II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1723 

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

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

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 5, 2019 

Mr. GARDNER (for himself, Mr. BENNET, Mr. BARRASSO, Ms. HASSAN, Mr. 

CRAPO, and Mr. WYDEN) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

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

a Ski Area Fee Retention Account. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

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

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

9 Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act of 


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

2 the following: 

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

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

5 ‘‘(A) ACCOUNT.—The term ‘Account’ 

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

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

9 unit’ means a national forest that collects a 

10 rental charge under this section. 

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

12 Forest Service region. 

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

14 charge’ means a permit rental charge that is 

15 charged under subsection (a). 

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

17 means the Secretary of Agriculture. 

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

19 Treasury shall establish in the Treasury a special 

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

21 Account’, into which there shall be deposited— 

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

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

24 covered unit from rental charges in a fiscal 

25 year, an amount equal to 50 percent of the 


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1 rental charges collected at the covered unit in 

2 the fiscal year; or 

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

4 an amount equal to 65 percent of the rental 

5 charges collected at the covered unit in a fiscal 

6 year. 

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

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

10 expenditure, without further appropriation, until ex11 pended. 

12 ‘‘(4) LOCAL DISTRIBUTION OF AMOUNTS IN

13 THE ACCOUNT.— 

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

15 subparagraph (B), 100 percent of the amounts 

16 deposited in the Account from a specific covered 

17 unit shall remain available for expenditure at 

18 the covered unit at which the rental charges 

19 were collected. 

20 ‘‘(B) REDUCTION.— 

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

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

24 under subparagraph (A) if the Secretary 

25 determines that the rental charges colVerDate Sep 11 2014 17:05 Jun 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1723.IS S1723

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

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

5 ‘‘(ii) LIMITATION.—The Secretary 

6 may not reduce the percentage of amounts 

7 available under clause (i)— 

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

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

10 than 35 percent of the amount of 

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

13 year; or 

14 ‘‘(II) in the case of any other 

15 covered unit, to less than 50 percent 

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

19 ‘‘(C) TRANSFER TO OTHER COVERED

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

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

22 determines that the percentage of amounts 

23 otherwise available to a covered unit under 

24 subparagraph (A) should be reduced under 

25 subparagraph (B), the Secretary may 


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

4 covered unit under subparagraph (B), to 

5 be expended by the other covered units in 

6 accordance with paragraph (5). 

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

8 allocation of amounts to be transferred 

9 under clause (i) among other covered 

10 units, the Secretary shall consider— 

11 ‘‘(I) the number of proposals for 

12 ski area improvements in the other 

13 covered units; 

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

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

18 ‘‘(III) any need for services, 

19 training, staffing, or the streamlining 

20 of programs in the other covered units 

21 or the Region in which the covered 

22 units are located that would improve 

23 the administration of the Forest Serv24 ice Ski Area Program. 

25 ‘‘(5) AUTHORIZED EXPENDITURES.— 


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

2 from the Account to a covered unit under this 

3 subsection may be used for— 

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

6 for ski area improvement projects in the 

7 covered unit, including staffing and con8 tracting for such administration or proc9 essing or related services in the covered 

10 unit or the applicable Region; 

11 ‘‘(ii) training programs on processing 

12 ski area applications, administering ski 

13 area permits, or ski area process stream14 lining in the covered unit or the Region in 

15 which the covered unit is located; 

16 ‘‘(iii) interpretation activities, visitor 

17 information, visitor services, and signage in 

18 the covered unit to enhance— 

19 ‘‘(I) the ski area visitor experi20 ence on National Forest System land; 

21 and 

22 ‘‘(II) avalanche information and 

23 education activities carried out by the 

24 Forest Service; and 


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1 ‘‘(iv) the costs of leasing administra2 tive sites under section 8623 of the Agri3 culture Improvement Act of 2018 (16 

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

5 for ski area-related purposes. 

6 ‘‘(B) OTHER USES.— 

7 ‘‘(i) AUTHORIZED USES.—Subject to 

8 clause (ii), if any remaining amounts are 

9 available in the Account after all ski area 

10 permit-related expenditures have been 

11 made under subparagraph (A), including 

12 amounts transferred to other covered units 

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

14 use any remaining amounts for— 

15 ‘‘(I) the costs of administering 

16 non-ski area Forest Service recreation 

17 special use permits; and 

18 ‘‘(II) the costs of leasing admin19 istrative sites under section 8623 of 

20 the Agriculture Improvement Act of 

21 2018 (16 U.S.C. 580d note; Public 

22 Law 115–334) for purposes not re23 lated to a ski area. 

24 ‘‘(ii) REQUIREMENT.—Before making 

25 amounts available from the Account for a 


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1 use authorized under clause (i), the Sec2 retary shall make a determination that all 

3 ski area-related permit administration, 

4 processing, and interpretation needs have 

5 been met in all covered units and Regions. 

6 ‘‘(C) LIMITATION.—Amounts in the Ac7 count may not be used for— 

8 ‘‘(i) the conduct of wildfire suppres9 sion or preparedness activities; 

10 ‘‘(ii) the conduct of biological moni11 toring on National Forest System land 

12 under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 

13 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) for listed species 

14 or candidate species, except as required by 

15 law for environmental review of ski area 

16 projects; or 

17 ‘‘(iii) the acquisition of land for inclu18 sion in the National Forest System. 

19 ‘‘(6) SAVINGS PROVISIONS.— 

20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this sub21 section affects the applicability of section 7 of 

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

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

24 ski areas on National Forest System land. 


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1 ‘‘(B) SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDING.—Rental 

2 charges retained and expended under this sub3 section shall supplement (and not supplant) ap4 propriated funding for the operation and main5 tenance of each covered unit.’’. 

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

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

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

9 Act. 

10 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary of Agriculture 

11 shall not be required to issue regulations or policy guid12 ance to implement this section (including the amendments 

13 made by this section). 

Æ 


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