SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Cabin Fee Act of 2012’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Definitions. 
Sec. 3. Cabin user fees. 
Sec. 4. Payment of cabin transfer fees. 
Sec. 5. Right of appeal and judicial review. 
Sec. 6. Effect. 
Sec. 7. Regulations. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) AUTHORIZATION; AUTHORIZE.—The terms 
‘‘authorization’’ and ‘‘authorize’’ mean the issuance 
of a special use permit for the use and occupancy of 
National Forest System land by a cabin owner under 
the Recreation Residence Program. 
(2) CABIN.—The term ‘‘cabin’’ means a pri-
vately built and owned recreation residence and re-
lated improvements on National Forest System land 
that— 
(A) is authorized for private use and occu-
pancy; and 
(B) may be sold or transferred between 
private parties. 
(3) CABIN OWNER.—The term ‘‘cabin owner’’ 
means—
(A) a person authorized by the Secretary 
to use and to occupy a cabin; and 
(B) a trust, heir, or assign of a person de-
scribed in subparagraph (A). 
(4) CABIN TRANSFER FEE.—The term ‘‘cabin 
transfer fee’’ means a fee that is paid to the United 
States on the transfer of a cabin between private 
parties for money or other consideration that results 
in the issuance of a new permit. 
(5) CABIN USER FEE.—The term ‘‘cabin user 
fee’’ means an annual fee paid to the United States 
by a cabin owner in accordance with an authoriza-
tion for the use and occupancy of a cabin. 
(6) CURRENT
APPRAISAL
CYCLE.—The term 
‘‘current appraisal cycle’’ means the completion of 
Forest Service review and acceptance of— 
(A) initial typical lot appraisals; and 
(B) second appraisals, if ordered by cabin 
owners and approved by the Forest Service. 
(7) CURRENT
CABIN
USER
FEE.—The term 
‘‘current cabin user fee’’ means the most recent 
cabin user fee, as adjusted under section 3(c). 
(8) LOT.—The term ‘‘lot’’ means a parcel of 
National Forest System land on which a person is
authorized to build, use, occupy, and maintain a 
cabin. 
(9) NATIONAL
FOREST
SYSTEM.—The term 
‘‘National Forest System’’ has the meaning given 
that term in section 11 of the Forest and Rangeland 
Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 
U.S.C. 1609). 
(10) RECREATION RESIDENCE PROGRAM.—The 
term ‘‘Recreation Residence Program’’ means the 
Recreation Residence Program established under the 
last paragraph under the heading ‘‘FOREST SERV-
ICE’’ in the Act of March 4, 1915 (16 U.S.C. 497). 
(11) 
SECRETARY.—The 
term 
‘‘Secretary’’ 
means the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through 
the Chief of the Forest Service. 
(12) TYPICAL
LOT.—The term ‘‘typical lot’’ 
means a cabin lot, or group of cabin lots, in a tract 
that is selected for use in an appraisal as being rep-
resentative of, and that has similar value character-
istics as, other lots or groups of lots within the tract. 
SEC. 3. CABIN USER FEES. 
(a) PAYMENT OF CABIN USER FEES.—Cabin owners 
shall pay an annual cabin user fee established by the Sec-
retary in accordance with this section. 
(b) INITIAL CABIN USER FEES.—
(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall es-
tablish initial cabin user fees in accordance with this 
subsection. 
(2) ASSIGNMENT TO VALUE TIERS.—On com-
pletion of the current appraisal cycle, as required by 
paragraph (4), the Secretary shall assign each per-
mitted lot on National Forest System land to 1 of 
10 tiers based on the following considerations: 
(A) Before assigning the lots to tiers, all 
appraised lot values shall be adjusted, or nor-
malized, for price changes occurring after the 
appraisal, in accordance with the National As-
sociation of Homebuilders/Wells Fargo Housing 
Opportunity Index. 
(B) Second appraisal values shall super-
sede initial lot appraisal values for the normal-
ization and ranking process under subpara-
graph (A). 
(C) The tiers shall be established, on a na-
tional basis, according to relative lot value, with 
lots having the lowest adjusted appraised value 
assigned to tier 1 and lots having the highest 
adjusted appraised value assigned to tier 10.
(D) The number of lots (by percentage) as-
signed to each tier is contained in the table set 
forth in paragraph (3). 
(E) Data from incomplete appraisals may 
not be used to establish the fee tiers under this 
subsection. 
(F) Until assigned to a tier under this sub-
section, the Secretary shall assess (and may ad-
just annually subject to clause (ii)) an interim 
fee for permitted cabin lots (including lots with 
incomplete appraisals) in an amount equal to 
the lesser of— 
(i) $5,000; or 
(ii) the amount of the current cabin 
user fee, as determined under the Cabin 
User Fee Fairness Act of 2000 (16 U.S.C. 
6201 et seq.), which amount the Secretary 
may increase annually by not more than 
25 percent, except that the increased fee 
shall not exceed the otherwise scheduled 
fee determined under the Cabin User Fee 
Fairness Act of 2000. 
(3) AMOUNT OF INITIAL CABIN USER FEES.— 
The initial cabin user fees, based on the assignments 
under paragraph (2), are as follows: