IB 

Union Calendar No. 349 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4888 

[Report No. 111–604] 

To revise the Forest Service Recreation Residence Program as it applies 

to units of the National Forest System derived from the public domain 

by implementing a simple, equitable, and predictable procedure for determining cabin user fees, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 19, 2010 

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington (for himself, Mr. COSTA, Mr. BISHOP of Utah, 

Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mrs. LUMMIS, Mr. RADANOVICH, Mrs. MCMORRIS

RODGERS, Mr. SIMPSON, Mr. NUNES, Mr. CHAFFETZ, Mr. REHBERG, 

and Mr. HERGER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Natural Resources 

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010 

Additional sponsors: Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. PAULSEN, Mr. 

HUNTER, Mr. WALDEN, Ms. GIFFORDS, Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. 

MCNERNEY, Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. FARR, 

Ms. SPEIER, Ms. ESHOO, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. WU, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. 

DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California, and Mr. HELLER

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 19, 2010] 


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A BILL 

To revise the Forest Service Recreation Residence Program 

as it applies to units of the National Forest System 

derived from the public domain by implementing a simple, equitable, and predictable procedure for determining 

cabin user fees, and for other purposes. 


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

5 ‘‘Cabin Fee Act of 2010’’. 

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

7 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Definitions. 

Sec. 3. Cabin user fees. 

Sec. 4. Cabin transfer fees. 

Sec. 5. Allocation of cabin user fee and cabin transfer fee revenue. 

Sec. 6. Right of appeal and judicial review. 

Sec. 7. Consistency with other law and rights. 

Sec. 8. Regulations. 

8 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

9 In this Act: 

10 (1) AUTHORIZATION.—The terms ‘‘authorized’’ 

11 and ‘‘authorization’’ refer to the issuance of a special 

12 use permit for the use and occupancy of National 

13 Forest System land derived from the public domain 

14 by a cabin owner under the Recreation Residence 

15 Program. 

16 (2) CABIN.—The term ‘‘cabin’’ means a pri17 vately built and owned recreation residence and re18 lated improvements on National Forest System land 

19 derived from the public domain that is authorized for 

20 private use and occupancy and may be sold or trans21 ferred between private parties. 


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1 (3) CABIN OWNER.—The term ‘‘cabin owner’’ 

2 means— 

3 (A) a person authorized by the Secretary to 

4 use and to occupy a cabin on National Forest 

5 System land derived from the public domain; 

6 and 

7 (B) a trust or an heir or assigns of such a 

8 person. 

9 (4) CABIN TRANSFER FEE.—The term ‘‘cabin 

10 transfer fee’’ means a fee paid to the United States 

11 upon the transfer of a cabin between private parties 

12 for money or other consideration that also includes 

13 issuance of a new permit. 

14 (5) CABIN USER FEE.—The term ‘‘cabin user 

15 fee’’ means an annual fee paid to the United States 

16 by a cabin owner pursuant to an authorization for 

17 the use and occupancy of a cabin on National Forest 

18 System land derived from the public domain. 

19 (6) CURRENT CABIN USER FEE.—The term ‘‘cur20 rent cabin user fee’’ means the most recent cabin user 

21 fee, which results from an annual adjustment to the 

22 prior cabin user fee under section 3(d). 

23 (7) LOT.—The term ‘‘lot’’ means a parcel of Na24 tional Forest System land derived from the public doVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:28 Sep 16, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H4888.RH H4888

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1 main on which a person is authorized to build, use, 

2 occupy, and maintain a cabin. 

3 (8) NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM LAND.—The term 

4 ‘‘National Forest System land’’ is limited to National 

5 Forest System land derived from the public domain. 

6 (9) RECREATION RESIDENCE PROGRAM.—The 

7 term ‘‘Recreation Residence Program’’ means the 

8 Recreation Residence Program established pursuant 

9 to the last paragraph under the heading ‘‘FOREST 

10 SERVICE’’ in the Act of March 4, 1915 (38 Stat. 

11 1101, chapter 144; 16 U.S.C. 497). 

12 (10) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

13 the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Chief 

14 of the Forest Service. 

15 (11) TYPICAL LOT.—The term ‘‘typical lot’’ 

16 means a cabin lot, or group of cabin lots, in a tract 

17 that is selected for use in an appraisal as being rep18 resentative of, and that has similar value characteris19 tics as, other lots or groups of lots within the tract. 

