Title: Special Forest Products Program Reauthorization Act of 2019
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources

Summary:
Special Forest Products Program Reauthorization Act of 2019
This bill directs the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to establish a program of charging and collecting fees for forest botanical products harvested on National Forest System (NFS) lands. Under the program, USDA may not permit forest botanical products to be harvested in excess of sustainable harvest levels.
Collected fees must be in an amount to recover a portion of the fair market value of the harvested forest botanical products and a portion of all of the costs incurred by USDA that are associated with the granting, modifying, or monitoring of the authorization for harvest of the products, including the costs of any environmental or other analysis.
USDA must establish a personal use harvest level for each forest botanical product. The harvesting of a forest botanical product below that level by a person for personal use shall not be subject to the charges and fees under this bill.
USDA shall (1) conduct analyses to determine whether and how the harvest of forest botanical products on NFS lands can be conducted on a sustainable basis, and (2) establish procedures and timeframes for monitoring and revising the harvest levels established for such products.
Funds collected under the program shall be expended at NFS units to pay for the costs of conducting inventories of forest botanical products, determining sustainable levels of harvest, monitoring and assessing the impacts of harvest levels and methods, restoration activities, and authorizing harvest.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4357 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4357

   To require the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out a program to 
   charge and collect not less than the fair market value for forest 
 botanical products harvested on National Forest System lands, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 17, 2019

   Ms. Herrera Beutler (for herself and Mr. Schrader) 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 require the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out a program to 
   charge and collect not less than the fair market value for forest 
 botanical products harvested on National Forest System lands, and for 
                            other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Special Forest Products Program 
Reauthorization Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. CHARGES AND FEES FOR HARVEST OF FOREST BOTANICAL PRODUCTS.

    (a) Recovery of Fair Market Value for Products.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary shall establish and carry 
        out a program to charge and collect fees under subsection (b) 
        for forest botanical products harvested on National Forest 
        System lands.
            (2) Appraisal methods; bidding procedures.--The Secretary 
        shall establish appraisal methods and bidding procedures to 
        ensure that the amounts collected for forest botanical products 
        are not less than fair market value.
    (b) Fees.--
            (1) Imposition and collection.--The Secretary shall charge 
        and collect fees from persons who harvest forest botanical 
        products on National Forest System lands.
            (2) Amount of fee.--The fees collected under paragraph (1) 
        shall be in an amount established by the Secretary to recover 
        at least a portion of the fair market value of the harvested 
        forest botanical products and a portion of all the costs 
        incurred by the Department of Agriculture associated with the 
        granting, modifying, or monitoring the authorization for 
        harvest of the forest botanical products, including the costs 
        of any environmental or other analysis.
            (3) Security.--The Secretary may require a person assessed 
        a fee under this subsection to provide security to ensure that 
        the Secretary receives the fees imposed under this subsection 
        from the person.
    (c) Sustainable Harvest Levels for Forest Botanical Products.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary shall--
                    (A) conduct appropriate analyses to determine 
                whether and how the harvest of forest botanical 
                products on National Forest System lands can be 
                conducted on a sustainable basis; and
                    (B) establish procedures and timeframes to monitor 
                and revise the harvest levels established for forest 
                botanical products.
            (2) Prohibition on harvest in excess of sustainable 
        levels.--The Secretary may not permit under the program under 
        this section the harvest of forest botanical products at levels 
        in excess of sustainable harvest levels, as defined under 
        section 4 of the Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act of 1960 (16 
        U.S.C. 531).
    (d) Waiver Authority.--
            (1) Personal use.--The Secretary shall establish a personal 
        use harvest level for each forest botanical product, and the 
        harvest of a forest botanical product below that level by a 
        person for personal use shall not be subject to charges and 
        fees under subsections (a) and (b).
            (2) Other exceptions.--The Secretary may also waive the 
        application of subsection (a) or (b) pursuant to such 
        regulations as the Secretary may prescribe.
    (e) Deposit and Use of Funds.--
            (1) Deposit.--Funds collected under the program in 
        accordance with subsections (a) and (b) shall be deposited into 
        a special account in the Treasury of the United States.
            (2) Funds available.--Funds deposited into the special 
        account in accordance with paragraph (1) shall remain available 
        until expended without further appropriation.
            (3) Authorized uses.--The funds made available under 
        paragraph (2) shall be expended at units of the National Forest 
        System in proportion to the charges and fees collected at that 
        unit under the program under this section to pay for--
                    (A) the costs of conducting inventories of forest 
                botanical products, determining sustainable levels of 
                harvest, monitoring and assessing the impacts of 
                harvest levels and methods, and for restoration 
                activities, including any necessary vegetation; and
                    (B) the costs described in subsection (b)(2).
            (4) Treatment of fees.--Funds collected under the program 
        in accordance with subsections (a) and (b) shall not be taken 
        into account for the purposes of the following laws:
                    (A) The sixth paragraph under the heading ``forest 
                service'' in the Act of May 23, 1908 (16 U.S.C. 500), 
                and section 13 of the Act of March 1, 1911 (commonly 
                known as the Weeks Act; 16 U.S.C. 500).
                    (B) The fourteenth paragraph under the heading 
                ``forest service'' in the Act of March 4, 1913 (16 
                U.S.C. 501).
                    (C) Section 33 of the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant 
                Act (7 U.S.C. 1012).
                    (D) The Act of August 8, 1937, and the Act of May 
                24, 1939 (43 U.S.C. 1181a et seq.).
                    (E) Section 6 of the Act of June 14, 1926 (commonly 
                known as the Recreation and Public Purposes Act; 43 
                U.S.C. 869-4).
                    (F) Chapter 69 of title 31, United States Code. (G) 
                Section 401 of the Act of June 15, 1935 (16 U.S.C. 
                715s).
                    (G) Section 4 of the Land and Water Conservation 
                Fund Act of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 460l-6a).
                    (H) Any other provision of law relating to revenue 
                allocation.
    (f) Reporting Requirements.--As soon as practicable after the end 
of each fiscal year in which the Secretary collects charges and fees 
under the program in accordance with subsections (a) and (b) or expends 
funds from the special account under subsection (e), the Secretary 
shall submit to the Congress a report summarizing the activities of the 
Secretary under the program under this section, including the funds 
collected under the program in accordance with subsections (a) and (b), 
the expenses incurred to carry out the program under this section, and 
the expenditures made from the special account during that fiscal year.
    (g) Definitions.--For purposes of this section:
            (1) Forest botanical product.--The term ``forest botanical 
        product''--
                    (A) means any naturally occurring mushroom, fungus, 
                flower, seed, root, bark, leaf, or other vegetation (or 
                portion thereof) that grows on National Forest System 
                lands; and
                    (B) does not include trees, or portions of trees, 
                except as provided in regulations issued under this 
                section by the Secretary.
            (2) National forest system.--The term ``National Forest 
        System'' has the meaning given that term in section 11(a) of 
        the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 
        1974 (16 U.S.C. 1609(a)).
            (3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Agriculture.
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