SOAR Act

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1630 To modify the procedures for issuing special recreation permits for certain public land units, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 16, 2023 Mr. HEINRICH (for himself, Mrs. CAPITO, Mr. BENNET, Mr. RISCH, Mr. KING, Ms. COLLINS, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Mr. DAINES, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. TESTER, and Mr. ROUNDS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Nat- ural Resources A BILL To modify the procedures for issuing special recreation permits for certain public land units, 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 ‘‘Simplifying Outdoor 4 Access for Recreation Act’’ or the ‘‘SOAR Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act: 7 (1) COMMERCIAL USE AUTHORIZATION.—The 8 term ‘‘commercial use authorization’’ means a com- 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 May 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1630.IS S1630 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1630 IS mercial use authorization to provide services to visi- 1 tors to units of the National Park System under 2 subchapter II of chapter 1019 of title 54, United 3 States Code. 4 (2) FEDERAL LAND MANAGEMENT AGENCY.— 5 The term ‘‘Federal land management agency’’ has 6 the meaning given the term in section 802 of the 7 Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (16 8 U.S.C. 6801). 9 (3) FEDERAL RECREATIONAL LANDS AND 10 WATERS.—The term ‘‘Federal recreational lands and 11 waters’’ has the meaning given the term in section 12 802 of the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement 13 Act (16 U.S.C. 6801). 14 (4) RECREATION SERVICE PROVIDER.—The 15 term ‘‘recreation service provider’’ has the meaning 16 given the term in section 802 of the Federal Lands 17 Recreation Enhancement Act (16 U.S.C. 6801) (as 18 amended by section 3(b)(9)). 19 (5) SECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secretaries’’ 20 means each of— 21 (A) the Secretary; and 22 (B) the Secretary of Agriculture. 23 (6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 24 the Secretary of the Interior. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 May 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1630.IS S1630 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1630 IS (7) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—The term ‘‘Sec- 1 retary concerned’’ means— 2 (A) the Secretary, with respect to land 3 under the jurisdiction of the Secretary; or 4 (B) the Secretary of Agriculture, with re- 5 spect to land managed by the Forest Service. 6 (8) SPECIAL RECREATION PERMIT.—The term 7 ‘‘special recreation permit’’ has the meaning given 8 the term in section 802 of the Federal Lands Recre- 9 ation Enhancement Act (16 U.S.C. 6801) (as 10 amended by section 3(b)(10)). 11 (9) VISITOR-USE DAY.—The term ‘‘visitor-use 12 day’’ means a visitor-use day, user day, launch, or 13 other metric used by the Secretary concerned for 14 purposes of authorizing use under a special recre- 15 ation permit. 16 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE FEDERAL LANDS RECRE- 17 ATION ENHANCEMENT ACT. 18 (a) SHORT TITLE.—The Federal Lands Recreation 19 Enhancement Act (16 U.S.C. 6801 et seq.) is amended 20 by striking section 801 and inserting the following: 21 ‘‘SEC. 801. SHORT TITLE. 22 ‘‘This title may be cited as the ‘Federal Lands Recre- 23 ation Enhancement Act’.’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 May 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1630.IS S1630 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1630 IS (b) DEFINITIONS.—Section 802 of the Federal Lands 1 Recreation Enhancement Act (16 U.S.C. 6801) is amend- 2 ed— 3 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 4 striking ‘‘this Act’’ and inserting ‘‘this title’’; 5 (2) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘section 3(f)’’ 6 and inserting ‘‘section 803(f)’’; 7 (3) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘section 3(g)’’ 8 and inserting ‘‘section 803(g)’’; 9 (4) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘section 10 5(a)(7)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 805(a)(7)’’; 11 (5) in paragraph (9), by striking ‘‘section 5(d)’’ 12 and inserting ‘‘section 805(d)’’; 13 (6) in paragraph (12), by striking ‘‘section 7’’ 14 and inserting ‘‘section 807’’; 15 (7) in paragraph (13), by striking ‘‘section 16 3(h)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 803(h)(2)’’; 17 (8) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (3), (4), 18 (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), (10), (11), and (13) as para- 19 graphs (15), (1), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (11), 20 (10), and (14), respectively, and moving the para- 21 graphs so as to appear in numerical order; 22 (9) by inserting after paragraph (8) (as so re- 23 designated) the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:40 May 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1630.IS S1630 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1630 IS ‘‘(9) RECREATION SERVICE PROVIDER.