Special Forest Products Program Reauthorization Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4357 To require the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out a program to charge and collect not less than the fair market value for forest botanical products harvested on National Forest System lands, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEPTEMBER 17, 2019 Ms. HERRERA BEUTLER (for herself and Mr. SCHRADER) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on Natural Resources, for a period to be sub- sequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To require the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out a pro- gram to charge and collect not less than the fair market value for forest botanical products harvested on National Forest System lands, 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Special Forest Prod- 4 ucts Program Reauthorization Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 Sep 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4357.IH H4357 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 4357 IH SEC. 2. CHARGES AND FEES FOR HARVEST OF FOREST BO- 1 TANICAL PRODUCTS. 2 (a) RECOVERY OF FAIR MARKET VALUE FOR PROD- 3 UCTS.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish 5 and carry out a program to charge and collect fees 6 under subsection (b) for forest botanical products 7 harvested on National Forest System lands. 8 (2) APPRAISAL METHODS; BIDDING PROCE- 9 DURES.—The Secretary shall establish appraisal 10 methods and bidding procedures to ensure that the 11 amounts collected for forest botanical products are 12 not less than fair market value. 13 (b) FEES.— 14 (1) IMPOSITION AND COLLECTION.—The Sec- 15 retary shall charge and collect fees from persons who 16 harvest forest botanical products on National Forest 17 System lands. 18 (2) AMOUNT OF FEE.—The fees collected under 19 paragraph (1) shall be in an amount established by 20 the Secretary to recover at least a portion of the fair 21 market value of the harvested forest botanical prod- 22 ucts and a portion of all the costs incurred by the 23 Department of Agriculture associated with the 24 granting, modifying, or monitoring the authorization 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 Sep 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4357.IH H4357 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 4357 IH for harvest of the forest botanical products, includ- 1 ing the costs of any environmental or other analysis. 2 (3) SECURITY.—The Secretary may require a 3 person assessed a fee under this subsection to pro- 4 vide security to ensure that the Secretary receives 5 the fees imposed under this subsection from the per- 6 son. 7 (c) SUSTAINABLE HARVEST LEVELS FOR FOREST 8 BOTANICAL PRODUCTS.— 9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall— 10 (A) conduct appropriate analyses to deter- 11 mine whether and how the harvest of forest bo- 12 tanical products on National Forest System 13 lands can be conducted on a sustainable basis; 14 and 15 (B) establish procedures and timeframes to 16 monitor and revise the harvest levels established 17 for forest botanical products. 18 (2) PROHIBITION ON HARVEST IN EXCESS OF 19 SUSTAINABLE LEVELS.—The Secretary may not per- 20 mit under the program under this section the har- 21 vest of forest botanical products at levels in excess 22 of sustainable harvest levels, as defined under sec- 23 tion 4 of the Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act of 24 1960 (16 U.S.C. 531). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 Sep 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4357.IH H4357 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 4357 IH (d) WAIVER AUTHORITY.— 1 (1) PERSONAL USE.—The Secretary shall es- 2 tablish a personal use harvest level for each forest 3 botanical product, and the harvest of a forest botan- 4 ical product below that level by a person for personal 5 use shall not be subject to charges and fees under 6 subsections (a) and (b). 7 (2) OTHER EXCEPTIONS.—The Secretary may 8 also waive the application of subsection (a) or (b) 9 pursuant to such regulations as the Secretary may 10 prescribe. 11 (e) DEPOSIT AND USE OF FUNDS.— 12 (1) DEPOSIT.—Funds collected under the pro- 13 gram in accordance with subsections (a) and (b) 14 shall be deposited into a special account in the 15 Treasury of the United States. 16 (2) FUNDS AVAILABLE.—Funds deposited into 17 the special account in accordance with paragraph (1) 18 shall remain available until expended without further 19 appropriation. 20 (3) AUTHORIZED USES.—The funds made avail- 21 able under paragraph (2) shall be expended at units 22 of the National Forest System in proportion to the 23 charges and fees collected at that unit under the 24 program under this section to pay for— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 Sep 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4357.IH H4357 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 4357 IH (A) the costs of conducting inventories of 1 forest botanical products, determining sustain- 2 able levels of harvest, monitoring and assessing 3 the impacts of harvest levels and methods, and 4 for restoration activities, including any nec- 5 essary vegetation; and 6 (B) the costs described in subsection 7 (b)(2). 8 (4) TREATMENT OF FEES.—Funds collected 9 under the program in accordance with subsections 10 (a) and (b) shall not be taken into account for the 11 purposes of the following laws: 12 (A) The sixth paragraph under the head- 13 ing ‘‘forest service’’ in the Act of May 23, 1908 14 (16 U.S.C. 500), and section 13 of the Act of 15 March 1, 1911 (commonly known as the Weeks 16 Act; 16 U.S.C. 500). 17 (B) The fourteenth paragraph under the 18 heading ‘‘forest service’’ in the Act of March 4, 19 1913 (16 U.S.C. 501). 20 (C) Section 33 of the Bankhead-Jones 21 Farm Tenant Act (7 U.S.C. 1012). 22 (D) The Act of August 8, 1937, and the 23 Act of May 24, 1939 (43 U.S.C. 1181a et seq.). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:09 Sep 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4357.IH H4357 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 4357 IH (E) Section 6 of the Act of June 14, 1926 1 (commonly known as the Recreation and Public 2 Purposes Act; 43 U.S.C. 869–4). 3 (F) Chapter 69 of title 31, United States 4 Code. (G) Section 401 of the Act of June 15, 5 1935 (16 U.S.C. 715s). 6 (G) Section 4 of the Land and Water Con- 7 servation Fund Act of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 460l– 8 6a). 9 (H) Any other provision of law relating to 10 revenue allocation. 11 (f) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—As soon as prac- 12 ticable after the end of each fiscal year in which the Sec- 13 retary collects charges and fees under the program in ac- 14 cordance with subsections (a) and (b) or expends funds 15 from the special account under subsection (e), the Sec- 16 retary shall submit to the Congress a report summarizing 17 the activities of the Secretary under the program under 18 this section, including the funds collected under the pro- 19 gram in accordance with subsections (a) and (b), the ex- 20 penses incurred to carry out the program under this sec- 21 tion, and the expenditures made from the special account 22 during that fiscal year. 23 (g) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 Sep 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4357.IH H4357 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 4357 IH (1) FOREST BOTANICAL PRODUCT.—The term 1 ‘‘forest botanical product’’— 2 (A) means any naturally occurring mush- 3 room, fungus, flower, seed, root, bark, leaf, or 4 other vegetation (or portion thereof) that grows 5 on National Forest System lands; and 6 (B) does not include trees, or portions of 7 trees, except as provided in regulations issued 8 under this section by the Secretary. 9 (2) NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM.—The term 10 ‘‘National Forest System’’ has the meaning given 11 that term in section 11(a) of the Forest and Range- 12 land Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 13 U.S.C. 1609(a)). 14 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 15 the Secretary of Agriculture. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 Sep 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4357.IH H4357 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS