMENT

Sec. 601. Purposes.

Sec. 602. Definitions.

Sec. 603. Unit resource study program.

Sec. 604. Cooperative agreements and contracts.

Sec. 605. Inventory and monitoring program.

Sec. 606. Availability of national parks for scientific study.

Sec. 607. Integration of study results into management decisions.

Sec. 608. Confidentiality of information concerning the nature and location of

sensitive resources.

Sec. 609. Authorization of appropriations.

TITLE VII—DESIGNATION OF TAX REFUNDS AND

CONTRIBUTIONS FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE NATIONAL PARKS

Sec. 701. Tax refunds and contributions.

Sec. 702. National Parks Trust Fund.

Sec. 703. Expenditures from the National Parks Trust Fund.

TITLE VIII—NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION
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Sec. 801. Promotion of local fundraising support.

TITLE IX—COMMERCIAL FILMING IN NATIONAL PARKS

Sec. 901. Definitions.

Sec. 902. Commercial filming in national parks.

TITLE X—CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROJECT BOND

DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM

Sec. 1001. Findings.

Sec. 1002. Capital improvement projects.

Sec. 1003. Issuance of obligations.

Sec. 1004. Financing.

Sec. 1005. Report.

TITLE XI—MISCELLANEOUS

Sec. 1101. United States Park Police.

Sec. 1102. Leases and cooperative management agreements.

1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

2 In this Act:

3 (1) NATIONAL PARK.—The term ‘‘national

4 park’’ means a unit of the National Park System.

5 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

6 the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Di7 rector of the National Park Service.

8 TITLE I—MANAGEMENT REFORM

9 SEC. 101. DEFINITIONS.

10 In this title, the term ‘‘Ranger Career Directive’’

11 means National Park Special Directive 94–3, entitled

12 ‘‘Ranger Careers’’.

13 SEC. 102. PROTECTION AND INTERPRETATION OF RE14 SOURCES.

15 Recognizing the ever increasing societal pressures

16 being placed upon America’s unique park resources by

17 population growth, urbanization, and the general loss of
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1 natural habitats, the Secretary shall continually improve

2 the ability of the National Park System to provide state3 of-the-art protection and interpretation to the resources

4 of the National Park System.

5 SEC. 103. MANAGEMENT AND CAREER TRAINING.

6 (a) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The park rangers shall be

7 responsible for protecting, interpreting, managing, and

8 educating the public about the natural and cultural re9 sources contained within the national parks as well as

10 serving and protecting park visitors.

11 (b) RANGER CAREER PROGRAM.—

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall

13 strengthen and enhance the park ranger occupation

14 through the ranger careers program designed to en15 able park rangers to meet competently the various

16 new and increasingly difficult challenges that will

17 confront the national parks in the future.

18 (2) STAFFING.—The Associate Director for

19 Park Operations and Education, with administrative

20 support from other units of the National Park Serv21 ice, shall recruit, hire, train, develop, and oversee the

22 operations of park rangers in a consistent and pro23 fessional manner.

24 (3) CAREER TRAINING.—The Secretary shall

25 establish a park ranger careers program (including
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1 a training and competency development program) to

2 provide a managed career progression from the entry

3 level through the senior executive level of the park

4 ranger occupation.

5 (4) MANAGEMENT POSITIONS.—

6 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall

7 place management positions, including those of

8 park superintendent and higher management

9 levels within the National Park Service, within

10 the park ranger series.

11 (B) OTHER OCCUPATIONS.—The Secretary

12 shall ensure that appropriate measures are

13 taken, which shall include the provision of

14 qualifying academic course work, so that high

15 potential managerial candidates serving in other

16 occupations within the National Park Service

17 have an opportunity to achieve the fundamental

18 qualifications established for park manager po19 sitions.

20 (5) SPECIALIZED POSITIONS.—The Secretary

21 shall ensure that candidates for higher level and spe22 cialized park operations positions in the National

23 Park Service, such as education specialists, interpre24 tation specialists, criminal investigators, and other

25 single-focus positions for which a background in gen-
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1 eral park operations is desirable, are drawn pri2 marily from among park rangers.

3 (6) DESIGN PHASE.—

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year

5 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec6 retary shall complete the design phase of the

7 Ranger Careers program, implementing all as8 pects of the program contained in the Ranger

9 Careers Directive.

10 (B) EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—

11 (i) DEVELOPMENT.—The Secretary,

12 in accordance with the Ranger Careers Di13 rective and in conjunction with the Direc14 tor of the Office of Personnel Manage15 ment, shall develop new qualification and

16 classification standards for park rangers

17 within the National Park Service.

18 (ii) STANDARDS.—Park ranger quali19 fication and classification standards shall

20 ensure that a park ranger will be consid21 ered a professional occupation having an

22 entry level course of study.

23 (iii) COURSE REQUIREMENTS.—The

24 qualifying academic background and bacca25 laureate level degrees for park rangers, re-
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1 gardless of degree title, shall contain sig2 nificant coursework of at least 24 semester

3 hours in the natural or cultural sciences or

4 history, received from an accredited insti5 tution of higher education.

6 (7) PARK RANGER WORKFORCE.—

7 (A) IN GENERAL.—Through the Ranger

8 Careers program, the Secretary shall ensure

9 that—

10 (i) the park rangers continue their

11 traditional focus on protecting, managing,

12 interpreting, and educating the public

13 about park resources and managing the

14 use of national parks by the public;

15 (ii) the park rangers will be managed

16 and organized according to its 2 traditional

17 functions of resource and visitor protection

18 and resource education and interpretation;

19 (iii) both functions of park rangers

20 will share responsibility for managing the

21 public use of national parks;

22 (iv) law enforcement commissioned

23 park rangers will focus primarily on re24 sources law enforcement and criminal in25 vestigations, while also performing public
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1 service, resource interpretation, resource

2 education, resource management, and

3 other general duties necessary to protect

4 resources and visitors in parks; and

5 (v)(I) medical and physical fitness

6 qualification standards for designated law

7 enforcement and firefighter park ranger

8 positions reflect the medical and physical

9 fitness standards necessary for rigorous

10 law enforcement and firefighting work; and

11 (II) medical and physical fitness

12 standards are developed and implemented

13 for other physically rigorous park ranger

14 duties in national parks, such as scuba div15 ing, high altitude and high-angle search

16 and rescue, emergency medicine, wilder17 ness and winter operations, caving, and

18 other duties.

19 (B) PRECEDENCE OF FITNESS STAND20 ARDS.—The medical and physical fitness stand21 ards applicable under subparagraph (A)(v) shall

22 be considered to be appropriate job performance

23 tests for purposes of the Age Discrimination in

24 Employment Amendments of 1996 (110 Stat.

25 3009–23), the Age Discrimination in Employ-
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1 ment Act of 1967 (29 U.S.C. 621 et seq.), and

2 other Federal law relating to discrimination on

3 the basis of age.

4 (8) OPERATIONAL PHASE.—

5 (A) IN GENERAL.—On completion of the

6 design phase of the park ranger Careers pro7 gram, the Secretary shall implement the oper8 ational phase of the program.

9 (B) COMPONENTS.—The Secretary shall

10 implement—

11 (i) the Service-wide park ranger occu12 pation replenishment and diversity plan;

13 (ii) the 2-year candidate park ranger

14 training and development program, which

15 program shall include philosophical and or16 ganizational orientation training for all

17 new park rangers;

18 (iii) the revised park ranger qualifica19 tion and classification system;

20 (iv) the park ranger competency cer21 tification system; and

22 (v) any other measures necessary to

23 ensure that a fully competent park ranger

24 force is attained and maintained.
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1 (9) CENTRALIZED MANAGEMENT.—The Sec2 retary shall centrally manage the park ranger work3 force, with sufficient human and financial resources

4 made available by the Secretary to operate a modern

5 career management system for park rangers.

6 (10) BIENNIAL REPORT.—The Secretary shall

7 report biennially to Congress on the current and

8 projected future ability of park rangers to achieve

9 the assigned role of park rangers in achieving the

10 mission of the National Park Service to conserve

11 park resources unimpaired for future generations

12 while providing for the enjoyment by the public of

13 those resources.

14 (c) FUNDING.—From amounts made available to the

15 Secretary from the fee demonstration program under title

16 III, the Secretary shall use a portion of not to exceed

17 $10,000,000 per year, for the implementation and oper18 ation of the park ranger Career program.

19 (d) REPORTS.—The Secretary shall report regularly

20 to Congress on the state of the park ranger occupation.

21 SEC. 104. STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OBJECTIVES.

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—During 2000 and biennially there23 after, the Secretary shall implement a strategic manage24 ment plan for the National Park Service.
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1 (b) FOCUS.—The strategic management plan shall

2 focus on functions performed at the national head3 quarters, regional offices, support offices, service centers,

4 and national parks.

5 (c) OBJECTIVES.—The strategic management plan

6 shall have measurable management objectives designed

7 to—

8 (1) implement procedures to ensure that na9 tional parks and offices operate with measurable

10 goals and objectives that ensure strict budget ac11 countability;

12 (2) determine at which levels the various func13 tions can best be performed;

14 (3) evaluate whether specific activities could be

15 consolidated or eliminated; and

16 (4) evaluate the possibility of increasing the use

17 of the private sector in individual National Park

18 Service functions.

19 (d) REPORT.—Not later than September 30, 2000,

20 the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Energy

21 and Natural Resources of the Senate and the Committee

22 on Resources of the House of Representatives a report de23 tailing the actions that will be implemented as a result

24 of the strategic management plan.
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1 SEC. 105. ANNUAL BUDGETS FOR NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—As early as practicable before

3 each fiscal year, the superintendent or manager of each

4 national park, central office, and support office of the Na5 tional Park System shall develop and make available to

6 the public a comprehensive annual budget for the national

7 park, central office, and support office, respectively.

8 (b) CONTENTS.—A budget for a national park under

9 subsection (a) shall—

10 (1) describe in detail the annual operating

11 budget for the national park; and

12 (2) reflect the relationships among costs, service

13 levels, and performance standards in the national

14 park.

15 TITLE II—PROCEDURES FOR ES16 TABLISHMENT OF NEW NA17 TIONAL PARKS

18 SEC. 201. STUDIES OF AREAS FOR POTENTIAL INCLUSION

19 IN THE NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM.

20 Section 8 of Public Law 91–383 (16 U.S.C. 1a–5)

21 is amended—

22 (1) in subsection (a)—

23 (A) by inserting ‘‘GENERAL AUTHOR24 ITY.—’’ after ‘‘(a)’’;

25 (B) by striking the second through sixth

26 sentences;
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1 (C) by striking ‘‘For the purposes of carry2 ing out’’ and inserting the following:

3 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the

4 purposes of carrying out’’; and

5 (2) by inserting after subsection (a) the follow6 ing:

7 ‘‘(b) STUDIES OF AREAS FOR POTENTIAL INCLUSION

8 IN THE NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM.—

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—At the beginning of each

10 calendar year, the Secretary shall submit to the

11 Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the

12 Senate and the Committee on Resources of the

13 House of Representatives a list of areas rec14 ommended for study for potential inclusion as new

15 units in the National Park System.

16 ‘‘(2) FACTORS USED IN DEVELOPING LIST.—In

17 developing the list submitted under this subsection,

18 the Secretary shall consider—

19 ‘‘(A) areas that have the greatest potential

20 for meeting the established criteria of national

21 significance, suitability, and feasibility;

22 ‘‘(B) themes, sites, and resources not ade23 quately represented in the National Park Sys24 tem; and

25 ‘‘(C) congressional requests.
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1 ‘‘(3) SPECIFIC AUTHORIZATION.—No study of

2 the potential of an area for inclusion in the National

3 Park System may be initiated after the date of en4 actment of the Vision 2020 National Parks Restora5 tion Act, except as provided by specific authorization

6 of an Act of Congress.

7 ‘‘(4) PLANNING ACTIVITIES.—Nothing in this

8 subsection limits the authority of the Secretary to

9 expend not more than $25,000 on any 1 of the fol10 lowing:

11 ‘‘(A) The conduct of a preliminary re12 source assessment.

13 ‘‘(B) Collection of data on a potential

14 study area.

