[House Report 115-880]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
115th Congress } { Rept. 115-880
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
2d Session } { Part 1
======================================================================
EVERY KID OUTDOORS ACT
_______
August 3, 2018.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the
State of the Union and ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Bishop of Utah, from the Committee on Natural Resources, submitted
the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany H.R. 3186]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Natural Resources to whom was referred the
bill (H.R. 3186) to establish an Every Kid Outdoors program,
and for other purposes, having considered the same, report
favorably thereon with an amendment and recommend that the bill
as amended do pass.
The amendment is as follows:
Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the
following:
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Every Kid Outdoors Act''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Federal land and waters.--The term ``Federal land and
waters'' means any Federal land or body of water under the
jurisdiction of any of the Secretaries to which the public has
access.
(2) Program.--The term ``program'' means the Every Kid
Outdoors program established under section 3(a).
(3) Secretaries.--The term ``Secretaries'' means--
(A) the Secretary of the Interior, acting through--
(i) the Director of the National Park
Service;
(ii) the Director of the United States Fish
and Wildlife Service;
(iii) the Director of the Bureau of Land
Management; and
(iv) the Commissioner of Reclamation;
(B) the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the
Chief of the Forest Service;
(C) the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the
Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration; and
(D) the Secretary of the Army, acting through the
Chief of Engineers of the Corps of Engineers.
(4) State.--The term ``State'' means each of the several
States, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, the
Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands of
the United States, and any other territory or possession of the
United States.
(5) Student or students.--The term ``student'' or
``students'' means any fourth grader or home-schooled learner
10 years of age residing in the United States, including any
territory or possession of the United States.
SEC. 3. EVERY KID OUTDOORS PROGRAM.
(a) Establishment.--The Secretaries shall jointly establish a
program, to be known as the ``Every Kid Outdoors program'', to provide
free access to Federal land and waters for students and accompanying
individuals in accordance with this section.
(b) Annual Passes.--
(1) In general.--At the request of a student, the Secretaries
shall issue a pass to the student, which allows access to
Federal lands and waters for which access is subject to an
entrance, standard amenity, or day use fee, free of charge for
the student and--
(A) in the case of a per-vehicle fee area--
(i) any passengers accompanying the student
in a private, noncommercial vehicle; or
(ii) not more than 3 adults accompanying the
student on bicycles; or
(B) in the case of a per-person fee area, not more
than 3 adults accompanying the student.
(2) Term.--A pass described in paragraph (1) shall be
effective during the period beginning on September 1 and ending
on August 31 of the following year.
(3) Presence of a student in grade four required.--A pass
described in paragraph (1) shall be effective only if the
student to which the pass was issued is present at the point of
entry to the applicable Federal land or water.
(c) Other Activities.--In carrying out the program, the Secretaries--
(1) may collaborate with State Park systems that opt to
implement a complementary Every Kid Outdoors State park pass;
(2) may coordinate with the Secretary of Education to
implement the program;
(3) shall maintain a publicly available website with
information about the program;
(4) may provide visitor services for the program; and
(5) may support approved partners of the Federal land and
waters by providing the partners with opportunities to
participate in the program.
(d) Reports.--The Secretary of the Interior, in coordination with
each Secretary, shall prepare a comprehensive report to Congress each
year describing--
(1) the implementation of the program;
(2) the number and geographical distribution of students who
participated in the program; and
(3) the number of passes described in subsection (b)(1) that
were distributed.
(e) Sunset.--The authorities provided in this Act, including the
reporting requirement, shall expire on the date that is seven years
after the date of enactment of this Act.
PURPOSE OF THE BILL
The purpose of H.R. 3186 is to establish an Every Kid
Outdoors program.
BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION
Since 2015, the Department of the Interior, through the
``Every Kid in a Park'' initiative, has offered fourth graders
and their families free entrance to our national parks and
other federal lands. The initiative launched prior to the
National Park Service's Centennial in 2016 as one way to
connect with and create the next generation of park visitors.
Funding and support for the initiative comes through the
National Park Service's budget for youth engagement programs as
well as from private donations and volunteer hours.\1\ To date,
``Every Kid in a Park'' has facilitated educational activities
for more than 350,000 fourth graders across the country and has
provided an outdoor classroom for teachers and students across
the 417 National Park Service units and other federal lands.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Korte, Gregory. ``Obama to Give Free Parks Admission to Fourth
Graders.'' USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 19 Feb.
2015, www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/02/19/obama-free-
national-park-admission/23640451/.
\2\ United States. Cong. Senate. Senate Energy & Natural Resources
Subcommittee on National Parks. Hearing on S. 1522 July. 19, 2017.
