I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3686 

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

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

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 4, 2021 

Ms. KUSTER (for herself, Mr. CURTIS, Mr. NEGUSE, and Mr. LAMALFA) 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, and for other purposes. 

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 Hill Resources for 

5 Economic Development Act’’ or the ‘‘SHRED 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 unit of the National Forest Sys14 tem that collects a rental charge. 

15 ‘‘(C) PROGRAM.—The term ‘Program’ 

16 means the Forest Service Ski Area Program. 

17 ‘‘(D) REGION.—The term ‘region’ means a 

18 region of the Forest Service. 

19 ‘‘(E) RENTAL CHARGE.—The term ‘rental 

20 charge’ means a permit rental charge that is 

21 charged under subsection (a). 

22 ‘‘(F) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ 

23 means the Secretary of Agriculture. 

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

25 Treasury shall establish in the Treasury a special 


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

2 Account’, into which there shall be deposited— 

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

4 $15,000,000 or more is collected by the covered 

5 unit from rental charges in a fiscal year, an 

6 amount equal to 60 percent of the rental 

7 charges collected at the covered unit in the fis8 cal year; or 

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

10 an amount equal to 75 percent of the rental 

11 charges collected at the covered unit in a fiscal 

12 year. 

13 ‘‘(3) AVAILABILITY.—Subject to paragraph (5), 

14 any amounts deposited in the Account under para15 graph (2) shall be available to the Secretary for use 

16 in accordance with paragraph (4), without further 

17 appropriation, and shall remain available until ex18 pended. 

19 ‘‘(4) USE AND DISTRIBUTION OF AMOUNTS IN

20 THE ACCOUNT.— 

21 ‘‘(A) DISTRIBUTION OF PERCENTAGE

22 AMOUNTS.—Except as provided in subpara23 graphs (B), (C), (D), (F), and (G), 75 percent 

24 of the amounts deposited in the Account from 

25 a covered unit at which the rental charges were 


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1 collected in the preceding fiscal year shall be 

2 available for expenditure in accordance with 

3 subparagraph (E) at that covered unit. 

4 ‘‘(B) REDUCTION OF PERCENTAGE

5 AMOUNT.—Subject to subparagraph (C), the 

6 Secretary may reduce the percentage of 

7 amounts available to a covered unit under sub8 paragraph (A) if the Secretary determines that 

9 the amounts will exceed the reasonable needs of 

10 the covered unit for the purposes described in 

11 subparagraph (E) in the fiscal year. 

12 ‘‘(C) LIMITATION.—The Secretary may not 

13 reduce, pursuant to subparagraph (B), the per14 centage of amounts available under subpara15 graph (A)— 

16 ‘‘(i) in the case of a covered unit de17 scribed in paragraph (2)(A), to less than 

18 25 percent of the amount of rental charges 

19 deposited in the Account from the covered 

20 unit in a fiscal year; or 

21 ‘‘(ii) in the case of any other covered 

22 unit, to less than 40 percent of the amount 

23 of rental charges deposited in the Account 

24 from the covered unit in a fiscal year. 


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1 ‘‘(D) DISTRIBUTION OF REDUCTION

2 AMOUNTS.—The Secretary may make any 

3 amounts in the Account remaining as a result 

4 of any reduction in the percentage of amounts 

5 under subparagraph (B) available to other cov6 ered units or the regions in which the covered 

7 units are located for the purposes described in 

8 subparagraph (E), taking into consideration the 

9 following factors: 

10 ‘‘(i) Any backlog in ski area permit 

11 and Program administration in the covered 

12 units, including— 

13 ‘‘(I) the number of proposals for 

14 ski area improvement projects; and 

15 ‘‘(II) the processing of proposals 

16 for ski area improvement projects. 

17 ‘‘(ii) Any need for services, training, 

18 staffing, or the streamlining of programs 

19 in the other covered units or the region in 

20 which the covered units are located that 

21 would improve the administration of the 

22 Program. 

23 ‘‘(iii) Any need for wildfire prepared24 ness, planning, and coordination in and 

25 around ski areas. 


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1 ‘‘(E) AUTHORIZED EXPENDITURES.— 

2 Amounts distributed from the Account to a cov3 ered unit under this subsection may be used 

4 for— 

5 ‘‘(i) ski area special use permit and 

6 Program administration in the covered 

7 unit, including— 

8 ‘‘(I) the processing of proposals 

9 for ski area improvement projects; 

10 and 

11 ‘‘(II) staffing and contracting for 

12 that processing and related services in 

13 the covered unit or in the applicable 

14 region; 

15 ‘‘(ii) staff training for processing of 

16 ski area applications and administering ski 

17 area permits in the covered unit or the re18 gion in which the covered unit is located; 

19 ‘‘(iii) interpretation activities, visitor 

20 information, visitor services, and signage in 

21 the covered unit to enhance the ski area 

22 visitor experience on National Forest Sys23 tem land; and 

24 ‘‘(iv) wildfire preparedness, planning, 

25 and coordination in and around ski areas 


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1 in the covered unit or in the applicable re2 gion. 

3 ‘‘(F) EXPENDITURE FOR OTHER PUR4 POSES.—If any amounts remain in the Account 

5 after all necessary Program expenditures have 

6 been made under subparagraph (D), the Sec7 retary may use the amounts for other purposes 

8 in accordance with subparagraph (G). 

9 ‘‘(G) OTHER RECREATION PERMIT ADMIN10 ISTRATION, VISITOR SERVICES, AND OTHER

11 PURPOSES.—In addition to any amounts re12 maining in the Account described in subpara13 graph (F), 25 percent of the amounts deposited 

14 in the Account from a covered unit in which the 

15 rental charges were collected shall remain avail16 able for expenditure at that covered unit or the 

17 region in which the covered unit is located for— 

18 ‘‘(i) administering non-ski area Forest 

19 Service recreation special use permits; 

20 ‘‘(ii) avalanche information and edu21 cation activities carried out by the Sec22 retary or nonprofit partners; 

23 ‘‘(iii) recreation management, mainte24 nance, and services; and 

25 ‘‘(iv) administration of leases under— 


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1 ‘‘(I) the Forest Service Facility 

2 Realignment and Enhancement Act of 

3 2005 (16 U.S.C. 580d note; Public 

4 Law 109–54); and 

5 ‘‘(II) section 8623 of the Agri6 culture Improvement Act of 2018 (16 

7 U.S.C. 580d note; Public Law 115– 

8 334). 

9 ‘‘(H) LIMITATION.—Amounts in the Ac10 count may not be used for— 

11 ‘‘(i) the conduct of wildfire suppres12 sion outside ski area permit boundaries; or 

13 ‘‘(ii) the acquisition of land for inclu14 sion in the National Forest System. 

15 ‘‘(5) SAVINGS PROVISIONS.— 

16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this sub17 section affects the applicability of section 7 of 

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

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

20 ski areas on National Forest System land. 

21 ‘‘(B) SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDING.—Rental 

22 charges retained and expended under this sub23 section shall supplement (and not supplant) ap24 propriated funding for the operation and main25 tenance of each covered unit. 


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1 ‘‘(C) COST RECOVERY.—Nothing in this 

2 subsection affects any cost recovery under any 

3 other provision of law for processing applica4 tions for or monitoring compliance with ski area 

5 permits or other recreation special use per6 mits.’’. 

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

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

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

10 Act. 

11 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary of Agriculture 

12 shall not be required to issue regulations or policy guid13 ance to implement this section (including the amendments 

14 made by this section). 

Æ 


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