15 ‘‘(C) Provision of technical and planning

16 assistance.

17 ‘‘(D) Preparation or processing of a nomi18 nation for an administrative designation.

19 ‘‘(E) Updating of a previous study.

20 ‘‘(F) Completion of a reconnaissance sur21 vey of an area.

22 ‘‘(5) NATIONAL WILD AND SCENIC RIVERS SYS23 TEM; NATIONAL TRAILS SYSTEM.—Nothing in this

24 section applies to, affects, or alters the study of—
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1 ‘‘(A) any river segment for potential addi2 tion to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers

3 System; or

4 ‘‘(B) any trail for potential addition to the

5 National Trails System.

6 ‘‘(6) PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT.—In conducting a

7 study under this subsection, the Secretary shall—

8 ‘‘(A) provide an opportunity for public in9 volvement, including at least 1 public meeting

10 in the vicinity of the area under study; and

11 ‘‘(B) make reasonable efforts to notify po12 tentially affected landowners and State and

13 local governments.

14 ‘‘(7) FACTORS USED IN CONDUCTING STUDY.—

15 In conducting a study of an area under this sub16 section, the Secretary—

17 ‘‘(A) shall consider whether the area—

18 ‘‘(i) possesses nationally significant

19 natural, historic or cultural resources, or

20 outstanding recreational opportunities;

21 ‘‘(ii) represents 1 of the most impor22 tant examples of a particular resource type

23 in the United States; and

24 ‘‘(iii) is a suitable and feasible addi25 tion to the National Park System;
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1 ‘‘(B) shall consider—

2 ‘‘(i) the rarity and integrity of the re3 sources of the area;

4 ‘‘(ii) the threats to resources;

5 ‘‘(iii) whether similar resources are al6 ready protected in the National Park Sys7 tem or in other public or private owner8 ship;

9 ‘‘(iv) the public use potential of the

10 area;

11 ‘‘(v) the interpretive and educational

12 potential of the area;

13 ‘‘(vi) costs associated with acquisition,

14 development, and operation of the area and

15 the source or revenue to pay for the cost;

16 ‘‘(vii) the socioeconomic impacts of in17 clusion of the area in the National Park

18 System;

19 ‘‘(viii) the level of local and general

20 public support for the inclusion;

21 ‘‘(ix) whether the area is of appro22 priate configuration to ensure long-term

23 resource protection and visitor use; and
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1 ‘‘(x) the potential impact on the inclu2 sion of the area on existing units of the

3 National Park System;

4 ‘‘(C) shall consider whether direct manage5 ment by the Secretary or alternative protection

6 by other public agencies or the private sector is

7 appropriate for the area;

8 ‘‘(D) shall identify what alternative or

9 combination of alternatives would, as deter10 mined by the Secretary, be most effective and

11 efficient in protecting significant resources and

12 providing for public enjoyment; and

13 ‘‘(E) may include any other information

14 that the Secretary considers pertinent.

15 ‘‘(8) PREFERRED MANAGEMENT OPTION.—The

16 letter transmitting a completed study to Congress

17 shall contain a recommendation regarding the pre18 ferred management option of the Secretary for the

19 area, and the numerical priority ranking for the area

20 in the current list established under subsection (d).

21 ‘‘(9) DEADLINE FOR STUDIES.—Not later than

22 3 complete fiscal years after the date of enactment

23 of an Act of Congress providing specifically for the

24 study of an area for potential inclusion in the Na25 tional Park System, the Secretary shall complete the
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1 study of the area for potential inclusion in the Sys2 tem.

3 ‘‘(c) OFFICE.—The Secretary shall establish a single

4 office to carry out this section.

5 ‘‘(d) LIST OF PREVIOUSLY STUDIED AREAS WITH

6 HISTORICAL OR NATURAL RESOURCES.—

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—At the beginning of each

8 calendar year, the Secretary shall submit to the

9 Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the

10 Senate and to the Committee on Resources of the

11 House of Representatives—

12 ‘‘(A) a list of areas that have been pre13 viously studied under this section that contain

14 primarily historical or cultural resources, but

15 have not been added to the National Park Sys16 tem; and

17 ‘‘(B) a list of areas that have been pre18 viously studied under this section that contain

19 primarily natural resources, but have not been

20 added to the National Park System.

21 ‘‘(2) PRIORITY.—Each list under paragraph (1)

22 shall list areas in numerical order of priority for ad23 dition to the National Park System.
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1 ‘‘(3) FACTORS.—In developing a list under

2 paragraph (1), the Secretary shall consider the fac3 tors described in subsection (b)(2).

4 ‘‘(3) SUPPORTING DATA.—The Secretary shall

5 include on a list under paragraph (1) only areas for

6 which supporting data are current and accurate.’’.

7 TITLE III—RECREATIONAL FEE

8 DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM

9 SEC. 301. EXTENSION OF THE RECREATIONAL FEE DEM10 ONSTRATION PROGRAM.

11 (a) AUTHORITY.—The authority provided to the Na12 tional Park Service under the recreational fee demonstra13 tion program authorized by section 315 of Public Law

14 104–134 (16 U.S.C. 460l–6a note)—

15 (1) is extended through September 30, 2005;

16 and

17 (2) shall be available for all units of the Na18 tional Park System, except that no recreational ad19 mission fee may be charged at Great Smoky Moun20 tains National Park and Lincoln Home National

21 Historic Site.

22 (b) REPORT.—

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than September

24 30, 2000, the Secretary of the Interior shall submit

25 to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
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1 of the Senate and the Committee on Resources of

2 the House of Representatives a report detailing the

3 status of the recreational fee demonstration program

4 conducted in national parks under section 315 of

5 Public Law 104–134 (16 U.S.C. 460l–6a note).

6 (2) CONTENTS.—The report under paragraph

7 (1) shall contain—

8 (A) an evaluation of the fee demonstration

9 program conducted at each national park;

10 (B) with respect to each national park, a

11 description of the criteria that were used to de12 termine whether a recreational fee should or

13 should not be charged at the national park; and

14 (C) a description of the manner in which

15 the amount of the fee at each national park was

16 established.

17 TITLE IV—CONCESSION REFORM

18 SEC. 401. PURPOSE.

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—The purpose of this title is to pro20 vide for the continuing involvement of the private sector

21 in the delivery of high-quality goods and services in the

22 national parks.

23 (b) DETERMINATION.—To accomplish the purpose of

24 this title, Congress has determined that it is in the best

25 interest of visitors to national parks that—
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1 (1) the contribution of the private sector to the

2 administration of and investment in the national

3 parks, particularly in the area of visitor services, be

4 an important element of a coordinated program to

5 reinvigorate the national parks for the future;

6 (2) the Secretary continue to solicit persons to

7 enter into contracts with the United States to pro8 vide the goods and services at each national park

9 that are necessary or desirable to provide for public

10 visitation and enjoyment of the national park, in a

11 manner that will ensure the conservation and preser12 vation of the natural, cultural, and biological re13 sources for which the national park was established;

14 (3) substantial economies and improved service

15 to park visitors be achieved by directing the Sec16 retary to contract with an independent third-party

17 asset manager, with substantial experience in the

18 hospitality, food service, and retail sectors and with

19 recognized business and financial expertise, to un20 dertake many of the functions now conducted by

21 government employees concerning contract prepara22 tion and solicitation, contractor selection, program

23 development, and performance evaluation;
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1 (4) the administration of contracts be simplified

2 while ensuring compliance with the terms, condi3 tions, and provisions of each contract;

4 (5) contractors be given adequate incentives to

5 invest in improvements that support their oper6 ations, by affording contractors a reasonable oppor7 tunity to profit from each contract and achieve a

8 reasonable return on any investments made;

9 (6) the bidding procedures for contracts be re10 vised and clarified to increase the competition for

11 each contract, in particular in circumstances in

12 which the Secretary believes that goods and services

13 provided under a contract should be significantly en14 hanced;

15 (7) to the extent consistent with paragraphs (1)

16 through (6), each contract provide for payment of

17 fees or other monetary or nonmonetary consideration

18 to the United States for the benefit of the national

19 park relating to the contract, and, in certain cases,

20 for the benefit of national parks generally, in order

21 to further enhance the visitor services provided by

22 the National Park Service in each national park; and

23 (8) certain transitional rules may be necessary

24 to prevent dislocation and to ensure that the United
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1 States honors commitments under contracts entered

2 into before the date of enactment of this Act.

3 SEC. 402. DEFINITIONS.

4 In this title:

5 (1) CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT.—The term ‘‘cap6 ital improvement’’ means a capital investment made

7 by a concessionaire in a structure, fixture, or non8 removable equipment located in a national park that

9 would be capitalized under generally accepted ac10 counting principles.

11 (2) CONCESSIONAIRE.—The term ‘‘conces12 sionaire’’ means a person providing a concession

13 service under a concession contract with the Sec14 retary.

15 (3) CONCESSION BOARD.—The term ‘‘Conces16 sion Board’’ means the Concession Board appointed

17 under section 403.

18 (4) CONCESSION MANAGER.—The term ‘‘Con19 cession Manager’’ means the Concession Manager of

20 the National Park Service appointed under section

21 404.

22 (5) CONSUMER PRICE INDEX.—The term ‘‘Con23 sumer Price Index’’ means—
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1 (A) the Consumer Price Index—All Urban

2 Consumers published by the Bureau of Labor

3 Statistics of the Department of Labor; or

4 (B) if the index specified in subparagraph

5 (A) is not published, the Consumer Price Index

6 or other regularly published cost-of-living index

7 chosen by the Secretary that approximates the

8 index specified in subparagraph (A).

9 (6) MAINTENANCE ACCOUNT.—The term

10 ‘‘maintenance account’’ means a segregated account

11 established by a concessionaire, as required by a

12 concession contract, for the maintenance of a struc13 ture or other equipment assigned to the conces14 sionaire under the concession contract that directly

15 supports the services provided by the concessionaire.

16 SEC. 403. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE CONCESSION BOARD.

17 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established within

18 the National Park Service a Concession Board.

19 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—The Concession Board shall be

20 composed of—

21 (1) 6 individuals appointed by the Secretary, of

22 whom—

23 (A) 3 shall be past or present employees of

24 the National Park Service with substantial ex25 perience in concession management; and
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1 (B) 3 shall be individuals (other than em2 ployees of the National Park Service or conces3 sionaires) with substantial experience in the

4 hospitality industry who have no financial inter5 est in a concessionaire and have no other direct

6 or indirect conflict of interest respecting any

7 concessionaire, the Department of the Interior,

8 or any public interest, political action, or other

9 group or association that actively engages in

10 lobbying activities concerning the national

11 parks; and

12 (2) the Secretary, who shall serve as chair13 person.

14 (c) TERM.—

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—A member of the Concession

16 Board appointed under subsection (b)(1) shall be ap17 pointed for a term not to exceed 4 years.

18 (2) STAGGERED TERMS.—The Secretary may

19 stagger the terms of members appointed under sub20 section (b)(1).

21 (3) VACANCIES.—The Secretary may appoint a

22 member to serve for the unexpired term of any de23 parting member.

24 (d) FUNCTIONS.—The Concession Board shall—
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1 (1)(A) assist the Secretary in the preparation

2 and issuance of a solicitation for proposals from per3 sons that satisfy the criteria established in section

4 404(a)(3) to serve as Concession Manager;

5 (B) review all proposals received and interview

6 all persons that meet the requirements as specified

7 in the solicitation for proposals; and

8 (C) submit to the Secretary a recommendation

9 for appointment of the Concession Manager;

10 (2) review decisions of the Concession Manager

11 and make recommendations to the Secretary regard12 ing—

13 (A) the selection of concessionaires; and

14 (B) such other matters as the Secretary

15 may refer to the Concession Board;

16 (3) make recommendations to the Secretary re17 garding—

18 (A) allocation of fees collected from conces19 sionaires for the purposes of section 406; and

20 (B) how much funding should be allocated

21 to individual national parks after concession

22 capital improvement programs and maintenance

23 operations are funded; and

24 (4) mediate disputes between the conces25 sionaires and the Concession Manager or national
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1 park superintendents and make recommendations to

2 the Secretary regarding resolution of the disputes.

