As ordered reported by the House Committee on Natural Resources on February 14, 2012
H.R. 4019 would require the Forest Service to generate a minimum level of receipts each year from certain activities conducted in national forests and to spend a portion of those receipts to make annual payments to certain counties. The bill also would reauthorize the Department of the Interior (DOI) to make mandatory annual payments through 2017 to counties that contain certain federal lands. Finally, the bill would establish a new schedule for the fees paid to the federal government by individuals who own cabins located on Forest Service lands.
Based on information provided by the affected federal agencies, state timber agencies, and individuals working in the timber industry, CBO estimates that enacting the legislation would increase net direct spending by about $2.6 billion over the 2012-2022 period; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. In addition, the bill would increase discretionary spending for certain Forest Service activities by about $200 million a year over the 2014-2022 period, assuming appropriation of the estimated amounts. Enacting H.R. 4019 would not affect revenues.
H.R. 4019 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
