To amend section 100905 of title 54, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to require annual permits and assess annual fees for commercial filming activities on Federal land for film crews of 5 persons or fewer, and for other purposes.

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2106 To amend section 100905 of title 54, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to require annual permits and assess annual fees for commercial filming activities on Federal land for film crews of 5 persons or fewer, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 4, 2019 Mr. LATTA (for himself, Mr. COLE, Mr. RYAN, and Mr. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agri- culture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic- tion of the committee concerned A BILL To amend section 100905 of title 54, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to require annual permits and assess an- nual fees for commercial filming activities on Federal land for film crews of 5 persons or fewer, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2106.IH H2106 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 2106 IH SECTION 1. ANNUAL PERMIT AND FEE FOR FILM CREWS OF 1 5 PERSONS OR FEWER. 2 (a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the amendments 3 made by subsection (b) is to provide commercial film crews 4 of 5 persons or fewer access to film in areas designated 5 for public use during public hours on Federal land and 6 waterways. 7 (b) ACCESS FOR FILM CREWS OF 5 PERSONS OR 8 FEWER.—Section 100905 of title 54, United States Code, 9 is amended as follows: 10 (1) In subsection (a)— 11 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘provide 12 a fair return to the United States’’ and insert 13 ‘‘be sufficient to cover the cost of a film permit 14 and other administrative and personnel costs’’; 15 and 16 (B) by adding at the end the following: 17 ‘‘(3) FILM CREWS OF 5 PERSONS OR FEWER.— 18 For film crews of 5 persons or fewer, the Secretary 19 shall— 20 ‘‘(A) assess an annual fee of not more than 21 $200 for commercial filming activities or simi- 22 lar projects on Federal land administered by 23 the Secretary; and 24 ‘‘(B) require a permit which shall be valid 25 for commercial filming activities or similar 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2106.IH H2106 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 2106 IH projects that occur in areas designated for pub- 1 lic use during public hours on all Federal land 2 and waterways administered by the Secretary 3 for a 1-year period beginning on the date of 4 issuance of the permit.’’. 5 (2) In subsection (c)(2), by adding at the end 6 the following: ‘‘The fee under this paragraph for still 7 photography crews of 5 persons or fewer shall be not 8 more than $200.’’. 9 (3) In subsection (f), by adding at the end the 10 following: ‘‘The Secretary shall not consider subject 11 matter or content as a criterion for issuing or deny- 12 ing a permit under this Act.’’. 13 (4) By striking subsection (b) and redesig- 14 nating subsections (c), (d), (e), and (f) and sub- 15 sections (b), (c), (d), and (e), respectively. 16 (5) By adding at the end the following: 17 ‘‘(f) EXEMPTION FROM COMMERCIAL FILMING OR 18 STILL PHOTOGRAPHY PERMITS AND FEES.—The Sec- 19 retary shall not require persons holding commercial use 20 authorizations or special recreation permits to obtain an 21 additional permit or pay an additional fee for commercial 22 filming or still photography under this section if— 23 ‘‘(1) the filming or still photography conducted 24 is incidental to the permitted activity that is the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2106.IH H2106 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 2106 IH subject of the commercial use authorization or spe- 1 cial recreation permit; and 2 ‘‘(2) the holder of the commercial use author- 3 ization or special recreation permit is an individual 4 or small business concern (within the meaning of 5 section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 6 632)). 7 ‘‘(g) NEWS GATHERING ACTIVITIES.—For the pur- 8 poses of this section, news gathering shall not be consid- 9 ered a commercial activity. 10 ‘‘(h) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this sec- 11 tion— 12 ‘‘(1) the term ‘commercial film crew’ means any 13 persons present on Federal land or waterways under 14 the jurisdiction of the Secretary who are associated 15 with the production of a film; 16 ‘‘(2) the term ‘news gathering’ includes, at a 17 minimum, the gathering, recording, and filming of 18 news and information related to news in any me- 19 dium; and 20 ‘‘(3) the term ‘Secretary’ means the Secretary 21 of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture, as 22 applicable, with respect to land under the respective 23 jurisdiction of the Secretary.’’. 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2106.IH H2106 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS