H.R. 5597 would require the Department of the Interior (DOI) to amend resource management plans for several areas located near St. George, Utah, that are managed for conservation purposes. Those amendments would be necessary to incorporate changes to those areas that would be required under the bill, including the addition of 6,800 acres to a habitat conservation plan (HCP) for the desert tortoise and the establishment of a transportation and utility corridor within the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area (NCA).
Using information provided by DOI, CBO estimates that amending the resource management plans as required under the bill would cost about $400,000 over the 2019-2020 period; such spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds. CBO also estimates that expanding the area covered by the habitat conservation plan and establishing a transportation and utility corridor in the NCA would not affect the federal budget because those actions would not significantly change the way the lands under federal jurisdiction would be managed.
Enacting H.R. 5597 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 5597 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029.
H.R. 5597 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