3 SEC. 404. CONCESSION MANAGER.

4 (a) APPOINTMENT.—

5 (1) CONTRACT AWARD.—The Secretary shall

6 award a single contract for the appointment of a

7 Concession Manager for all national parks.

8 (2) SELECTION.—The contract under para9 graph (1) shall be awarded to the person that sub10 mits the best proposal, as determined by the Sec11 retary after taking into account the recommendation

12 of the Concession Board.

13 (3) CRITERIA.—The Concession Manager shall

14 be an independent, nongovernmental entity—

15 (A) that has substantial experience in the

16 management of large hotel, food service, retail,

17 and recreational properties; and

18 (B) that has no financial interest in a con19 cessionaire or any other direct or indirect con20 flict of interest respecting any concessionaire,

21 the Department of the Interior, or any other

22 public interest, political action, or other group

23 or association that actively engages in lobbying

24 activities concerning the national parks.
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•S 1693 IS

1 (b) TERM.—The term of a contract under subsection

2 (a) shall not exceed 10 years.

3 (c) FUNCTIONS.—The Concession Manager shall—

4 (1) solicit, negotiate, and enforce the terms and

5 conditions of concession contracts in compliance with

6 this title; and

7 (2) submit recommendations to the Secretary

8 regarding the award of concession contracts, includ9 ing—

10 (A) prescription of an economically viable

11 scope of work to be performed (including, if ap12 plicable, a capital investment requirement) that

13 is economically sufficient to generate bidding

14 interest for the concession contract from quali15 fied individuals or businesses;

16 (B) establishment of the terms and condi17 tions of a concession contract in accordance

18 with section 405(a);

19 (C) determine whether to renew a contract

20 without issuance of a prospectus as permitted

21 under section 405(g);

22 (D) develop a capital improvement and

23 maintenance program for all concession facili24 ties, including development of—
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•S 1693 IS

1 (i) overall facility standards based on

2 comparable industry standards; and

3 (ii) site-specific capital improvement

4 and maintenance programs for the areas in

5 which concession activities will be con6 ducted;

7 (E) develop a quality-assurance plan for

8 each concession operation in accordance with

9 subsection (e);

10 (F) conduct periodic inspections to ensure

11 that the terms and conditions of a concession

12 contract are fully complied with and that the

13 standards developed under a quality assurance

14 plan are met;

15 (G) on a regular basis, conduct visitor sur16 veys seeking information regarding concession

17 activities; and

18 (H) review general management and devel19 opment concept plans prepared by the National

20 Park Service and identify provisions of a plan

21 that create undue operational or financial bur22 dens on concessionaires or are otherwise incom23 patible with the visitation service needs of a na24 tional park.
30

•S 1693 IS

1 (d) PROSPECTUS REQUIREMENTS.—Any prospectus

2 issued by the Concession Manager shall, at a minimum,

3 include—

4 (1) a description of the character, timing, and

5 amount of any capital investments that will be re6 quired under the concession contract, including the

7 payment of the value of possessory interest or lease8 holder surrender value under section 405(b)(1)(G),

9 if any, to the departing concessionaire, as applicable

10 and consistent with section 405;

11 (2) a detailed description of the areas, struc12 tures, fixtures, and nonremovable equipment to be

13 leased or assigned to the concessionaire, and the

14 rental, if any, attributable to government-owned

15 buildings not subject to a leasehold surrender value;

16 (3) a description of any quality assurance plan

17 developed for the concession contract under sub18 section (e);

19 (4) the minimum amount that will be required

20 to be contributed to any maintenance account speci21 fied in the concession contract in accordance with

22 section 405(d), and the current balance of any exist23 ing maintenance account that will be transferred to

24 the concessionaire, with a detailed description of any
31

•S 1693 IS

1 maintenance standards that are required to be ad2 hered to by the concessionaire;

3 (5) the term of the concession contract in ac4 cordance with section 405(e);

5 (6) a description of all fees sought by the Gov6 ernment in connection with the concession contract;

7 (7) a description of any personal property to be

8 sold by the departing concessionaire and the cost of

9 the personal property;

10 (8) a description of any special rights held by

11 third parties or limitations that have been or are an12 ticipated to be imposed on the operations of the na13 tional park that might materially affect the proposal;

14 and

15 (9) the criteria that will be used to qualify the

16 bidders and evaluate any proposal received (includ17 ing experience, financial capability, record relative to

18 resource protection, quality of service relative to fa19 cilities assigned, and capital commitment).

20 (e) QUALITY ASSURANCE PLAN REQUIREMENTS.—A

21 quality assurance plan for a concession contract—

22 (1) shall be tailored to the nature and character

23 of the goods and services provided under the conces24 sion contract;
32

•S 1693 IS

1 (2) may be based on comparable industry

2 standards;

3 (3) shall be included in contracts as awarded;

4 and

5 (4) shall have the purpose of maximizing the

6 quality of service provided to the public consistent

7 with the terms of the concession contract and the

8 nature and character of the facilities operated under

9 the concession contract.

10 (f) FUNDING OF CONSIDERATION.—All consideration

11 paid to the Concession Manager under a contract under

12 subsection (a) shall be funded with concession contract

13 fees and paid to the Concession Manager in accordance

14 with section 406.

15 (g) STAFFING OF THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE.—

16 (1) REGIONAL AND NATIONAL OFFICES.—Not

17 later than 2 years after the date of enactment of

18 this Act—

19 (A) each regional office shall retain 1 Na20 tional Park Service employee to act as conces21 sion coordinator for the region of the office; and

22 (B) the headquarters of the National Park

23 Service in Washington, D.C., shall retain 3

24 members of the staff to act as concession coor25 dinators for all national parks.
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•S 1693 IS

1 (2) PARK SERVICE EMPLOYEES.—No career

2 full-time employee of the National Park Service as3 signed to concession operations at the time at which

4 the Concession Manager is selected shall be sepa5 rated from the National Park Service by reason of

6 turning the management of concession operations

7 over to the Concession Manager.

8 (3) INTERNAL HIRING.—Any career full-time

9 employee of the National Park Service employed

10 under the auspices of the concession program on the

11 date of enactment of this Act shall be given priority

12 placement for any available position within the Na13 tional Park System notwithstanding any priority re14 employment lists, directives, rules, regulations, or

15 other orders of the Department of the Interior, the

16 Office of Management and Budget, or any other

17 Federal agency.

18 SEC. 405. CONCESSION CONTRACTS.

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—

20 (1) TERMS AND CONDITIONS.—A concession

21 contract shall include—

22 (A) terms and conditions that are consist23 ent with this title, the general management

24 plan of a national park, and such matters as

25 the Secretary may prescribe regarding resource
34

•S 1693 IS

1 protection and other National Park Service con2 cerns; and

3 (B) provisions relating to a description of

4 the goods and services that shall or may be pro5 vided under the concession contract, and the

6 minimum contract requirements with respect to

7 the goods and services, including—

8 (i) visitor services;

9 (ii) purchased goods;

10 (iii) interpretation;

11 (iv) park administrative functions;

12 (v) employee housing and other non13 income producing facilities; and

14 (vi) other services or activities.

15 (2) FRANCHISE FEES.—

16 (A) CONTRACT SPECIFICATION.—The

17 amount of a franchise fee for the privilege of

18 providing concession services under this title

19 shall be specified in a concession contract.

20 (B) CONTENTS.—The franchise fee for a

21 concession contract may include any of the fol22 lowing:

23 (i) An annual cash payment for the

24 privilege of providing concession services.
35

•S 1693 IS

1 (ii) Fees for rental or lease of Govern2 ment-owned facilities or land occupied by

3 the concessionaire.

4 (iii) Expenditures for maintenance of

5 or improvements to Government-owned fa6 cilities occupied by the concessionaire.

7 (3) MINIMUM ACCEPTABLE FEE.—

8 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Concession Man9 ager shall establish a minimum fee for each ap10 plicable category specified in paragraph (2)(B)

11 that is acceptable to the Secretary.

12 (B) BASES.—The amount of a minimum

13 fee shall be based on—

14 (i) historical data, if available; and

15 (ii) industry-specific and other market

16 data available to the Secretary and the

17 Concession Manager.

18 (4) ADJUSTMENT OF FEES.—No franchise fee

19 or other fee collected in connection with a concession

20 contract shall be subject to adjustment during the

21 term of the concession contract except in accordance

22 with a mathmatical formula specified in the conces23 sion contract.

24 (b) CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS.—
36

•S 1693 IS

1 (1) POSSESSORY INTERESTS UNDER EXISTING

2 CONTRACTS.—

3 (A) COMPENSATION BY APPRAISAL.—Not

4 less than 12 months before the expiration of a

5 concession contract existing on the date of en6 actment of this Act under which the conces7 sionaire holds a possessory interest, if the

8 amount of compensation has not been agreed to

9 previously by the Secretary and the conces10 sionaire, the concessionaire shall submit to the

11 Secretary an independent appraisal of the

12 sound value (as defined in Public Law 89–249

13 (16 U.S.C. 20 et seq.) of the structures, fix14 tures, or improvements in which the conces15 sionaire has a possessory interest under Public

16 Law 89–249 (16 U.S.C. 20 et seq.).

17 (B) APPRAISALS.—

18 (i) TIMING.—An appraisal under sub19 paragraph (A)—

20 (I) shall be performed by an ap21 praiser with significant experience in

22 the appraisal of assets similar to those

23 to be valued in the appraisal; and

24 (II) shall be dated as of a date

25 not earlier than the date that is 18
37

•S 1693 IS

1 months before the date of expiration

2 of the concession contract.

3 (ii) POST-APPRAISAL ACQUISITIONS.—

4 Any structure, fixture, or improvement ac5 quired or constructed after the date of the

6 appraisal in which the concessionaire holds

7 a possessory interest shall be deemed to

8 have a sound value as of the date of acqui9 sition or construction equal to the conces10 sionaire’s original cost adjusted for any

11 physical deterioration of the structure, fix12 ture, or improvement.

13 (C) POSSESSORY INTERESTS.—

14 (i) PURCHASE.—The Secretary shall

15 pay (or cause the succeeding concessionaire

16 to pay) to the concessionaire for the con17 cessionaire’s possessory interest, on the

18 termination of the contract, an amount

19 equal to—

20 (I) the appraised sound value (as

21 determined under this section); or

22 (II) the concessionaire’s original

23 cost for newly constructed or acquired

24 structures, fixtures, or improvements

25 as set forth in paragraph (2);
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•S 1693 IS

1 as applicable, increased by the percentage

2 increase in the Consumer Price Index from

3 the month in which the appraisal was

4 made to the date of payment.

5 (ii) PAYMENT.—The amount under

6 clause (i) shall be paid not later than 30

7 days after the date of termination of the

8 contract or 30 days after the date of the

9 determination of the amount, except to the

10 extent that the amount is carried forward

11 under subparagraph (F).

12 (D) APPRAISAL DISPUTES.—

13 (i) SECOND APPRAISAL.—If the Sec14 retary disagrees with the appraisal submit15 ted by a concessionaire, the Secretary may,

16 not less than 90 days after receipt of the

17 concessionaire’s appraisal, present the con18 cessionaire with an independent appraisal

19 performed by an appraiser with significant

20 experience in the appraisal of assets simi21 lar to those valued in the appraisal submit22 ted by the concessionaire, dated as of the

23 same date as the concessionaire’s ap24 praisal.
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•S 1693 IS

1 (ii) SELECTION OF THIRD AP2 PRAISAL.—If the Secretary and the conces3 sionaire are unable to agree on the ap4 praised value within 30 days after the con5 cessionaire receives the Secretary’s ap6 praisal, the Secretary’s appraiser and the

7 concessionaire’s appraiser shall choose a

8 third appraiser.

9 (iii) COURT DETERMINATION.—If the

10 Secretary fails to make a determination

11 within 60 days after receipt of a report by

12 the third appraiser, the concessionaire may

13 petition the United States Court of Fed14 eral Claims for a determination of the

15 value of the possessory interest. Subject to

16 the right of appeal, a determination by the

17 court shall be binding for purposes of this

18 section on all parties.

19 (E) PAYMENT.—The concessionaire shall

20 pay the cost of the concessionaire’s appraisal

21 and the United States shall pay the cost of the

22 Secretary’s appraisal. If a third appraiser is se23 lected under subparagraph (D), the cost of the

24 third appraisal shall be shared equally by the

25 concessionaire and the United States.
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•S 1693 IS

1 (F) CONVERSION TO LEASEHOLD SURREN2 DER VALUE.—

3 (i) VALUATION OF CAPITAL IMPROVE4 MENTS.—To the extent that a succeeding

5 concessionaire pays for the possessory in6 terest of a preceding concessionaire, the

7 amount paid—

8 (I) shall constitute the initial

9 leaseholder surrender value respecting

10 the applicable capital improvements at

11 the commencement of the concession

12 contract; and

13 (II) shall be valued in accordance

14 with paragraph (2).

15 (ii) CARRYOVER AMOUNTS.—If an ex16 isting concessionaire is awarded a conces17 sion contract, the existing concessionaire

18 shall carry over, as leasehold surrender

19 value under paragraph (2), the amount

20 that any other bidder on the concession

21 contract would have paid to the existing

22 concessionaire under the concession con23 tract, with the remainder of any amount

24 payable to the existing concessionaire to be

25 paid under subparagraph (C).
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•S 1693 IS

1 (2) LEASEHOLD SURRENDER VALUE UNDER

2 NEW CONCESSION CONTRACTS.—

3 (A) IN GENERAL.—Each concession con4 tract that contemplates capital investment by

5 the concessionaire in any capital improvements

6 shall contain a provision requiring that on the

7 expiration or other termination of the conces8 sion contract, the Secretary shall pay, or cause

9 the person that is awarded the successor con10 cession contract to the concession contract to

11 pay, to the concessionaire, as compensation for

12 the concessionaire’s investment in the capital

13 improvement, the leasehold surrender value de14 termined under subparagraph (B).

15 (B) COMPUTATION OF LEASEHOLD SUR16 RENDER VALUE.—

17 (i) PROPERTY RIGHT.—A conces18 sionaire shall have a property right in each

19 capital improvement in which the conces20 sionaire makes an investment as con21 templated by the concession contract, con22 sisting solely of a right to compensation

23 for the capital improvement to the extent

24 of the concessionaire’s leasehold surrender

25 value in the capital improvement.
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•S 1693 IS

1 (ii) PROPERTY RIGHT AS COLLAT2 ERAL.—A property right under clause

3 (i)—

4 (I) may be given as security for

5 financing of a capital improvement;

6 and

7 (II) shall be transferred in con8 nection with any transfer of the con9 cession contract under subsection (f).

10 (iii) DURATION.—The leasehold sur11 render value—

12 (I) shall not be extinguished by

13 the expiration or other termination of

14 a concession contract; and

15 (II) may not be taken for public

16 use, except on payment of just com17 pensation.

18 (iv) CALCULATION.—The amount of

19 the leasehold surrender value for a capital

20 improvement shall be an amount that is

21 equal to—

22 (I) the cost of the capital im23 provement to the contractor, increased

24 (or decreased) in the same percentage

25 as the percentage increase (or de-
43

•S 1693 IS

1 crease) in the Consumer Price Index,

2 from the date of making the invest3 ment in the capital improvement by

4 the concessionaire to the date of pay5 ment of the leasehold surrender value,

6 less depreciation evidenced by the con7 dition and prospective serviceability in

8 comparison with a new unit of like

9 kind; or

10 (II) in the case of any structure,

11 fixture, or equipment for which the

12 concessionaire paid the leasehold sur13 render value (or possessory interest

14 under paragraph (1)(C)) to a previous

15 concessionaire or for which any lease16 hold surrender value (or possessory

17 interest) is carried over from an exist18 ing contract under paragraph (1)(F),

19 the amount paid or carried over.

20 (c) RATES AND PRICES.—

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), a

22 concession contract shall permit the concessionaire

23 to determine the appropriate level of pricing for

24 goods and services sold by the concessionaire.
44

•S 1693 IS

1 (2) EXCESS OVER MARKET PRICES.—A conces2 sion contract shall provide that it shall be a default

3 under the concession contract if the concessionaire’s

4 rates and prices, in the aggregate, materially exceed

5 market prices for comparable goods and services,

6 taking into consideration relevant operating con7 straints experienced by the concessionaire under the

8 concession contract, such as limited operating season

9 or hours, nonrevenue producing contract provisions,

10 other legal requirements, and the effect of remote lo11 cation on operating and employment costs.

12 (d) MAINTENANCE ACCOUNTS.—

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—A concession contract may

14 require that separate maintenance accounts may be

15 established for the maintenance of—

16 (A) structures, fixtures, and other im17 provements in which the concessionaire is enti18 tled to a leasehold surrender value; and

19 (B) other structures or other improve20 ments assigned to the concessionaire.

21 (2) EXISTING IMPROVEMENTS.—A concession

22 contract shall not require deposits in a maintenance

23 account that are in excess of the amount reasonably

24 anticipated as being necessary during the term of

25 the concession contract to maintain the structures
45

•S 1693 IS

1 and improvements to be benefited in their condition

2 as of the date of execution of the concession con3 tract.

4 (3) NEW IMPROVEMENTS.—A concession con5 tract may provide for deposits in a maintenance ac6 count after completion of any new structures, fix7 tures, or improvements assigned to the conces8 sionaire, in an amount not in excess of the amount

9 reasonably anticipated as being necessary during the

10 remaining term of the concession contract to main11 tain the structures, fixtures, and improvements.

12 (4) WITHDRAWALS.—

13 (A) MAINTENANCE.—Except as provided

14 in subparagraph (B), a concessionaire may

15 withdraw amounts from a maintenance account

16 solely for maintenance of structures, fixtures,

17 and improvements.

18 (B) ADDITIONAL CAPITAL EXPENDI19 TURES.—With the consent of the Concession

20 Manager, a concessionaire may withdraw

21 amounts from a maintenance account for the

22 purpose of making additional capital expendi23 tures to support concession operations.

24 (e) TERM.—
46

•S 1693 IS

1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The term of a concession

2 contract shall be determined by the Concession Man3 ager based on the economic requirements of the con4 cession contract.

5 (2) CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS.—The term of a

6 concession contract that will require the conces7 sionaire to invest in a capital improvement so as to

8 entitle the concessionaire to payment of the lease9 hold surrender value of the capital improvement

10 shall be not less than 15 years.

11 (f) TRANSFERABILITY.—

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—A concession contract shall

13 be transferable only with the approval of the Sec14 retary.

15 (2) APPROVAL.—

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall ap17 prove a transfer of a concession contract unless

18 the Secretary determines that the transferee

19 does not have sufficient professional, financial,

20 and other resources or business experience to be

21 capable of performing the concession contract

22 for the remainder of the term of the concession

23 contract.

24 (B) FAILURE TO ACT.—If the Secretary

25 fails to approve or disapprove a transfer under
47

•S 1693 IS

1 paragraph (1) within 60 days after the date on

2 which the Secretary or Concession Manager re3 ceives all necessary information requested by

4 the Secretary or Concession Manager with re5 spect to the transfer, the transfer shall be

6 deemed to have been approved.

7 (3) NO ADDITIONAL TERMS OR CONDITIONS.—

8 The Secretary shall not condition approval of a

9 transfer of a concession contract on acceptance by

10 the transferee of additional terms or conditions as

11 part of the concession contract.

12 (4) EFFECT OF TRANSFER.—Upon the transfer

13 of any concession contract, the transferee shall suc14 ceed to all of the rights, duties, and obligations of

15 the transferring concessionaire under the concession

16 contract and this Act.

17 (g) RENEWAL OF CONTRACTS.—

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para19 graph (2), a concessionaire shall be given no pref20 erence in the opportunity to provide new or addi21 tional services or to be awarded a renewal of a con22 cession contract the term of which is expiring or has

23 expired.

24 (2) EXCEPTIONS.—

25 (A) GUIDES AND OUTFITTERS.—
48

•S 1693 IS

1 (i) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (1) does

2 not apply to a concessionaire that has con3 ducted a guide or outfitting operation

4 under a permit issued or contract awarded

5 by the Secretary.

6 (ii) RIGHT OF FIRST RENEGOTI7 ATION.—A concessionaire that has con8 ducted a guide or outfitting operation

9 under a permit issued or contract awarded

10 by the Secretary shall have a right of first

11 renegotiation on expiration of the permit

12 or contract.

13 (B) MINOR EXPANSION OF CONCESSION

14 CONTRACT.—Nothing in this title prohibits the

15 Secretary and a concessionaire from amending

16 a concession contract to—

17 (i) change the quality or quantity of

18 goods or services provided under the con19 cession contract; or

20 (ii) provide new or additional services

21 that are a natural extension of the conces22 sion contract and complement services al23 ready provided under the concession con24 tract;
49

•S 1693 IS

1 so long as the amendment does not materially

2 change the nature or scope of the concession

3 contract as a whole.

4 (C) SMALL CONTRACTS.—The Secretary

5 may negotiate any individual concession con6 tract with anticipated annual revenues of less

7 than $2,000,000 (adjusted annually for changes

8 in the Consumer Price Index) without the

9 issuance of a prospectus or the solicitation of

10 competitive bids.

11 (D) EMERGENCY AND TEMPORARY CON12 TRACTS.—A concession contract may be award13 ed or extended for a period not to exceed 3

14 years without competitive bids—

15 (i) if necessary to avoid curtailment of

16 visitor services at a national park; or

17 (ii) for the purpose of providing goods

18 or services that are expected to be of tem19 porary duration.

20 (h) BIDDING PROCEDURES.—

21 (1) SOLICITATION OF BIDS.—

22 (A) PROSPECTUS.—After the Concession

23 Manager determines that a concession contract

24 will be awarded through the solicitation of com25 petitive bids and a prospectus has been pre-
50

•S 1693 IS

1 pared and approved in accordance with this

2 Act, the Concession Manager shall issue the

3 prospectus to potential concessionaires.

4 (B) CONTENTS.—The prospectus shall, in

5 addition to the provisions required under sub6 section (a)(1), contain—

7 (i) provisions that clearly set forth the

8 relative importance of each criterion to be

9 considered with respect to each bid (based

10 on a system of points to be awarded for

11 each criterion);

12 (ii) an explanation of the bid review

13 and selection process; and

14 (iii) such other information concern15 ing the national park and the award as the

16 Concession Manager considers relevant.

17 (C) PRIORITIES.—In the determination of

18 the winning bid, consideration of fee income to

19 the United States shall be of secondary impor20 tance to the financial capability of the conces21 sionaire and the quality, scope of service, and

22 upgrade of facilities and services that are ex23 pected to result from award of the concession

24 contract.
51

•S 1693 IS

1 (D) SUBSTANTIAL FACTORS.—Prior expe2 rience in the management of operations deliver3 ing the same or similar goods and services in

4 the national park or in other similar operations

5 shall be a criterion given substantial weight

6 (not less than 10 percent of the points award7 ed) by the Concession Manager and the Sec8 retary in the final selection of the winning bid.

9 (2) QUALIFICATION OF BIDDERS; REJECTION

10 OF BIDS.—

11 (A) EXPERIENCE AND CAPABILITIES.—A

12 prospectus for the award of a concession con13 tract with anticipated annual revenues in excess

14 of $5,000,000 may require that each prospec15 tive bidder submit to the Concession Manager,

16 before submission of bids, a description of its

17 business and organization that is sufficient to

18 permit the Concession Manager to determine

19 whether the prospective bidder has sufficient fi20 nancial capability and experience in the man21 agement of operations that are similar to those

22 that will be required under the concession con23 tract that there is a reasonable likelihood, as

24 determined by the Concession Manager, that
52

•S 1693 IS

1 the prospective bidder will be able to fulfill its

2 obligations under the concession contract.

3 (B) SUBMISSION.—All prospective bidders,

4 except any that the Concession Manager deter5 mines does not have the financial capability and

6 experience described in subparagraph (A) (if

7 applicable), shall be permitted to submit a bid

8 for the award of the concession contract.

9 (C) REJECTION.—After bids are received,

10 the Concession Manager may reject any bid

11 that the Concession Manager determines is not

12 substantially responsive to the criteria set forth

13 in the prospectus.