—The 1 term ‘recreation service provider’ means a person 2 that provides recreational services to the public 3 under a special recreation permit under clause (iii) 4 or (iv) of paragraph (13)(A).’’; and 5 (10) by inserting after paragraph (12) the fol- 6 lowing: 7 ‘‘(13) SPECIAL RECREATION PERMIT.— 8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘special 9 recreation permit’ means a permit issued by a 10 Federal land management agency for the use of 11 Federal recreational lands and waters— 12 ‘‘(i) for a specialized recreational use 13 not described in clause (ii), (iii), or (iv), 14 such as— 15 ‘‘(I) an organizational camp; 16 ‘‘(II) a single event that does not 17 require an entry or participation fee 18 that is not strictly a sharing of ex- 19 penses for the purposes of the event; 20 and 21 ‘‘(III) participation by the public 22 in a recreation activity or recreation 23 use of a specific area of Federal rec- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 May 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1630.IS S1630 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1630 IS reational lands and waters in which 1 use by the public is allocated; 2 ‘‘(ii) for a large-group activity or 3 event for not fewer than 75 participants; 4 ‘‘(iii) for— 5 ‘‘(I) at the discretion of the Sec- 6 retary, a single organized group recre- 7 ation activity or event (including an 8 activity or event in which motorized 9 recreational vehicles are used or in 10 which outfitting and guiding services 11 are used) that— 12 ‘‘(aa) is a structured or 13 scheduled event or activity; 14 ‘‘(bb) is not competitive and 15 is for fewer than 75 participants; 16 ‘‘(cc) may charge an entry 17 or participation fee; 18 ‘‘(dd) involves fewer than 19 200 visitor-use days; and 20 ‘‘(ee) is undertaken or pro- 21 vided by the recreation service 22 provider at the same site not 23 more frequently than 3 times a 24 year; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 May 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1630.IS S1630 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1630 IS ‘‘(II) a single competitive event; 1 or 2 ‘‘(III) at the discretion of the 3 Secretary, a recurring organized 4 group recreation activity (including an 5 outfitting and guiding activity) that— 6 ‘‘(aa) is a structured or 7 scheduled activity; 8 ‘‘(bb) is not competitive; 9 ‘‘(cc) may charge a partici- 10 pation fee; 11 ‘‘(dd) occurs in a group size 12 of fewer than 7 participants; 13 ‘‘(ee) involves fewer than 40 14 visitor-use days; and 15 ‘‘(ff) is undertaken or pro- 16 vided by the recreation service 17 provider for a term of not more 18 than 180 days; or 19 ‘‘(iv) for— 20 ‘‘(I) a recurring outfitting, guid- 21 ing, or, at the discretion of the Sec- 22 retary, other recreation service, the 23 authorization for which is for a term 24 of not more than 10 years; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 May 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1630.IS S1630 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1630 IS ‘‘(II) a recurring outfitting, guid- 1 ing, or, at the discretion of the Sec- 2 retary, other recreation service, that 3 occurs under a transitional special 4 recreation permit authorized under 5 section 5(a) of the Simplifying Out- 6 door Access for Recreation Act. 7 ‘‘(B) EXCLUSIONS.—The term ‘special 8 recreation permit’ does not include— 9 ‘‘(i) a concession contract for the pro- 10 vision of accommodations, facilities, or 11 services; 12 ‘‘(ii) a commercial use authorization 13 issued under section 101925 of title 54, 14 United States Code; or 15 ‘‘(iii) any other type of permit, includ- 16 ing a special use permit administered by 17 the National Park Service.’’. 18 (c) SPECIAL RECREATION PERMITS AND FEES.— 19 Section 803 of the Federal Lands Recreation Enhance- 20 ment Act (16 U.S.C. 6802) is amended— 21 (1) by striking ‘‘this Act’’ each place it appears 22 and inserting ‘‘this title’’; 23 (2) in subsection (b)(5), by striking ‘‘section 24 4(d)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 804(d)’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 May 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1630.IS S1630 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1630 IS (3) by striking subsection (h) and inserting the 1 following: 2 ‘‘(h) SPECIAL RECREATION PERMITS AND FEES.— 3 ‘‘(1) SPECIAL RECREATION PERMITS.— 4 ‘‘(A) APPLICATIONS.—The Secretary— 5 ‘‘(i) may develop and make available 6 to the public an application to obtain a 7 special recreation permit described in 8 clause (i) of section 802(13)(A); and 9 ‘‘(ii) shall develop and make available 10 to the public an application to obtain a 11 special recreation permit described in 12 clause (ii), (iii), or (iv) of section 13 802(13)(A). 