20 SEC. 3. CABIN USER FEES. 

21 (a) PAYMENT OF CABIN USER FEES.— 

22 (1) ANNUAL PAYMENT.—A cabin user fee shall be 

23 paid annually by the cabin owner. 

24 (2) INSTALLMENTS.—Payment of the cabin user 

25 fee for a year may be made in two installments. 


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1 (b) INITIAL CABIN USER FEES.— 

2 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall estab3 lish initial cabin user fees in the manner required by 

4 this subsection. 

5 (2) ASSIGNMENT TO VALUE TIERS.—Upon com6 pletion of the current appraisal cycle, as required by 

7 paragraph (4), the Secretary shall assign each per8 mitted lot on National Forest System land to one of 

9 five tiers based on the following: 

10 (A) All appraised lot values shall be ad11 justed, or normalized, for price changes from its 

12 date of value according to the national NAHB/ 

13 Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index prior to 

14 tier assignment. 

15 (B) The tiers shall be established according 

16 to relative lot value, using all fully completed 

17 appraisal data with lots having the lowest ad18 justed appraised value assigned to Tier 1 and 

19 lots having the highest adjusted appraised value 

20 assigned to Tier 5. 

21 (C) The number of lots (by percentage) as22 signed to each tier is specified in the table con23 tained in paragraph (3). 

24 (D) Data from incomplete appraisals may 

25 not be used to establish the fee tiers. 


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1 (E) Until assigned to a tier, permitted 

2 cabin lots, including lots with incomplete ap3 praisals, are assigned an interim fee of $4000 or 

4 their current annual fee, indexed in accordance 

5 with subsection (d), whichever is less. 

6 (3) TABLE OF INITIAL CABIN USER FEES.—The 

7 initial cabin user fees, based on the assignments made 

8 by the Secretary under paragraph (2) are as follows: 

Fee Tier Approximate Percent of 

Permits Nationally Fee Amount 

Tier 1 10% $500

Tier 2 35% $1,000

Tier 3 40% $2,000

Tier 4 10% $3,000

Tier 5 5% $4,000. 

9 (4) DEADLINE FOR COMPLETION OF CURRENT

10 APPRAISAL CYCLE.—The Secretary shall complete the 

11 current appraisal cycle within three years after the 

12 date of the enactment of this Act. 

13 (5) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The initial cabin user 

14 fees required by this subsection shall take effect begin15 ning with the first calendar year beginning after the 

16 completion of the current appraisal cycle. 

17 (c) OVERPAYMENTS OR UNDERPAYMENTS.—If, upon 

18 assignment to a tier under subsection (b), the Secretary de19 termines that the fee charged to a cabin owner during the 


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1 preceding three years resulted in an overpayment or under2 payment totaling more than $500, the fee for the next three 

3 years shall be adjusted, if such a fee adjustment is requested 

4 by the Secretary or by the affected cabin owner, as necessary 

5 to correct the overpayment or underpayment. 

6 (d) ANNUAL ADJUSTMENTS OF CABIN USER FEE.— 

7 The Secretary shall use changes in the Implicit Price 

8 Deflator for the Gross Domestic Product published by the 

9 Bureau of Economic Analysis of the Department of Com10 merce, applied on a five-year rolling average, to determine 

11 and apply an annual adjustment to cabin user fees. 

12 (e) EFFECT OF DESTRUCTION, SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE, 

13 OR LOSS OF ACCESS.—If a cabin is destroyed or suffers 

14 substantial damage amounting to greater than 50 percent 

15 of replacement cost, or if access to a cabin is significantly 

16 impaired, whether by catastrophic events, natural causes or 

17 governmental actions, such that the cabin is rendered unsafe 

18 or unable to be occupied as a result, the Secretary shall 

19 reduce the cabin user fee for the affected lot to $100 per 

20 year. This fee shall be in effect for the remainder of the 

21 year in which the destruction occurs and until such time 

22 as the cabin may be lawfully reoccupied and normal access 

23 has been restored. 


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1 SEC. 4. CABIN TRANSFER FEES. 

