I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2509 

To amend the Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act of 1996 

to provide for the establishment of a Ski Area Fee Retention Account. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 2, 2019 

Mr. TIPTON (for himself, Mr. COOK, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Mr. GOSAR, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. LAMBORN, Mr. AMODEI, Mr. SCHRADER, Mr. GARAMENDI, 

Mr. CURTIS, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, and Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on Natural Resources, for a 

period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 

consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend the Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act of 1996 to provide for the establishment of 

a Ski Area Fee Retention Account. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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


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1 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF SKI AREA FEE RETENTION AC2 COUNT. 

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

4 Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act of 

5 1996 (16 U.S.C. 497c) is amended by adding at the end 

6 the following: 

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

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

9 ‘‘(A) ACCOUNT.—The term ‘Account’ 

10 means the Ski Area Fee Retention Account es11 tablished under paragraph (2). 

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

13 unit’ means a national forest that collects a 

14 rental charge under this section. 

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

16 Forest Service region. 

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

18 charge’ means a permit rental charge that is 

19 charged under subsection (a). 

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

21 means the Secretary of Agriculture. 

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

23 Treasury shall establish in the Treasury a special 

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

25 Account’, into which there shall be deposited— 


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

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

3 covered unit from rental charges in a fiscal 

4 year, an amount equal to 50 percent of the 

5 rental charges collected at the covered unit in 

6 the fiscal year; or 

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

8 an amount equal to 65 percent of the rental 

9 charges collected at the covered unit in a fiscal 

10 year. 

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

12 (4), (5), and (6), any amounts deposited in the Ac13 count under paragraph (2) shall remain available for 

14 expenditure, without further appropriation, until ex15 pended. 

16 ‘‘(4) LOCAL DISTRIBUTION OF AMOUNTS IN

17 THE ACCOUNT.— 

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

19 subparagraph (B), 100 percent of the amounts 

20 deposited in the Account from a specific covered 

21 unit shall remain available for expenditure at 

22 the covered unit at which the rental charges 

23 were collected. 

24 ‘‘(B) REDUCTION.— 


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

2 (ii), the Secretary may reduce the percent3 age of amounts available to a covered unit 

4 under subparagraph (A) if the Secretary 

5 determines that the rental charges col6 lected at the covered unit exceed the rea7 sonable needs of the covered unit for that 

8 fiscal year for authorized expenditures de9 scribed in paragraph (5)(A). 

10 ‘‘(ii) LIMITATION.—The Secretary 

11 may not reduce the percentage of amounts 

12 available under clause (i)— 

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

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

15 than 35 percent of the amount of 

16 rental charges deposited in the Ac17 count from the covered unit in a fiscal 

18 year; or 

19 ‘‘(II) in the case of any other 

20 covered unit, to less than 50 percent 

21 of the amount of rental charges de22 posited in the Account from the cov23 ered unit in a fiscal year. 

24 ‘‘(C) TRANSFER TO OTHER COVERED

25 UNITS AND USE FOR NON-SKI AREA PERMITS.— 


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

2 determines that the percentage of amounts 

3 otherwise available to a covered unit under 

4 subparagraph (A) should be reduced under 

5 subparagraph (B), the Secretary may 

6 transfer to other covered units, for alloca7 tion in accordance with clause (ii), the per8 centage of the amounts withheld from the 

9 covered unit under subparagraph (B), to 

10 be expended by the other covered units in 

11 accordance with paragraph (5). 

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

13 allocation of amounts to be transferred 

14 under clause (i) among other covered 

15 units, the Secretary shall consider— 

16 ‘‘(I) the number of proposals for 

17 ski area improvements in the other 

18 covered units; 

19 ‘‘(II) any backlog in ski area per20 mit administration or the processing 

21 of ski area proposals in the other cov22 ered units; and 

23 ‘‘(III) any need for services, 

24 training, staffing, or the streamlining 

25 of programs in the other covered units 


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1 or the Region in which the covered 

2 units are located that would improve 

3 the administration of the Forest Serv4 ice Ski Area Program. 

5 ‘‘(5) AUTHORIZED EXPENDITURES.— 

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

7 from the Account to a covered unit under this 

8 subsection may be used for— 

9 ‘‘(i) ski area special use permit ad10 ministration and processing of proposals 

11 for ski area improvement projects in the 

12 covered unit, including staffing and con13 tracting for such administration or proc14 essing or related services in the covered 

15 unit or the applicable Region; 

16 ‘‘(ii) training programs on processing 

17 ski area applications, administering ski 

18 area permits, or ski area process stream19 lining in the covered unit or the Region in 

20 which the covered unit is located; 

21 ‘‘(iii) interpretation activities, visitor 

22 information, visitor services, and signage in 

23 the covered unit to enhance— 


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1 ‘‘(I) the ski area visitor experi2 ence on National Forest System land; 

3 and 

4 ‘‘(II) avalanche information and 

5 education activities carried out by the 

6 Forest Service; and 

7 ‘‘(iv) the costs of leasing administra8 tive sites under section 8623 of the Agri9 culture Improvement Act of 2018 (16 

10 U.S.C. 580d note; Public Law 115–334) 

11 for ski area-related purposes. 

12 ‘‘(B) OTHER USES.— 

13 ‘‘(i) AUTHORIZED USES.—Subject to 

14 clause (ii), if any remaining amounts are 

15 available in the Account after all ski area 

16 permit-related expenditures have been 

17 made under subparagraph (A), including 

18 amounts transferred to other covered units 

19 under paragraph (4)(C), the Secretary may 

20 use any remaining amounts for— 

21 ‘‘(I) the costs of administering 

22 non-ski area Forest Service recreation 

23 special use permits; and 

24 ‘‘(II) the costs of leasing admin25 istrative sites under section 8623 of 


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1 the Agriculture Improvement Act of 

2 2018 (16 U.S.C. 580d note; Public 

3 Law 115–334) for purposes not re4 lated to a ski area. 

5 ‘‘(ii) REQUIREMENT.—Before making 

6 amounts available from the Account for a 

7 use authorized under clause (i), the Sec8 retary shall make a determination that all 

9 ski area-related permit administration, 

10 processing, and interpretation needs have 

11 been met in all covered units and Regions. 

12 ‘‘(C) LIMITATION.—Amounts in the Ac13 count may not be used for— 

14 ‘‘(i) the conduct of wildfire suppres15 sion or preparedness activities; 

16 ‘‘(ii) the conduct of biological moni17 toring on National Forest System land 

18 under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 

19 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) for listed species 

20 or candidate species, except as required by 

21 law for environmental review of ski area 

22 projects; or 

23 ‘‘(iii) the acquisition of land for inclu24 sion in the National Forest System. 

25 ‘‘(6) SAVINGS PROVISIONS.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this sub2 section affects the applicability of section 7 of 

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

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

5 ski areas on National Forest System land. 

6 ‘‘(B) SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDING.—Rental 

7 charges retained and expended under this sub8 section shall supplement (and not supplant) ap9 propriated funding for the operation and main10 tenance of each covered unit.’’. 

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

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

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

14 Act. 

15 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary of Agriculture 

16 shall not be required to issue regulations or policy guid17 ance to implement this section (including the amendments 

18 made by this section). 

Æ 


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