[Congressional Bills 103th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [H.R. 4533 Reported in House (RH)] Union Calendar No. 439 103d CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 4533 [Report No. 103-793] _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To promote entrepreneurial management of the National Park Service, and for other purposes. _______________________________________________________________________ October 3, 1994 Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed Union Calendar No. 439 103d CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 4533 [Report No. 103-793] To promote entrepreneurial management of the National Park Service, and for other purposes. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES May 26, 1994 Mr. Vento (by request) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources October 3, 1994 Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] [For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on May 26, 1994] _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To promote entrepreneurial management of the National Park Service, 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 ``National Park Service Entrepreneurial Management Reform Act of 1994''. SEC. 2. FEES. (a) Admission Fees.--Section 4(a) of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 460l-4 and following) is amended as follows: (1) In the first sentence of paragraph (1)(A)(i), by striking ``$25'' and inserting ``$40''. (2) By amending the second sentence of paragraph (1)(A)(i) to read as follows: ``The permittee and the accompanying spouse, children, and parents of the permittee shall be entitled to general admission into any area designated pursuant to this section.''. (3) By modifying the margin of clause (ii) of paragraph (1)(A) to align with the margin of clause (i). (4) By inserting at the end of clause (ii) of paragraph (1)(A) the following: ``Such receipts shall be made available, subject to appropriation, for authorized resource protection, rehabilitation, and conservation projects as provided for by subsection (i), including projects to be carried out by the Public Land Corps or any other conservation corps pursuant to the Youth Conservation Corps Act of 1970 (16 U.S.C. 1701 and following), or other related programs or authorities, on lands administered by the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture.''. (5) In paragraph (1)(B), by striking ``$15'' and inserting ``$25'' and by adding at the end the following new sentence: ``Any amount by which the fee for such an annual permit exceeds $15 shall be credited to the appropriation account of the unit of the National Park System that collected the fee, shall be available to the unit without further appropriation, and shall remain available until expended.''. (6) In paragraph (2), by inserting ``(A)'' after ``(2)'', by striking the fifth and sixth sentences, by amending the fourth sentence to read as follows: ``The fee for a single- visit permit at any designated area shall be not more than $6 per person for persons entering by any means, except that the fee shall not exceed $20 for all persons entering a designated area in a single noncommercial vehicle.'', and by adding at the end the following new subparagraph: ``(B) The Secretary shall establish a pilot project at Yosemite National Park that utilizes incentives, including waiving or reducing admission fees, to encourage use of public transit which serves the purpose of reducing vehicular traffic within Yosemite National Park.''. (7) In paragraph (3), by striking the last sentence. (8) In paragraph (4), by striking ``No other free permits shall be issued to any person'' and inserting ``No other free permits shall be issued to any person, except as otherwise provided by this subsection''. (9) In paragraph (4), by amending the second sentence to read as follows: ``Such permit shall be nontransferable, shall be issued for a one-time charge of $10, and shall entitle the permittee and the accompanying spouse of the permitee to general admission into any area designated pursuant to this subsection.''. (10) In paragraph (6) by striking ``on Interior and Insular Affairs'' and inserting ``on Natural Resources''. (11) In paragraph (9), by striking ``San Juan National Historic Site, and Canaveral National Seashore'' and inserting ``and San Juan National Historic Site'' and by adding the following at the end thereof: ``The Secretary of the Interior shall submit a report to the Congress within 6 months after the enactment of this sentence respecting the areas at which the Secretary determines admission fees would be appropriate but at which such fees are prohibited by law and respecting each area at which such fees are authorized but not being collected (including an explanation of the reasons that such fees are not being collected).''. (12) By amending paragraph (11) to read as follows: ``(11) In the case of Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, a single-visit fee collected at one unit shall also admit the person who paid such fee for a single visit to the other unit.''. (b) Penalty.--Section 4(e) of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 460l-4 and following) is amended by striking ``$100'' and inserting ``$1,000''. (c) Technical Amendments.--(1) Section 4(h) of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 460l-4 and following) is amended by striking ``on Interior and Insular Affairs of the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate'' and inserting ``on Natural Resources of the United States House of Representatives and on Energy and Natural Resources of the United States Senate'', by striking ``Bureau of Outdoor Recreation'' and inserting ``National Park Service'', and by striking ``Bureau'' and inserting ``National Park Service''. (2) Section 4(g) of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 460l-4 and following) is amended by striking ``or charges for commercial or other activities not related to recreation''. (d) Use of Fees.