2 (a) PAYMENT OF CABIN TRANSFER FEES.—In con3 junction with the transfer of ownership of any cabin and 

4 the issuance of a new permit, the transferor shall file with 

5 the Secretary a sworn statement declaring the amount of 

6 money or other value received, if any, for the transfer of 

7 the cabin. As a condition of the issuance by the Secretary 

8 of a new authorization for the use and occupancy of the 

9 cabin, the transferor shall pay, or cause to be paid, to the 

10 Secretary a cabin transfer fee in an amount determined as 

11 follows: 

Consideration Received by Transfer Transfer Fee Amount 

$0 to $250,000 $1,000 

$250,000.01 to $500,000.00 $1,000 plus 5% of consideration in 

excess of $250,000 up to $500,000 

$500,000.01 and above $1,000 plus 5% of consideration in 

excess of $250,000 up to $500,000 

plus 10% of consideration in excess 

of $500,000. 

12 (b) INDEX.—The Secretary shall use changes in the 

13 Implicit Price Deflator for the Gross Domestic Product pub14 lished by the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the Depart15 ment of Commerce, applied on a five-year rolling average, 

16 to determine and apply an annual adjustment to the cabin 

17 transfer fee threshold amounts ($250,000.01 and 

18 $500,000.01) set forth in the table contained in subsection 

19 (a). 


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1 SEC. 5. ALLOCATION OF CABIN USER FEE AND CABIN 

2 TRANSFER FEE REVENUE. 

3 (a) RETAINED FEES TO COVER COSTS.—Subject to 

4 subsection (b), the Secretary shall retain the amount of rev5 enue from cabin user fees and cabin transfer fees necessary 

6 to fully cover the costs incurred by the Forest Service to 

7 administer the Recreation Residence Program. Revenue col8 lected in excess of that amount shall be deposited in the 

9 Treasury. 

10 (b) LIMITATION.—The total retained by the Secretary 

11 under subsection (a) for a fiscal year may not exceed $500 

12 per cabin. The Secretary shall use changes in the Implicit 

13 Price Deflator for the Gross Domestic Product published by 

14 the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the Department of 

15 Commerce, applied on a five-year rolling average, to deter16 mine and apply an annual adjustment to this limitation. 

17 Revenue collected from cabin user fees and cabin transfer 

18 fees in excess of this limitation shall be deposited in the 

19 Treasury. 

20 SEC. 6. RIGHT OF APPEAL AND JUDICIAL REVIEW. 

21 (a) RIGHT OF APPEAL.—Notwithstanding any action 

22 of a cabin owner to exercise rights in accordance with sec23 tion 7, the Secretary shall by regulation grant the cabin 

24 owner the right to an administrative appeal of the deter25 mination of a new cabin user fee, fee tier, transfer fee, or 

26 whether or not to reduce a cabin user fee under section 3(e). 


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1 Such appeal shall be pursuant to the appeal process pro2 vided under subpart C (Appeal of Decisions Relating to Oc3 cupancy and Use of National Forest System Lands) of part 

4 251 of title 36, Code of Federal Regulations (section 251.80 

5 et seq.). 

6 (b) JUDICIAL REVIEW.—A cabin owner that contests 

7 a final decision of the Secretary under this Act may bring 

8 a civil action in United States district court. The venue 

9 for actions brought before the United States District Court 

10 shall be in the United States Judicial District where the 

11 cabin is located or the permit holder resides. Nothing in 

12 this Act precludes the parties from seeking mediation. 

13 SEC. 7. CONSISTENCY WITH OTHER LAW AND RIGHTS. 

14 (a) CONSISTENCY WITH RIGHTS OF THE UNITED

15 STATES.—Nothing in this Act limits or restricts any right, 

16 title, or interest of the United States in or to any land or 

17 resource. 

18 (b) SPECIAL RULE FOR ALASKA.—In determining a 

19 cabin user fee in the State of Alaska, the Secretary shall 

20 not establish or impose a cabin user fee or a condition af21 fecting a cabin user fee that is inconsistent with 1303(d) 

22 of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (16 

23 U.S.C. 3193(d)). 


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1 SEC. 8. REGULATIONS. 

2 The Secretary shall promulgate regulations to carry 

3 out this Act not later than the December 31, 2012. 


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hsrobinson on DSK69SOYB1PROD with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 349 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4888 

[Report No. 111–604] 

A BILL 

To revise the Forest Service Recreation Residence 

for other purposes. procedure for determining cabin user fees, and implementing a simple, equitable, and predictable Forest System derived from the public domain by Program as it applies to units of the National 

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


hsrobinson on DSK69SOYB1PROD with BILLS