Title: Ski Area Fee Retention Act
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources

Summary:
Ski Area Fee Retention Act
This bill establishes the Ski Area Fee Retention Account. A specified portion of rental charges for ski area permits on a Forest Service unit shall be deposited in such account. Amounts in the fund shall be available to the unit for expenditure without further appropriation for ski area administration, improvements, visitor services, and leasing of administrative sites. Funds may be reallocated only if the rental charges collected exceed the reasonable needs of the unit.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1723 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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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.

    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 ``Ski Area Fee Retention Act''.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF SKI AREA FEE RETENTION ACCOUNT.

    (a) In General.--Section 701 of division I of the Omnibus Parks and 
Public Lands Management Act of 1996 (16 U.S.C. 497c) is amended by 
adding at the end the following:
    ``(k) Ski Area Fee Retention Account.--
            ``(1) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    ``(A) Account.--The term `Account' means the Ski 
                Area Fee Retention Account established under paragraph 
                (2).
                    ``(B) Covered unit.--The term `covered unit' means 
                a national forest that collects a rental charge under 
                this section.
                    ``(C) Region.--The term `Region' means a Forest 
                Service region.
                    ``(D) Rental charge.--The term `rental charge' 
                means a permit rental charge that is charged under 
                subsection (a).
                    ``(E) Secretary.--The term `Secretary' means the 
                Secretary of Agriculture.
            ``(2) Establishment.--The Secretary of the Treasury shall 
        establish in the Treasury a special account, to be known as the 
        `Ski Area Fee Retention Account', into which there shall be 
        deposited--
                    ``(A) in the case of a covered unit at which not 
                less than $15,000,000 is collected by the covered unit 
                from rental charges in a fiscal year, an amount equal 
                to 50 percent of the rental charges collected at the 
                covered unit in the fiscal year; or
                    ``(B) in the case of any other covered unit, an 
                amount equal to 65 percent of the rental charges 
                collected at the covered unit in a fiscal year.
            ``(3) Availability.--Subject to paragraphs (4), (5), and 
        (6), any amounts deposited in the Account under paragraph (2) 
        shall remain available for expenditure, without further 
        appropriation, until expended.
            ``(4) Local distribution of amounts in the account.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Except as provided in 
                subparagraph (B), 100 percent of the amounts deposited 
                in the Account from a specific covered unit shall 
                remain available for expenditure at the covered unit at 
                which the rental charges were collected.
                    ``(B) Reduction.--
                            ``(i) In general.--Subject to clause (ii), 
                        the Secretary may reduce the percentage of 
                        amounts available to a covered unit under 
                        subparagraph (A) if the Secretary determines 
                        that the rental charges collected at the 
                        covered unit exceed the reasonable needs of the 
                        covered unit for that fiscal year for 
                        authorized expenditures described in paragraph 
                        (5)(A).
                            ``(ii) Limitation.--The Secretary may not 
                        reduce the percentage of amounts available 
                        under clause (i)--
                                    ``(I) in the case of a covered unit 
                                described in paragraph (2)(A), to less 
                                than 35 percent of the amount of rental 
                                charges deposited in the Account from 
                                the covered unit in a fiscal year; or
                                    ``(II) in the case of any other 
                                covered unit, to less than 50 percent 
                                of the amount of rental charges 
                                deposited in the Account from the 
                                covered unit in a fiscal year.
                    ``(C) Transfer to other covered units and use for 
                non-ski area permits.--
                            ``(i) Distribution.--If the Secretary 
                        determines that the percentage of amounts 
                        otherwise available to a covered unit under 
                        subparagraph (A) should be reduced under 
                        subparagraph (B), the Secretary may transfer to 
                        other covered units, for allocation in 
                        accordance with clause (ii), the percentage of 
                        the amounts withheld from the covered unit 
                        under subparagraph (B), to be expended by the 
                        other covered units in accordance with 
                        paragraph (5).
                            ``(ii) Criteria.--In determining the 
                        allocation of amounts to be transferred under 
                        clause (i) among other covered units, the 
                        Secretary shall consider--
                                    ``(I) the number of proposals for 
                                ski area improvements in the other 
                                covered units;
                                    ``(II) any backlog in ski area 
                                permit administration or the processing 
                                of ski area proposals in the other 
                                covered units; and
                                    ``(III) any need for services, 
                                training, staffing, or the streamlining 
                                of programs in the other covered units 
                                or the Region in which the covered 
                                units are located that would improve 
                                the administration of the Forest 
                                Service Ski Area Program.
            ``(5) Authorized expenditures.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Amounts distributed from the 
                Account to a covered unit under this subsection may be 
                used for--
                            ``(i) ski area special use permit 
                        administration and processing of proposals for 
                        ski area improvement projects in the covered 
                        unit, including staffing and contracting for 
                        such administration or processing or related 
                        services in the covered unit or the applicable 
                        Region;
                            ``(ii) training programs on processing ski 
                        area applications, administering ski area 
                        permits, or ski area process streamlining in 
                        the covered unit or the Region in which the 
                        covered unit is located;
                            ``(iii) interpretation activities, visitor 
                        information, visitor services, and signage in 
                        the covered unit to enhance--
                                    ``(I) the ski area visitor 
                                experience on National Forest System 
                                land; and
                                    ``(II) avalanche information and 
                                education activities carried out by the 
                                Forest Service; and
                            ``(iv) the costs of leasing administrative 
                        sites under section 8623 of the Agriculture 
                        Improvement Act of 2018 (16 U.S.C. 580d note; 
                        Public Law 115-334) for ski area-related 
                        purposes.
                    ``(B) Other uses.--
                            ``(i) Authorized uses.--Subject to clause 
                        (ii), if any remaining amounts are available in 
                        the Account after all ski area permit-related 
                        expenditures have been made under subparagraph 
                        (A), including amounts transferred to other 
                        covered units under paragraph (4)(C), the 
                        Secretary may use any remaining amounts for--
                                    ``(I) the costs of administering 
                                non-ski area Forest Service recreation 
                                special use permits; and
                                    ``(II) the costs of leasing 
                                administrative sites under section 8623 
                                of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 
                                2018 (16 U.S.C. 580d note; Public Law 
                                115-334) for purposes not related to a 
                                ski area.
                            ``(ii) Requirement.--Before making amounts 
                        available from the Account for a use authorized 
                        under clause (i), the Secretary shall make a 
                        determination that all ski area-related permit 
                        administration, processing, and interpretation 
                        needs have been met in all covered units and 
                        Regions.
                    ``(C) Limitation.--Amounts in the Account may not 
                be used for--
                            ``(i) the conduct of wildfire suppression 
                        or preparedness activities;
                            ``(ii) the conduct of biological monitoring 
                        on National Forest System land under the 
                        Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 
                        et seq.) for listed species or candidate 
                        species, except as required by law for 
                        environmental review of ski area projects; or
                            ``(iii) the acquisition of land for 
                        inclusion in the National Forest System.
            ``(6) Savings provisions.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Nothing in this subsection 
                affects the applicability of section 7 of the Act of 
                April 24, 1950 (commonly known as the `Granger-Thye 
                Act') (16 U.S.C. 580d), to ski areas on National Forest 
                System land.
                    ``(B) Supplemental funding.--Rental charges 
                retained and expended under this subsection shall 
                supplement (and not supplant) appropriated funding for 
                the operation and maintenance of each covered unit.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--This section (including the amendments made by 
this section) shall take effect on the date that is 60 days after the 
date of enactment of this Act.
    (c) Implementation.--The Secretary of Agriculture shall not be 
required to issue regulations or policy guidance to implement this 
section (including the amendments made by this section).
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