I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5171 

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 

MARCH 6, 2018 

Mr. TIPTON (for himself 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 which 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.— 


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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 streamlining pro25 grams in the other covered units or 


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1 the Region in which they are located 

2 that would improve the administration 

3 of the Forest Service Ski Area Pro4 gram. 

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, process, 

14 or services through the unit or the Region; 

15 ‘‘(ii) any expenses that the Forest 

16 Service would have otherwise applied to ski 

17 area permittees through cost recovery pur18 suant to part 251 of title 36, Code of Fed19 eral Regulations; 

20 ‘‘(iii) training programs on processing 

21 ski area applications, administering ski 

22 area permits, or ski area process stream23 lining in the covered unit or the Region in 

24 which the unit is located; and 


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1 ‘‘(iv) interpretation activities, visitor 

2 information, visitor services, and signage in 

3 the covered unit to enhance— 

4 ‘‘(I) the ski area visitor experi5 ence on National Forest System land; 

6 and 

7 ‘‘(II) avalanche information and 

8 education activities carried out by the 

9 Forest Service. 

10 ‘‘(B) OTHER USES.—If any amounts are 

11 still available in the Account after all ski area 

12 permit-related expenditures under subpara13 graph (A) are made, including amounts trans14 ferred to other covered units pursuant to para15 graph (4)(C), such remaining amounts in the 

16 Account may be applied to permit administra17 tion for other (non-ski area) Forest Service 

18 recreation special use permits at the discretion 

19 of the Secretary. The Secretary shall first de20 termine that all ski area-related permit admin21 istration, processing and interpretation needs 

22 have been met in all covered units and Regions 

23 before applying any remaining amounts in the 

24 Account to non-ski area uses. 


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1 ‘‘(C) LIMITATION.—Amounts in the Ac2 count may not be used for— 

3 ‘‘(i) the conduct of wildfire suppres4 sion or preparedness activities; 

5 ‘‘(ii) the conduct of biological moni6 toring on National Forest System land 

7 under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 

8 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) for listed species 

9 or candidate species, except as required by 

10 law for environmental review of ski area 

11 projects; 

12 ‘‘(iii) the acquisition of land for inclu13 sion in the National Forest System; or 

14 ‘‘(iv) Forest Service administrative 

15 sites. 

16 ‘‘(6) SAVINGS PROVISIONS.— 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this sub18 section affects the applicability of section 7 of 

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

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

21 ski areas on National Forest System land. 

22 ‘‘(B) REVENUE ALLOCATION PAYMENTS.— 

23 Rental charges deposited in the Account under 

24 paragraph (2) shall be considered to be 

25 amounts received from the National Forest SysVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:46 Mar 09, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5171.IH H5171

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1 tem for purposes of calculating amounts to be 

2 paid under— 

3 ‘‘(i) the Secure Rural Schools and 

4 Community Self-Determination Act of 

5 2000 (16 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.); 

6 ‘‘(ii) the sixth paragraph under the 

7 heading ‘forest service’ in the Act of May 

8 23, 1908 (35 Stat. 260; 16 U.S.C. 500); 

9 ‘‘(iii) section 13 of the Act of March 

10 1, 1911 (36 Stat. 963; 16 U.S.C. 500); 

11 and 

12 ‘‘(iv) chapter 69 of title 31, United 

13 States Code. 

14 ‘‘(C) SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDING.—Rental 

15 charges retained and expended under this sub16 section shall supplement (and not supplant) ap17 propriated funding for the operation and main18 tenance of each covered unit.’’. 

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

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

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

22 Act. 

23 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary of Agriculture 

24 shall not be required to issue regulations or policy guidVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:46 Mar 09, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5171.IH H5171

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1 ance to implement this section (including the amendments 

2 made by this section). 

Æ 


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