--Section 4(i) of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 460l-4 and following) is amended as follows: (1) By inserting ``Use of Fees.--'' after ``(i)''. (2) In the first sentence of paragraph (1)(B), by striking ``fee collection costs for that fiscal year'' and inserting ``fee collection costs for the immediately preceding fiscal year'' and by striking ``section in that fiscal year'' and inserting ``section in such immediately preceding fiscal year''. (3) In the second sentence of paragraph (1)(B), by striking ``in that fiscal year''. (4) In paragraph (1), by adding at the end the following new subparagraph: ``(C) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A) and notwithstanding any other provision of law, for fiscal years after fiscal year 1995, the amount by which the receipts collected pursuant to this section by the National Park Service (except for the portion of fee receipts withheld as provided in subparagraph (B) for fee collection costs) exceeds the receipts collected pursuant to this section by the National Park Service in fiscal year 1993 shall be covered into a special fund established in the Treasury of the United States to be known as the `National Park Renewal Fund'. Amounts in such fund shall be available to the Secretary of the Interior, without further appropriation, for resource protection, research, interpretation, and maintenance activities related to resource protection and visitor enjoyment in areas managed by the National Park Service and shall be allocated among national park system units in accordance with subsection (j). Such amounts shall remain available until expended. The Secretary shall develop procedures for the use of amounts in the fund that ensure accountability and demonstrated results consistent with the purposes of this Act. Beginning after the first full fiscal year following enactment of this subparagraph, the Secretary shall submit an annual report to Congress, on a unit-by-unit basis, detailing the fees receipts collected pursuant to this section and the expenditures of such receipts.''. (e) Time of Reimbursement.--Section 4(k) of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 460l-4 and following) is amended by striking the last sentence. (f) Fees for Special Uses.--Section 4 of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 460l-4 and following) is amended by adding the following new subsection at the end: ``(o) Fees for Special Uses.--The Secretary of the Interior shall establish reasonable fees for nonrecreational uses of national park system units that require special arrangements, including permits. The fees shall be set at such level as the Secretary deems necessary to insure that the United States will receive fair market value for the use of the area concerned and shall, at a minimum, cover all costs of providing necessary services associated with such special uses, except that the Secretary may, in his discretion, waive or reduce such fees in the case of any nonprofit organization or any organization using an area within the national park system for educational or park-related purposes. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary shall retain so much of the revenue from such fees as is equal to fee collection costs and the costs of providing the necessary services associated with such special uses. Such retained amounts shall be credited to the appropriation account for the national park system unit concerned and shall remain available until expended, beginning in the fiscal year in which the amounts are so credited.''. (g) Admission or Recreation Use Fees.--Section 4 of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 460l-4 and following) is amended by adding the following new subsection at the end: ``(p) Admission or Recreation Use Fees.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no admission or recreation use fee of any kind shall be charged or imposed for entrance into, or use of, any federally owned area operated and maintained by a Federal agency and used for outdoor recreation purposes, except as provided for by this Act.''. SEC. 3. CHALLENGE COST-SHARE AGREEMENTS. (a) Agreements.--The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to negotiate and enter into challenge cost-share agreements with cooperators. For purposes of this section-- (1) The term ``challenge cost-share agreement'' means any agreement entered into between the Secretary and any cooperator for the purpose of sharing costs or services in carrying out any authorized functions and responsibilities of the Secretary with respect to any unit of the national park system (as defined in section 2(a) of the Act of August 8, 1953 (16 U.S.C. 1b-1c)), any affiliated area, or any designated national scenic or historic trail. (2) The term ``cooperator'' means any State or local government, public or private agency, organization, institution, corporation, individual, or other entity. (b) Use of Federal Funds.--In carrying out challenge cost-share agreements, the Secretary is authorized, subject to appropriation, to provide the Federal funding share from any funds available to the National Park Service. SEC. 4. COST RECOVERY FOR DAMAGE TO NATIONAL PARK RESOURCES. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any funds payable to United States as restitution on account of damage to national park resources or property shall be paid to the Secretary of the Interior. Any such funds, and any other funds received as a result of forfeiture, compromise, or settlement on account of damage to national park resources or property shall be credited to the appropriation account for the national park system unit concerned and shall be available, without further appropriation, for expenditure by the Secretary, without regard to fiscal year limitation, to improve, protect, or rehabilitate any park resources or property which have been damaged by the action of a permittee or any unauthorized person.