14 (3) SELECTION OF CONCESSIONAIRE; NEGOTIA15 TION AND EXECUTION OF CONCESSION CONTRACT.—

16 (A) EVALUATION.—All bids not rejected by

17 the Concession Manager in accordance with this

18 title shall be evaluated based on the bid review

19 and selection process set forth in the prospec20 tus.

21 (B) SELECTION.—The bidder submitting

22 the bid receiving the highest number of points

23 awarded for the criteria set forth in the pro24 spectus shall be selected for negotiation of the

25 concession contract.
53

•S 1693 IS

1 (C) NEGOTIATION.—The negotiation—

2 (i) shall be conducted by the Conces3 sion Manager in good faith with the se4 lected bidder; and

5 (ii) shall be confined to any terms of

6 the concession contract that the bidder

7 identified in the bid submitted as being un8 acceptable.

9 (D) TERMINATION.—Until agreement is

10 reached on the terms of a concession contract,

11 the Concession Manager may terminate the ne12 gotiation and begin similar negotiation with the

13 other bidders in the order in which bids re14 ceived the next highest number of points, until

15 a concession contract is fully executed and de16 livered.

17 (E) REVIEW.—A concession contract shall

18 be subject to review and approval by the Sec19 retary before execution by the United States.

20 (F) RENEWAL OF BID PROCESS.—If nego21 tiations do not result in a concession contract,

22 the Concession Manager shall reject all bids

23 and solicit new bids for the award of the con24 cession contract.
54

•S 1693 IS

1 SEC. 406. REVENUE FLOW; FEES TO THE GOVERNMENT.

2 (a) SPECIAL ACCOUNT.—

3 (1) DEPOSIT OF FEES.—The amount of all con4 tract concession fees collected during a fiscal year

5 shall be deposited in a special account in the Treas6 ury of the United States and shall be available, with7 out further Act of appropriation, for use in accord8 ance with this section.

9 (2) EXCEPTIONS.—For purposes of this section,

10 fees shall not include any amounts set aside in a

11 maintenance account.

12 (b) USE OF AMOUNTS IN THE SPECIAL ACCOUNT.—

13 (1) PAYMENT OF CONSIDERATION TO THE CON14 CESSION MANAGER.—Amounts in the special account

15 under subsection (a) at the end of a fiscal year shall

16 be used first to pay consideration under the contract

17 with the Concession Manager for the fiscal year.

18 (2) REWARD ALLOCATION.—The balance re19 maining in the special account after application of

20 paragraph (1) shall be transferred to a subaccount

21 and shall be allocated to each national park, based

22 on the proportion that the amount of concession

23 contract fees collected from the national park during

24 the fiscal year bears to the total amount of conces25 sion contract fees collected from all national parks

26 during the fiscal year, to fund high-priority resource
55

•S 1693 IS

1 management and visitor services programs and oper2 ations.

3 SEC. 407. SUSPENSION OR TERMINATION OF CONCESSION

4 CONTRACT.

5 (a) SUSPENSION.—The Concession Manager may im6 mediately suspend a concession contract if the Concession

7 Manager finds that an immediate suspension is necessary

8 to protect the public health or welfare.

9 (b) TERMINATION.—The Secretary may terminate a

10 concession contract if the concessionaire fails to correct

11 a condition identified by the Concession Manager within

12 the limitations established by contract—

13 (1) within 30 days after the date on which a

14 notice of failure to comply with the terms and condi15 tions of the contract is provided to the conces16 sionaire; or

17 (2) within such longer period of time as the

18 concessionaire may reasonably require to correct the

19 condition.

20 SEC. 408. REPORTING.

21 (a) MAINTENANCE AND ACCESS.—

22 (1) RECORDS AND REPORT.—A concessionaire

23 shall keep such records and submit to the Conces24 sion Manager such reports as are required in the

25 concession contract to enable the Concession Man-
56

•S 1693 IS

1 ager to monitor performance by the concessionaire

2 of the concession contract.

3 (2) CONFIDENTIALITY.—Any record or report

4 under paragraph (1) that contains financial informa5 tion concerning the operations of the concessionaire

6 (except for aggregate gross sales data and revenues

7 covered into the special account under section 406)

8 or any other proprietary business information of the

9 concessionaire shall be considered to be confidential

10 and not subject to disclosure to the public under sec11 tion 552 of title 5, United States Code, or any other

12 Federal law.

13 (3) ACCESSIBILITY.—For the purpose of audit

14 and examination, the Concession Manager shall have

15 access at reasonable times and locations to records

16 under paragraph (1) and to other books, documents,

17 and papers of the concessionaire pertaining to the

18 concession contract.

19 (b) ACCESS BY COMPTROLLER GENERAL.—Until the

20 expiration of 5 calendar years after the close of the fiscal

21 year of a concessionaire, the Comptroller General of the

22 United States shall have access to and the right to exam23 ine any pertinent books, documents, papers, and records

24 of the concessionaire relative to a concession contract.
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1 SEC. 409. PROMOTION OF THE SALES OF INDIAN AND

2 ALASKA NATIVE HANDICRAFTS.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Promoting the sale of United

4 States authentic Indian and Alaska Native handicrafts re5 lating to the cultural, historical, and geographic character6 istics of national park areas is encouraged, and the Sec7 retary shall ensure that there is a continuing effort to en8 hance the handicraft trade where it exists and establish

9 the trade where it does not currently exist.

10 (b) EXEMPTION FROM FEES.—In furtherance of this

11 title, the revenue derived from the sale of United States

12 Indian and Alaska Native handicrafts shall be exempt

13 from any franchise fee payment under section 405(a).

14 SEC. 410. USE OF NONMONETARY CONSIDERATION IN

15 LEASES OF GOVERNMENT PROPERTY.

16 Section 321 of the Act of June 30, 1932 (47 Stat.

17 412, chapter 314; 40 U.S.C. 303b) shall not apply to

18 privileges, leases, permits, and contracts granted by the

19 Secretary for the use of land and improvements on land,

20 in areas administered by the National Park Service, for

21 the purpose of providing accommodations, facilities, and

22 services for visitors pursuant to the Act of August 25,

23 1916 (commonly known as the ‘‘National Park Service Or24 ganize Act’’) (39 Stat. 535, chapter 408; 16 U.S.C. 1 et

25 seq.), or the Act of August 21, 1935 (49 Stat. 666, chap26 ter 593; 16 U.S.C. 461 et seq.).
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1 SEC. 411. APPLICABILITY OF NEPA TO RENEWALS AND EX2 TENSIONS OF SIMILAR CONTRACTS.

3 The extension, renewal, amendment, or other award

4 of a concession contract to provide goods or services simi5 lar in nature and amount to the goods or services provided

6 under the same or a previous concession contract shall be

7 considered to be a categorical exclusion for purposes of

8 the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C.

9 4321 et seq.).

10 SEC. 412. MISCELLANEOUS.

11 (a) ANILCA.—Nothing in this title amends, super12 sedes, or otherwise affects any provision of the Alaska Na13 tional Interest Lands Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 3101

14 et seq.) relating to revenue-producing visitor services.

15 (b) REPEALS.—Subject to provisions of this title that

16 incorporate portions of Public Law 89–249 by reference

17 with respect to concession contracts existing on the date

18 of enactment of this Act, and subject to subsection (c),

19 Public Law 89–249 (16 U.S.C. 20 et seq.) is repealed.

20 (c) SAVINGS.—

21 (1) VALIDITY.—The repeal of any provision, the

22 superseding of any provision, and the amendment of

23 any provision, of any statute referred to in this sec24 tion shall not affect the validity of any contract or

25 other authorization entered into under that statute.
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1 (2) APPLICABILITY.—This title shall apply to

2 any contract or authorization described in paragraph

3 (1), except to the extent that any provision of this

4 title is inconsistent with the express terms of the

5 contract or authorization or except as otherwise pre6 served with respect to such contract or authorization

7 under the terms of this title.

8 TITLE V—NATIONAL PARK

9 PASSPORT PROGRAM

10 SEC. 501. PURPOSES.

11 The purposes of this title are—

12 (1) to develop a national park passport that in13 cludes a collectible stamp to be used for admission

14 to the national parks; and

15 (2) to generate revenue for support of the Na16 tional Park System.

17 SEC. 502. DEFINITIONS.

18 In this title:

19 (1) INTERNATIONAL PARK PASSPORT.—The

20 term ‘‘international park passport’’ means an inter21 national park passport issued under section 505.

22 (2) PARK PASSPORT.—The term ‘‘park pass23 port’’ means a park passport issued under section

24 503.
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1 SEC. 503. NATIONAL PARK PASSPORT PROGRAM.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish a

3 national park passport program.

4 (b) FEATURES.—The national park passport pro5 gram shall provide for issuance of collectible stamps pro6 viding the holder of the park passport admission to all

7 of the national parks.

8 (c) TRANSFERABILITY.—A national park passport

9 shall not be transferable.

10 SEC. 504. ADMINISTRATION.

11 (a) EFFECTIVE PERIOD.—A park passport shall be

12 an annual passport effective from January 1 through De13 cember 31 of a year.

14 (b) STAMP DESIGN COMPETITION.—

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall hold an

16 annual competition for the design of the stamp to be

17 affixed to the passport.

18 (2) PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.—Each competition

19 shall be open to the public and shall be a means to

20 educate the American people about the National

21 Park System.

22 (c) SALE OF STAMPS AND PASSPORTS.—

23 (1) BY PUBLIC ENTITIES.—Park passports and

24 stamps shall be sold through the National Park

25 Service and the United States Postal Service under
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1 a regulation promulgated jointly by the Secretary

2 and the United States Postal Service.

3 (2) BY PRIVATE ENTITIES.—

4 (A) VENDOR SALES.—Park passports (in5 cluding stamps) may be sold by private vendors

6 on consignment in accordance with guidelines

7 established by the Secretary.

8 (B) VENDOR COMMISSIONS.—A private

9 vendor may be allowed to collect a commission

10 on each park passport sold, as determined by

11 the Secretary.

12 (C) LIMITATIONS.—The Secretary may

13 limit the number of private vendors of park

14 passports.

15 (d) USE OF PROCEEDS.—

16 (1) ADMINISTRATION AND PROMOTION.—The

17 Secretary may use not more than 10 percent of the

18 revenues derived from the sale of park passports to

19 administer and promote the park passport program.

20 (2) TREASURY ACCOUNT.—Amounts collected

21 from the sale of park passports—

22 (A) shall be deposited in a special account

23 in the Treasury of the United States; and
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1 (B) shall remain available until expended,

2 without further Act of appropriation, for

3 projects throughout the National Park System.

4 (e) AGREEMENTS.—The Secretary may enter into co5 operative agreements with interested persons to provide

6 for the development and implementation of the park pass7 port program and the Secretary shall take such actions

8 as are appropriate to actively market park passports.

9 SEC. 505. INTERNATIONAL PARK PASSPORT PROGRAM.

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish an

11 international park passport program, which shall be gov12 erned by the other provisions of this title except as pro13 vided in this section.

14 (b) AVAILABILITY.—An international park passport

15 and stamp shall be made available exclusively to foreign

16 visitors to the United States.

17 (c) SALE.—International park passports and stamps

18 shall be available for sale exclusively outside the United

19 States through commercial tourism channels and con20 sulates or other offices of the United States.

21 (d) PRICE.—International park passport and stamps

22 shall be sold at a price that is $10.00 less than the price

23 of a park passport and stamp, but not less than $40.00.

24 (e) FORM.—An international park passport and

25 stamp shall be produced in a form that provides useful
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1 information to the international visitor and serves as a

2 souvenir of the visit.

3 (d) EFFECTIVE PERIOD.—An international park

4 passport shall be valid for a period of 45 days.

5 (e) USE OF PROCEEDS.—

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Of the amounts collected

7 from the sale of international park passports—

8 (A) 50 percent shall be deposited in the

9 special account under section 504(d) and shall

10 be available as provided in section 504(d); and

11 (B) 50 percent shall be deposited in a spe12 cial account in the Treasury of the United

13 States, and shall remain available until ex14 pended, without further Act of appropriation,

15 as provided in paragraph (2).