115th Cong. 1st sess. Washington. (statement of Bob Vogel, Acting
Deputy Director, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the
Interior).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In developing the ``Every Kid in a Park'' initiative, the
Department of the Interior focused on children 10 years of age,
the age of most fourth graders, based on research that
indicates children ages 9-11 are at a unique developmental
stage where they begin to understand how the world around them
works in more concrete ways.\3\ By targeting this age group,
the initiative strives to provide every child in the United
States with the opportunity to visit his or her federal lands
and waters by age 11, thereby establishing a lifelong
connection to our parks and other public lands.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ Ibid. at 2.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
H.R. 3186 codifies the ``Every Kid in a Park'' initiative
by directing seven bureaus in four agencies to jointly
establish the ``Every Kid Outdoors'' program to provide any
fourth grader or home-schooled learner 10 years of age residing
in the United States and any U. S. territory or possession with
free access to publicly accessible federal lands and waters.
The bureaus that would establish and administer the program are
the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Reclamation, the
U.S. Forest Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
A companion bill has been introduced in the Senate as S.
1522 by Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM).
COMMITTEE ACTION
H.R. 3186 was introduced on July 11, 2017, by Congresswoman
Niki Tsongas (D-MA). The bill was primarily referred to the
Committee on Natural Resources, and additionally to the
Committee on Agriculture and the Committee on Transportation
and Infrastructure. Within the Natural Resources Committee, the
bill was referred to the Subcommittee on Federal Lands and the
Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans. On May 16, 2018, the
Natural Resources Committee met to consider the bill. The
Subcommittees were discharged by unanimous consent.
Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo (D-GU) offered an amendment
designated 050; it was adopted by unanimous consent.
Congressman Rob Bishop (R-UT) offered an amendment designated
#1; it was adopted by unanimous consent. No further amendments
were offered, and the bill, as amended, was ordered favorably
reported to the House of Representatives by unanimous consent.
COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the
Committee on Natural Resources' oversight findings and
recommendations are reflected in the body of this report.
COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XIII AND CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET ACT
1. Cost of Legislation and the Congressional Budget Act.
With respect to the requirements of clause 3(c)(2) and (3) of
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and
sections 308(a) and 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of
1974, the Committee has received the following estimate for the
bill from the Director of the Congressional Budget Office:
U.S. Congress,
Congressional Budget Office,
Washington, DC, June 8, 2018.
Hon. Rob Bishop,
Chairman, Committee on Natural Resources,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 3186, the Every
Kid Outdoors Act.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Janani
Shankaran.
Sincerely,
Mark P. Hadley
(For Keith Hall, Director).
Enclosure.
H.R. 3186--Every Kid Outdoors Act
H.R. 3186 would establish the Every Kid Outdoors program,
which would allow fourth grade students and certain
accompanying adults free access to federal public lands and
waters administered by the Department of the Interior, the
Forest Service, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration where an entrance fee is
charged. Because the bill would codify the existing Every Kid
in a Park program, CBO estimates that implementing that
provision would result in no additional costs.
The bill also would require the participating agencies to
submit an annual report to the Congress on the program. Based
on the costs of similar reports, CBO estimates that
implementing that provision would cost less than $500,000 over
the 2019-2023 period; such spending would be subject to the
availability of appropriated funds.
Enacting H.R. 3186 would not affect direct spending or
revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 3186 would not increase
net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four
consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029.
H.R. 3186 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Janani
Shankaran. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss,
Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.
2. General Performance Goals and Objectives. As required by
clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII, the general performance goal or
objective of this bill is to establish an Every Kid Outdoors
program.
EARMARK STATEMENT
This bill does not contain any Congressional earmarks,
limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined
under clause 9(e), 9(f), and 9(g) of rule XXI of the Rules of
the House of Representatives.
COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104-4
This bill contains no unfunded mandates.
COMPLIANCE WITH H. RES. 5
Directed Rule Making. This bill does not contain any
directed rule makings.
Duplication of Existing Programs. This bill does not
establish or reauthorize a program of the federal government
known to be duplicative of another program. Such program was
not included in any report from the Government Accountability
Office to Congress pursuant to section 21 of Public Law 111-139
or identified in the most recent Catalog of Federal Domestic
Assistance published pursuant to the Federal Program
Information Act (Public Law 95-220, as amended by Public Law
98-169) as relating to other programs.
PREEMPTION OF STATE, LOCAL OR TRIBAL LAW
This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local or
tribal law.
CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW
If enacted, this bill would make no changes to existing
law.
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TR880P1.001
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TR880P1.002
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TR880P1.003
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TR880P1.004