H.R. 835 would revise the boundary of the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument in Colorado and increase the maximum number of acres that could be included in that monument from 6,000 acres to 6,300 acres. Enacting H.R. 835 would enable the National Park Service (NPS) to proceed with plans to acquire approximately 280 acres of land for inclusion within the monument. The underlying legislation that established the monument authorizes the NPS to acquire land by donation, purchase, or exchange.
According to the NPS, the owner of the 280-acre parcel is willing to donate the land for inclusion within the monument; CBO estimates that any administrative costs associated with such a transaction would be negligible. Alternatively, if the NPS were to purchase the parcel, CBO estimates that the resulting costs would total about $1 million over the 2018-2022 period; such spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds. That estimate is based on information from the NPS and recent sale prices of comparable tracts of land in the areas where the land would be purchased. Total costs would depend on the average price per acre, which according to local property records could range from $2,500 per acre to $4,000 per acre.
Enacting H.R. 835 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 835 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2028.
H.R. 835 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
On April 7, 2017, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for S. 287 a bill to update the map of, and modify the maximum acreage available for inclusion in the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, as ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on March 30, 2017. The bills are similar and CBO’s estimates of their budgetary effects are the same.