16 (2) AVAILABILITY TO THE SECRETARY OF COM17 MERCE.—Amounts in the special account under

18 paragraph (1)(B) shall be available to the Secretary

19 of Commerce to carry out section 6 of the United

20 States National Tourism Organization Act (22

21 U.S.C. 2141d) in connection with programs and

22 projects that relate to national parks and State

23 parks, national forests, and other Federal land.

24 (f) TERMINATION OF PROGRAM.—The Secretary

25 shall terminate the international park passport program
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1 at the end of calendar year 2003 unless at least 200,000

2 international park permits are sold during that calendar

3 year.

4 SEC. 506. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

5 There is authorized to be appropriated $750,000 to

6 develop guidelines and procedures for the park passport

7 program and to implement the program in its first year.

8 SEC. 507. EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS AND PROGRAMS.

9 (a) PARK PASSPORT NOT REQUIRED.—A park pass10 port shall not be required for—

11 (1) a single visit to a national park that charges

12 an admission fee under section 4(a)(2) of the Land

13 and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (16

14 U.S.C. 460l–6a(a)(2)); or

15 (2) an individual who has obtained a Golden

16 Age or Golden Access Passport under paragraph (4)

17 or (5) of section 4(a) of the Land and Water Con18 servation Fund Act of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 460l–6a(a)).

19 (b) GOLDEN EAGLE PASSPORTS.—A Golden Eagle

20 Passport issued under section 4(a)(1)(A) of the Land and

21 Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 460l–

22 6a(a)(1)(A)) shall be honored for admission to each na23 tional park.

24 (c) PARK PASSPORT.—A park passport shall provide

25 access to each national park under the same conditions,
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1 rules, and regulations as apply to access with a Golden

2 Eagle Passport.

3 (d) LIMITATIONS.—A park passport established by

4 this Act may not be used to obtain access to other Federal

5 recreation fee areas outside the National Park System.

6 (e) EXEMPTIONS AND FEES.—A park passport does

7 not exempt the holder from or provide the holder any dis8 count on any recreation use fee imposed under section

9 4(b) of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of

10 1965 (16 U.S.C. 460l–6a(b)).

11 (f) FEE.—The fee for a park passport and stamp

12 shall be $50.

13 TITLE VI—NATIONAL PARKS RE14 SOURCE INVENTORY AND

15 MANAGEMENT

16 SEC. 601. PURPOSES.

17 The purposes of this title are—

18 (1) to more effectively achieve the mission of

19 the National Park Service;

20 (2) to enhance management and protection of

21 national park resources by providing clear authority

22 and direction for the conduct of scientific study in

23 the national parks and to use the information gath24 ered for management purposes;
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1 (3) to ensure appropriate documentation of re2 source conditions in the national parks;

3 (4) to encourage others to use the national

4 parks for study to the benefit of park management

5 as well as broader scientific value, in cases in which

6 such study is consistent with the Act of August 25,

7 1916 (commonly known as the ‘‘National Park Serv8 ice Organic Act’’) (39 Stat. 535, chapter 408; 16

9 U.S.C. 1 et seq.); and

10 (5) to encourage the publication and dissemina11 tion of information derived from studies in the na12 tional parks.

13 SEC. 602. DEFINITIONS.

14 In this title:

15 (1) CHIEF SCIENTIST.—The term ‘‘Chief Sci16 entist’’ means the Chief Scientist of the National

17 Park Service appointed under section 603(b).

18 (2) CULTURAL RESOURCE.—The term ‘‘cultural

19 resource’’ means—

20 (A) a historic property (as defined in sec21 tion 301 of the National Historic Preservation

22 Act (16 U.S.C. 470w));

23 (B) an archaeological resource (as defined

24 in section 3 of the Archaeological Resources

25 Protection Act of 1979 (16 U.S.C. 470bb)); and
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1 (C) a museum object (as defined by the

2 Secretary).

3 (3) UNIT RESOURCE STUDY.—The term ‘‘unit

4 resource study’’ means a study conducted under sec5 tion 603.

6 SEC. 603. UNIT RESOURCE STUDY PROGRAM.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—

8 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—In furtherance of the

9 fundamental purposes of the National Park System,

10 the Secretary shall undertake a program of scientific

11 study by National Park Service employees and co12 operators in each national park.

13 (2) MATTERS TO BE STUDIED.—The unit re14 source study program under paragraph (1) shall

15 consist of studies of—

16 (A) natural resources employing the var17 ious natural sciences;

18 (B) cultural resources employing the var19 ious sciences and disciplines related to cultural

20 resources;

21 (C) physical resources employing the var22 ious sciences and disciplines related to physical

23 resources; and
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1 (D) the contemporary uses of national

2 parks employing the various social sciences and

3 other disciplines related to those uses.

4 (3) PROFESSIONAL AND SCIENTIFIC METH5 ODS.—The unit resource study program shall make

6 use of peer-accepted professional and scientific

7 methods to acquire, analyze, and report information

8 through inventory monitoring, observation, documen9 tary investigation, surveying, interviewing, experi10 mentation resource management, and adaptive man11 agement.

12 (4) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.—The

13 unit resource study program shall make explicit pro14 vision for the dissemination of information through

15 publications and the electronic media to managers of

16 each national park, to other persons and entities

17 having an interest in such matters, and to the pub18 lic.

19 (b) CHIEF SCIENTIST.—

20 (1) APPOINTMENT.—The Secretary shall ap21 point a Chief Scientist within the National Park

22 Service, who shall report directly to the Deputy Di23 rector, National Park Service Operations.

24 (2) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Chief Scientist—
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1 (A) shall have responsibility for coordina2 tion of all unit resource studies; and

3 (B) shall have line authority over all per4 sons within the National Park Service conduct5 ing unit resource studies.

6 (c) OTHER EMPLOYEES.—The Secretary may assign

7 employees of the Chief Scientist to national park areas

8 or colleges and universities as needed to conduct or coordi9 nate a unit resource study for each national park.

10 (d) PEER REVIEW PROCESS.—

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide

12 for an appropriate scientific peer review process to

13 ensure the validity and reliability of each unit re14 source study.

15 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—The peer review process

16 shall provide for—

17 (A) review by independent referees selected

18 from among individuals recommended by the

19 National Academy of Sciences; and

20 (B) consideration of other relevant data or

21 information submitted to the Secretary.

22 (e) ALLOCATION OF AVAILABLE FUNDING.—The

23 Chief Scientist shall allocate funds for unit resource stud24 ies in accordance with priorities established by national

25 park superintendents.
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1 SEC. 604. COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS AND CONTRACTS.

2 (a) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS WITH COLLEGES

3 AND UNIVERSITIES.—

4 (1) CENTERS FOR STUDIES.—The Secretary

5 shall enter into long-term cooperative agreements

6 with colleges and universities that shall be the pri7 mary centers through which unit resource studies

8 shall be conducted.

9 (2) GEOGRAPHIC DISPERSEMENT.—The cooper10 ative agreements shall be geographically dispersed

11 across the various regions of the country.

12 (b) OTHER COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS OR CON13 TRACTS.—

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may enter

15 into cooperative agreements or contracts with the

16 United States Geological Survey, other Federal

17 agencies, public or private institutions, professional

18 organizations, individuals, corporations, States, and

19 political subdivisions of States to carry out the unit

20 resource study program.

21 (2) REVIEW OF UNIT RESOURCE STUDIES.—

22 (A) NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.—

23 The Secretary shall enter into an agreement

24 with the National Academy of Sciences under

25 which the National Academy of Sciences shall

26 review and comment on unit resource studies
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1 and management policies adopted in response to

2 unit resource studies.

3 (B) REQUESTS FOR REVIEW.—Review by

4 the National Academy of Sciences may be con5 ducted in response to a request by the National

6 Park Service or in response to a request by a

7 person outside the National Park Service that

8 submits to the National Academy of Sciences a

9 study that, in the opinion of the National Acad10 emy of Sciences, warrants review.

11 (c) ADEQUATE COMPETITION.—In entering into any

12 cooperative agreement or contract for a unit resource

13 study, the Secretary shall provide adequate competition to

14 ensure that the unit resource study is undertaken by the

15 best qualified person and at the best value for the Federal

16 Government.

17 SEC. 605. INVENTORY AND MONITORING PROGRAM.

18 (a) PROGRAM.—

19 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall un20 dertake a program of inventory and monitoring of

21 national park resources to establish baseline infor22 mation and provide information on the long-term

23 trends in the conditions of national park resources.

24 (2) DEVELOPMENT.—The monitoring program

25 shall be developed in cooperation with other Federal
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1 monitoring and information collection efforts to en2 sure a cost-effective approach.

3 (b) TRAINING.—The Secretary shall take such ac4 tions as are necessary to ensure that the National Park

5 Service work-force has adequate professional and technical

6 knowledge and training to carry out the missions of the

7 National Park Service, including making use of scientific

8 data and research results.

9 SEC. 606. AVAILABILITY OF NATIONAL PARKS FOR SCI10 ENTIFIC STUDY.

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Chief Scientist may solicit,

12 receive, and consider requests from public or private insti13 tutions, individuals, corporations, States, political subdivi14 sions of States, and other Federal agencies for the use

15 of any national park for purposes of scientific study.

16 (b) APPROVAL.—A request for the use of a national

17 park under subsection (a) may be approved if the Chief

18 Scientist determines that the proposed study—

19 (1) is consistent with applicable law and Na20 tional Park Service management policies; and

21 (2) will be conducted in such a manner as to

22 pose no significant threat to or broad impairment of

23 national park resources or public enjoyment derived

24 from those resources.
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1 (c) ACCESS.—The Secretary may waive any recre2 ation admission or recreation user fee in order to facilitate

3 the conduct of a scientific study under this section.

4 SEC. 607. INTEGRATION OF STUDY RESULTS INTO MANAGE5 MENT DECISIONS.

6 (a) ADMINISTRATIVE RECORD.—In each case in

7 which a park resource may be adversely affected by an

8 action undertaken by the National Park Service, the ad9 ministrative record shall reflect the manner in which unit

10 resource studies and studies under section 606 have been

11 considered.

12 (b) ANNUAL PERFORMANCE EVALUATION.—The

13 trend in the condition of national park resources, particu14 larly national park resources, shall be a significant factor

15 in the annual performance evaluation of all national park

16 superintendents.

17 SEC. 608. CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION CONCERN18 ING THE NATURE AND LOCATION OF SEN19 SITIVE RESOURCES.

20 Information concerning the nature and location of a

21 natural park resource that is endangered, threatened,

22 rare, or commercially valuable, or is an object of cultural

23 patrimony within a national park, may be withheld in re24 sponse to a request under section 552 of title 5, United

25 States Code, unless the Secretary determines that—
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1 (1) disclosure of the information would further

2 the purposes of the national park in which the re3 source is located and would not create a substantial

4 risk of harm, theft, or destruction of the resource,

5 including individual members or specimens of any

6 resource population; and

7 (2) disclosure is consistent with other applicable

8 laws protecting the resource.

9 SEC. 609. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

10 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out

11 this title $15,000,000 for each fiscal year.

12 TITLE VII—DESIGNATION OF

13 TAX REFUNDS AND CON14 TRIBUTIONS FOR THE BENE15 FIT OF THE NATIONAL PARKS

16 SEC. 701. TAX REFUNDS AND CONTRIBUTIONS.

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter A of chapter 61 of the

18 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to returns and

19 records) is amended by adding at the end the following:

20 ‘‘PART IX—DESIGNATION OF OVERPAYMENTS

21 AND CONTRIBUTIONS FOR THE BENEFIT OF

22 UNITS OF THE NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM

‘‘Sec. 6097. Designation.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 6097. DESIGNATION.

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an individual, a

3 taxpayer may designate that—

4 ‘‘(1) a specified portion (not less than $1) of

5 any overpayment of tax imposed by chapter 1 for

6 any taxable year; and

7 ‘‘(2) any cash contribution which the taxpayer

8 includes with the return of such tax,

9 shall be paid over to the National Parks Trust Fund.

10 ‘‘(b) MANNER AND TIME OF DESIGNATION.—A des11 ignation under subsection (a) shall be made at the time

12 of filing the return of the tax imposed by chapter 1 for

13 the taxable year. Such designation shall be made in such

14 manner as the Secretary prescribes by regulations, except

15 that such designation shall be made either on the first

16 page of the return or on the page bearing the taxpayer’s

17 signature.

18 ‘‘(c) OVERPAYMENTS TREATED AS REFUNDED.—For

19 purposes of this title, any portion of an overpayment of

20 tax designated under subsection (a) shall be treated as

21 being refunded to the taxpayer as of the last date pre22 scribed for filing the return of tax imposed by chapter 1

23 (determined without regard to extensions) or, if later, the

24 date the return is filed.’’.
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1 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of parts for

2 subchapter A of such Code is amended by adding at the

3 end the following:

‘‘Part IX. Designation of overpayments and contributions for the

benefit of units of the National Park System.’’.

4 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

5 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after

6 December 31, 1998.

7 SEC. 702. NATIONAL PARKS TRUST FUND.

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter A of chapter 98 of the

9 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to trust fund

10 code) is amended by adding at the end the following:

11 ‘‘SEC. 9512. NATIONAL PARKS TRUST FUND.

12 ‘‘(a) CREATION OF TRUST FUND.—There is estab13 lished in the Treasury of the United States a trust fund

14 to be known as the ‘National Parks Trust Fund’, consist15 ing of such amounts as may be appropriated or credited

16 to the National Parks Trust Fund as provided in this sec17 tion or section 9602(b).

18 ‘‘(b) TRANSFER TO NATIONAL PARKS TRUST FUND

19 OF AMOUNTS DESIGNATED.—There is hereby appro20 priated to the National Parks Trust Fund amounts equiv21 alent to the amounts received in the Treasury which are

22 designated to be paid to the Trust Fund under section

23 6097.

24 ‘‘(c) EXPENDITURES FROM TRUST FUND.—
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2),

2 amounts in the National Parks Trust Fund shall be

3 available, as provided by appropriation Acts, for

4 making expenditures to carry out section 703 of the

5 Vision 2020 National Parks Restoration Act (as in

6 effect on the date of the enactment of this section).

7 ‘‘(2) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—Amounts in

8 the National Parks Trust Fund shall be available to

9 pay administrative expenses directly allocable to—

10 ‘‘(A) modifying the individual income tax

11 return forms to carry out the provisions of sec12 tion 6097; and

13 ‘‘(B) activities required to carry out the

14 provisions of this chapter with respect to the

15 Fund, including processing and transferring

16 amounts received under section 6097 to the

17 Fund.’’.

18 (b) STUDY.—

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after

20 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of

21 the Treasury or his delegate shall submit to the

22 Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the

23 Senate and the Committee on Resources of the

24 House of Representatives, a study of the effects of
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1 the National Parks Trust Fund established under

2 section 9512 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

3 (2) CONTENTS.—The study shall include infor4 mation on—

5 (A) the amount of money covered into the

6 Fund,

7 (B) the projects that were undertaken with

8 funds from the Fund, and

9 (C) any other information that the Sec10 retary considers useful in evaluating the pro11 gram’s effectiveness.

12 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec13 tions for subchapter A of chapter 61 of the Internal Reve14 nue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the

15 following:

‘‘Sec 9512. National Parks Trust Fund.’’.

16 SEC. 703. EXPENDITURES FROM THE NATIONAL PARKS

17 TRUST FUND.

18 The Secretary—

19 (1) may use amounts in the National Parks

20 Trust Fund only for design, construction, rehabilita21 tion, and repair of high priority facilities that di22 rectly enhance the experience of park visitors, in23 cluding natural, cultural, and historical resource pro24 tection projects within the national parks; and
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1 (2) shall not use amounts in the National Parks

2 Trust Fund for land acquisition.

3 TITLE VIII—NATIONAL PARK

4 FOUNDATION

5 SEC. 801. PROMOTION OF LOCAL FUNDRAISING SUPPORT.

6 The Act entitled ‘‘An Act to establish the National

7 Park Foundation’’, approved December 18, 1967 (16

8 U.S.C. 19 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the

9 following:

10 ‘‘SEC. 12. PROMOTION OF LOCAL FUNDRAISING SUPPORT.

11 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Foundation shall design

12 and implement a comprehensive program to assist and

13 promote philanthropic programs of support at the individ14 ual national park level.

15 ‘‘(b) IMPLEMENTATION.—The program under sub16 section (a) shall be implemented to—

17 ‘‘(1) assist in the creation of local nonprofit

18 support organizations; and

19 ‘‘(2) provide support, national consistency, and

20 management-improving suggestions for local non21 profit support organizations.

22 ‘‘(c) EXTENT OF PROGRAM.—The program under

23 subsection (a) shall include the greatest number of na24 tional parks as is practicable.
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1 ‘‘(d) REQUIREMENTS.—The program under sub2 section (a) shall include, at a minimum—

3 ‘‘(1) a standard adaptable organizational design

4 format to establish and sustain responsible manage5 ment of a local nonprofit support organization for

6 support of a national park;

7 ‘‘(2) standard and legally tenable bylaws and

8 recommended money-handling procedures that can

9 easily be adapted as applied to individual national

10 parks; and

11 ‘‘(3) a standard training curriculum to orient

12 and expand the operating expertise of personnel em13 ployed by local nonprofit support organizations.

14 ‘‘(e) REPORT.—The Foundation shall report the

15 progress of the program under subsection (a) in the an16 nual report of the Foundation.

17 ‘‘(f) AFFILIATIONS.—

18 ‘‘(1) CHARTER OR CORPORATE BYLAWS.—Noth19 ing in this section requires—

20 ‘‘(A) a nonprofit support organization or

21 friends group in existence on the date of enact22 ment of this Act to modify current practices or

23 to affiliate with the Foundation; or

24 ‘‘(B) a local nonprofit support organiza25 tion, established as a result of this section, to
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1 be bound through its charter or corporate by2 laws to be permanently affiliated with the

3 Foundation.

4 ‘‘(2) ESTABLISHMENT.—An affiliation with the

5 Foundation shall be established only at the discre6 tion of the governing board of a nonprofit organiza7 tion.’’.

8 TITLE IX—COMMERCIAL

9 FILMING IN NATIONAL PARKS

10 SEC. 901. DEFINITIONS.

11 In this title:

12 (1) COMMERCIAL VISUAL IMAGE.—

13 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘commercial

14 visual image’’ means a visual image that a per15 son produces with the intention that the image

16 (or reproductions of the image) will be dissemi17 nated to the public in connection with a for18 profit enterprise.

19 (B) EXCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘commercial

20 visual image’’ does not include—

21 (i) a visual image produced for dis22 semination to the public as news; or

23 (ii) a visual image produced by an in24 dividual in a limited number and intended
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1 to be sold by the individual as a work of

2 art.

3 (2) PRODUCER.—The term ‘‘producer’’ means a

4 person that produces or proposes to produce a re5 corded image in a national park for a commercial

6 use or for public viewing.

7 (3) RECORDED IMAGE.—

8 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘recorded

9 image’’ means a motion picture, still photo10 graph, or other form of visual image produced

11 by any technology.

12 (B) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘recorded

13 image’’ includes—

14 (i) a feature length film, short, or doc15 umentary; and

16 (ii) promotional or advertising mate17 rial.

18 (3) VEHICLE.—The term ‘‘vehicle’’ means a

19 larger production in which a commercial recorded

20 image is intended to be included.

21 SEC. 902. COMMERCIAL FILMING IN NATIONAL PARKS.

22 (a) OFFICE.—

23 (1) DESIGNATION.—The Secretary shall estab24 lish an office or designate an existing office in the
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1 National Park Service to perform the functions of

2 the Secretary under this title.

3 (2) LOCATION OF MEMBERS.—The members of

4 the office may be located at the regional offices of

5 the National Park Service in order to facilitate nego6 tiation and processing of permits authorizing the

7 production of commercial recorded images in the na8 tional parks.

9 (b) PERMIT REQUIREMENT.—

10 (1) FEE.—A person shall not produce any part

11 of a commercial recorded image in a national park

12 without first obtaining a permit from the Secretary

13 and paying a permit fee calculated under paragraph

14 (2).

15 (2) FEE CALCULATION.—The fee under para16 graph (1) for production of a recorded image shall

be an amount equal to 1 17 ⁄2 of 1 percent of the pro18 duction budget for preparation of the vehicle in

19 which the recorded image is intended to be included.

20 (3) APPLICATION.—An application to produce a

21 commercial recorded image shall include, in addition

22 to other information required by law (including a

23 regulation)—

24 (A) a description of the commercial re25 corded image and vehicle; and
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1 (B) the production budget for preparation

2 of the vehicle that was employed by the pro3 ducer as the basis for the decision to prepare or

4 finance the vehicle.

5 (4) FEE PAYMENT.—The fee required by para6 graph (1) shall be paid before any part of the pro7 duction of the recorded image is undertaken.

8 (5) FINAL ACCOUNTING.—

9 (A) SUBMISSION OF FINAL PRODUCTION

10 BUDGET.—Not later than the date on which a

11 vehicle is first used commercially or shown to

12 the public, the producer shall submit to the

13 Commission the final production budget for

14 preparation of the vehicle, stating the actual

15 costs of preparation.

16 (B) DIFFERENCE IN PRODUCTION BUDG17 ETS.—If the final production budget submitted

18 under subparagraph (A) is greater than the

19 production budget submitted with the applica20 tion under paragraph (3), the producer shall

21 pay to the Commission, not later than 30 days

22 after the date specified in subparagraph (A), an

23 amount equal to 1 percent of the difference be24 tween the 2 budgets.
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1 (C) FEES COLLECTED.—Fees collected

2 under this section shall be in addition to direct

3 costs incurred by the National Park Service for

4 administrative costs and normal security and

5 personnel costs directly related to the onsite ac6 tivities of the producer, which costs shall be

7 paid by the producer.

8 (c) USE OF PROCEEDS.—Notwithstanding any other

9 provision of law, each fee collected in a national park

10 under this section (not including direct costs described in

11 subsection (b)(5)(C))—

12 (1) shall be deposited in a special account in

13 the Treasury of the United States; and

14 (2) shall be available to the Secretary, without

15 further Act of appropriation, for the preservation,

16 restoration, operation, maintenance, and improve17 ment of high-priority projects and programs, in the

18 national park in which the fee is collected, that di19 rectly enhance the experience of park visitors, in20 cluding natural, cultural, and historical resource pro21 tection projects but not including land acquisition.

22 (3) REPORT.—

23 (A) SUBMISSION OF REPORT.—Not later

24 than 4 years after the date of enactment of this

25 Act, the Secretary shall submit to the Commit-
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1 tee on Energy and Natural Resources and the

2 Committee on Appropriations of the Senate and

3 the Committee on Resources and the Committee

4 on Appropriations of the House of Representa5 tives a report on the collection of fees under

6 this section.

7 (B) CONTENTS.—The report under sub8 paragraph (A) shall include—

9 (i) details on how the National Park

10 Service is carrying out this section;

11 (ii) a complete accounting of proceeds

12 received and a description of high-priority

13 projects funded under this title; and

14 (iii) an accounting of proceeds reim15 bursed to individual national parks for

16 costs incurred for administrative, security,

17 and logistical expenses.

18 TITLE X—CAPITAL IMPROVE19 MENT PROJECT BOND DEM20 ONSTRATION PROGRAM

21 SEC. 1001. FINDINGS.

22 Congress finds that—

23 (1) the use of long-term bonds through borrow24 ing from the Treasury to help address the capital
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1 improvement needs of the National Park System

2 should be explored;

3 (2) the availability of such bonds may provide

4 the National Park Service with a new financial tool

5 for addressing the backlog of capital improvement

6 projects that face the National Park Service; and

7 (3) through the bond demonstration program

8 under this title, the Secretary will be able to explore

9 the potential utility of bonds borrowed from the

10 Treasury and to report back to Congress on the use11 fulness of this approach for financing capital im12 provements in the national parks.

13 SEC. 1002. CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS.

14 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment

15 of this Act, the Secretary shall identify not more than 4

16 capital improvement projects in the National Park Sys17 tem, totaling not more than $40,000,000, which shall be

18 financed through obligations issued to the Secretary of the

19 Treasury as part of the bond demonstration program

20 under section 1003.

21 SEC. 1003. ISSUANCE OF OBLIGATIONS.

22 (a) AUTHORITY.—The Secretary may issue obliga23 tions to the Secretary of the Treasury for use in the bond

24 demonstration program established under this title.
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1 (b) AMOUNT.—The total amount of obligations issued

2 under subsection (a) outstanding at any one time shall not

3 exceed $40,000,000.

4 (c) PURCHASE BY THE SECRETARY OF THE TREAS5 URY.—The Secretary of the Treasury shall purchase obli6 gations issued under subsection (a) if the Secretary of the

7 Treasury finds that there is reasonable assurance of re8 payment of the obligations.

9 (d) PUBLIC DEBT TRANSACTION.— For the purpose

10 of purchasing any such obligations, the Secretary of the

11 Treasury may use as a public debt transaction the pro12 ceeds from the sale of any securities issued under chapter

13 31 of title 31, United States Code, and the purposes for

14 which securities issued under chapter are extended to in15 clude any purchase by the Secretary of the Treasury of

16 obligations under this section.

17 (e) OBLIGATION CHARACTERISTICS.— Obligations

18 issued under subsection (a)—

19 (1) shall be in such forms and denominations,

20 bear such maturities, and be subject to such terms

21 and conditions as may be prescribed by the Sec22 retary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Sec23 retary; and

24 (2) shall bear interest at a rate determined by

25 the Secretary of the Treasury, taking into consider-
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1 ation current market yields on outstanding market2 able obligations of the United States of comparable

3 maturities.

4 (f) SALE.—The Secretary of the Treasury may at any

5 time sell any of the obligations acquired by the Secretary

6 under this section.

7 (g) TREATMENT.—All redemptions, purchases, and

8 sales by the Secretary of the Treasury of such obligations

9 shall be treated as public debt transactions of the United

10 States.

11 SEC. 1004. FINANCING.

12 The Secretary may use receipts collected under sec13 tion 315 of section 101(c) of Public Law 104–134 (16

14 U.S.C. 460l–6a note) to finance obligations issued under

15 section 1003.

16 SEC. 1005. REPORT.

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the

18 date of issuance of obligations under this title, the Sec19 retary and the Secretary of the Treasury shall report to

20 Congress on the bond demonstration program.

21 (b) CONTENTS.—The report under subsection (a)

22 shall include a discussion of—

23 (1) the mechanics of the bonding process;

24 (2) the transaction costs associated with the

25 issuance of the obligations;
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1 (3) the implications of dedicating a revenue

2 stream to repay such obligations; and

3 (4) the recommendations of the Secretary and

4 the Secretary of the Treasury regarding the poten5 tial expansion of the bond demonstration program.

6 TITLE XI—MISCELLANEOUS

7 SEC. 1101. UNITED STATES PARK POLICE.

8 (a) APPOINTMENT OF TASK FORCE.—Not later than

9 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec10 retary shall appoint a multidisciplinary task force to fully

11 evaluate the shortfalls, needs, and requirements of the

12 United States Park Police, including facility repair, reha13 bilitation, and communications needs.

14 (b) SUBMISSION OF REPORT.—Not later than 1 year

15 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall

16 submit to the Committee on Energy and Natural Re17 sources and the Committee on Appropriations of the Sen18 ate and the Committee on Resources and the Committee

19 on Appropriations of the House of Representatives a re20 port that includes—

21 (1) the findings and recommendations of the

22 task force;

23 (2) complete justifications for any recommenda24 tions made; and
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1 (3) a complete description of any adverse im2 pacts that would occur if any need identified in the

3 report is not met.

4 SEC. 1102. LEASES AND COOPERATIVE MANAGEMENT

5 AGREEMENTS.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 3 of Public Law 91–383

7 (16 U.S.C. 1a–2) is amended by adding at the end the

8 following:

9 ‘‘(k) LEASES.—

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may enter

11 into a lease with any person or governmental entity

12 for the use of buildings and associated property ad13 ministered by the Secretary as part of the National

14 Park System.

15 ‘‘(2) USE.—Buildings and associated property

16 leased under paragraph (1)—

17 ‘‘(A) shall be used for an activity that is

18 consistent with the purposes established by law

19 for the unit in which the building is located;

20 ‘‘(B) shall not result in degradation of the

21 purposes and values of the unit; and

22 ‘‘(C) shall be compatible with National

23 Park Service programs.

24 ‘‘(3) RENTAL AMOUNTS.—
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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—With respect to a

2 lease under paragraph (1)—

3 ‘‘(i) payment of fair market value

4 rental shall be required; and

5 ‘‘(ii) section 321 of the Act of June

6 30, 1932 (47 Stat. 412, chapter 314; 40

7 U.S.C. 303b) shall not apply.

8 ‘‘(B) ADJUSTMENT.—The Secretary may

9 adjust the rental amount as appropriate to take

10 into account any amounts to be expended by

11 the lessee for preservation, maintenance, res12 toration, improvement, or repair and related ex13 penses.

14 ‘‘(C) REGULATION.—The Secretary shall

15 promulgate a regulation implementing this sub16 section that includes provisions to encourage

17 and facilitate competition in the leasing process

18 and provide for timely and adequate public

19 comment.

20 ‘‘(4) SPECIAL ACCOUNT.—

21 ‘‘(A) DEPOSITS.—Rental payments under

22 a lease under paragraph (1) shall be deposited

23 in a special account in the Treasury of the

24 United States.
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1 ‘‘(B) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts in the spe2 cial account shall be available until expended,

3 without further Act of appropriation, for infra4 structure needs at units of the National Park

5 System, including—

6 ‘‘(i) facility refurbishment;

7 ‘‘(ii) repair and replacement;

8 ‘‘(iii) infrastructure projects associ9 ated with park resource protection; and

10 ‘‘(iv) direct maintenance of the leased

11 buildings and associated properties.

12 ‘‘(C) ACCOUNTABILITY AND RESULTS.—

13 The Secretary shall develop procedures for the

14 use of the special account that ensure account15 ability and demonstrated results consistent with

16 this Act.

17 ‘‘(l) COOPERATIVE MANAGEMENT AGREEMENTS.—

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may enter

19 into an agreement with a State or local government

20 agency for the cooperative management of national

21 park land and nearby State or local park land.

22 ‘‘(2) PROVISION OF GOODS AND SERVICES.—

23 Under a cooperative management agreement, the

24 Secretary may acquire from and provide to a State

25 or local government agency goods and services to be
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1 used by the Secretary and the State or local govern2 mental agency in the cooperative management of

3 land.

4 ‘‘(3) ASSIGNMENT.—An assignment arranged

5 by the Secretary under section 3372 of title 5,

6 United States Code, of a Federal, State, or local em7 ployee for work in any Federal, State, or local land

8 or an extension of such an assignment may be for

9 any period of time determined by the Secretary and

10 the State or local agency to be mutually beneficial.’’.

11 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 3 of Pub12 lic Law 91–383 (16 U.S.C. 1a–2) is amended—

13 (1) by striking ‘‘SEC. 3.’’ and all that follows

14 through ‘‘(a) provide’’ and inserting the following:

15 ‘‘SEC. 3. AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY OF THE

16 INTERIOR.

17 ‘‘(a) TRANSPORTATION.—The Secretary of the Inte18 rior (referred to in this section as the ‘Secretary’) may

19 provide’’;

20 (2) in subsection (a)—

21 (A) by striking ‘‘where (1) such areas’’ and

22 inserting ‘‘if—

23 ‘‘(1) the areas’’; and
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1 (B) by striking ‘‘transportation, and (2)

2 such transportation’’ and inserting ‘‘transpor3 tation; and

4 ‘‘(2) the transportation’’;

5 (3)(A) by striking the semicolon at the end of

6 each of subsections (a) through (f) and subsection

7 (h) and inserting a period; and

8 (B) by striking ‘‘; and’’ at the end of subsection

9 (i) and inserting a period;

10 (4) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘(b) provide’’

11 and inserting the following:

12 ‘‘(b) RECREATION.—The Secretary may provide’’;

13 (5) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘(c) appoint’’

14 and inserting the following:

15 ‘‘(c) ADVISORY COMMITTEES; COMPENSATION AND

16 TRAVEL EXPENSES.—The Secretary may appoint’’;

17 (6) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘(d) pur18 chase’’ and inserting the following:

19 ‘‘(d) PARK EQUIPMENT PURCHASES.—The Secretary

20 may purchase’’;

21 (7) in subsection (e), by striking ‘‘(e) enter’’

22 and inserting the following:

23 ‘‘(e) SERVICE, RESOURCE, AND WATER CON24 TRACTS.—The Secretary may enter’’;
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1 (8) in subsection (f), by striking ‘‘(f) acquire,

2 and have installed, air-conditioning units’’ and in3 serting the following:

4 ‘‘(f) VEHICULAR AIR CONDITIONERS.—The Sec5 retary may acquire and install air conditioners’’;

6 (9) in subsection (g)—

7 (A) by striking ‘‘(g) sell’’ and inserting the

8 following:

9 ‘‘(g) LIVING EXHIBITS AND INTERPRETIVE DEM10 ONSTRATIONS.—

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may sell’’;

12 (B) by striking ‘‘demonstrations;’’ and in13 serting ‘‘demonstrations.’’

14 (C) by striking ‘‘Sixty percent’’ and insert15 ing the following:

16 ‘‘(2) SPECIAL ACCOUNT.—

17 ‘‘(A) DEPOSIT OF PORTION OF FEES.—

18 Sixty percent’’;

19 (D) by striking ‘‘special account’’ and in20 serting ‘‘special account.’’;

21 (E) by striking ‘‘and that such funds’’ and

22 inserting the following:

23 ‘‘(B) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts in the spe24 cial account’’;
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1 (F) by striking ‘‘(1) to the extent’’ and in2 serting the following:

3 ‘‘(i) to the extent’’;

4 (G) by striking ‘‘(2) to conduct’’ and in5 serting the following:

6 ‘‘(ii) to conduct’’;

7 (H) by striking ‘‘The investigations pro8 vided for in this subsection’’ and inserting the

9 following:

10 ‘‘(3) INVESTIGATION DESIGN.—An investigation

11 under paragraph (2)(B)(ii)’’;

12 (I) by striking ‘‘The Secretary’’ and insert13 ing the following:

14 ‘‘(4) NO ADDITIONAL CONDITIONS.—The Sec15 retary’’;

16 (J) by striking ‘‘When competitively’’ and

17 inserting the following:

18 ‘‘(5) COMPETITIVE AWARD OF PERMITS.—When

19 competitively’’;

20 (K) by striking ‘‘Fees paid’’ and inserting

21 the following:

22 ‘‘(6) FEES.—

23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Fees paid’’;

24 (L) by striking ‘‘For the purposes of this

25 subsection’’ and inserting the following:
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1 ‘‘(B) DEFINITION OF CERTAIN PERMIT2 TEE.—In subparagraph (A)’’; and

3 (M) by striking ‘‘Nothing in this sub4 section’’ and inserting the following:

5 ‘‘(7) NO ADDITIONAL PERMIT REQUIRE6 MENTS.—Nothing in this subsection’’;

7 (10) in subsection (h)—

8 (A) by striking ‘‘(h) promulgate’’ and in9 serting the following:

10 ‘‘(h) BOATING AND OTHER WATER ACTIVITIES.—

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may promul12 gate’’; and

13 (B) by striking ‘‘States: Provided, That

14 any’’ and inserting ‘‘States.

15 ‘‘(2) AUTHORITY OF THE COAST GUARD.—

16 Any’’;

17 (11) in subsection (i), by striking ‘‘(i) provide’’

18 and inserting the following:

19 ‘‘(i) EMPLOYEE MEALS AND LODGING.—The Sec20 retary may provide’’; and

21 (12) in subsection (j), by striking ‘‘(j) Enter’’

22 and inserting the following:

23 ‘‘(j) COOPERATIVE RESEARCH AND TRAINING PRO24 GRAMS.—The Secretary may enter’’.

Æ