14 ‘‘(B) ISSUANCE OF PERMITS.—On review 15 of a completed application developed under sub- 16 paragraph (A), as applicable, and a determina- 17 tion by the Secretary that the applicant is eligi- 18 ble for the special recreation permit, the Sec- 19 retary may issue to the applicant a special 20 recreation permit, subject to any terms and 21 conditions that are determined to be necessary 22 by the Secretary. 23 ‘‘(C) INCIDENTAL SALES.—A special recre- 24 ation permit issued under this paragraph may 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 May 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1630.IS S1630 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1630 IS include an authorization for sales that are inci- 1 dental in nature to the permitted use of the 2 Federal recreational lands and waters. 3 ‘‘(2) SPECIAL RECREATION PERMIT FEES.— 4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may 5 charge a special recreation permit fee for the 6 issuance of a special recreation permit in ac- 7 cordance with this paragraph. 8 ‘‘(B) PREDETERMINED SPECIAL RECRE- 9 ATION PERMIT FEES.— 10 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of 11 subparagraphs (D) and (E), the Secretary 12 shall establish and may charge a predeter- 13 mined fee, described in clause (ii), for a 14 special recreation permit described in 15 clause (iii) or (iv) of section 802(13)(A) 16 for a specific type of use on a unit of Fed- 17 eral recreational lands and waters, con- 18 sistent with the criteria set forth in clause 19 (iii). 20 ‘‘(ii) TYPE OF FEE.—A predetermined 21 fee described in clause (i) shall be— 22 ‘‘(I) a fixed fee that is assessed 23 per special recreation permit, includ- 24 ing a fee with an associated size limi- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 May 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1630.IS S1630 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 1630 IS tation or other criteria as determined 1 to be appropriate by the Secretary; or 2 ‘‘(II) an amount assessed per vis- 3 itor-use day. 4 ‘‘(iii) CRITERIA.—A predetermined fee 5 under clause (i) shall— 6 ‘‘(I) have been established before 7 the date of enactment of the Simpli- 8 fying Outdoor Access for Recreation 9 Act; 10 ‘‘(II) be established after the 11 date of enactment of the Simplifying 12 Outdoor Access for Recreation Act in 13 accordance with subsection (b); 14 ‘‘(III)(aa) be established after 15 the date of enactment of the Simpli- 16 fying Outdoor Access for Recreation 17 Act; and 18 ‘‘(bb) be comparable to an 19 amount described in subparagraph 20 (D)(ii) or (E)(ii), as applicable; or 21 ‘‘(IV) beginning on the date that 22 is 2 years after the date of enactment 23 of the Simplifying Outdoor Access for 24 Recreation Act, be $6 per visitor-use 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 May 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1630.IS S1630 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •S 1630 IS day in instances in which the Sec- 1 retary has not established a predeter- 2 mined fee under subclause (I), (II), or 3 (III). 4 ‘‘(C) CALCULATION OF FEES FOR SPECIAL- 5 IZED RECREATIONAL USES AND LARGE-GROUP 6 ACTIVITIES OR EVENTS.—The Secretary may, 7 at the discretion of the Secretary, establish and 8 charge a fee for a special recreation permit de- 9 scribed in clause (i) or (ii) of section 10 802(13)(A). 11 ‘‘(D) CALCULATION OF FEES FOR SINGLE 12 ORGANIZED GROUP RECREATION ACTIVITIES OR 13 EVENTS, COMPETITIVE EVENTS, AND CERTAIN 14 RECURRING ORGANIZED GROUP RECREATION 15 ACTIVITIES.—If the Secretary elects to charge a 16 fee for a special recreation permit described in 17 section 802(13)(A)(iii), the Secretary shall 18 charge the recreation service provider, based on 19 the election of the recreation service provider— 20 ‘‘(i) the applicable predetermined fee 21 established under subparagraph (B); or 22 ‘‘(ii) an amount equal to a percentage 23 of, to be determined by the Secretary, but 24 to not to exceed 5 percent of, adjusted 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 May 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1630.IS S1630 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 13 •S 1630 IS gross receipts calculated under subpara- 1 graph (F). 2 ‘‘(E) CALCULATION OF FEES FOR TRANSI- 3 TIONAL PERMITS AND LONG-TERM PERMITS.— 4 Subject to subparagraph (G), if the Secretary 5 elects to charge a fee for a special recreation 6 permit described in section 802(13)(A)(iv), the 7 Secretary shall charge the recreation service 8 provider, based on the election of the recreation 9 service provider— 10 ‘‘(i) the applicable predetermined fee 11 established under subparagraph (B); or 12 ‘‘(ii) an amount equal to a percentage 13 of, to be determined by the Secretary, but 14 not to exceed 3 percent of, adjusted gross 15 receipts calculated under subparagraph 16 (F). 17 ‘‘(F) ADJUSTED GROSS RECEIPTS.—For 18 the purposes of subparagraphs (D)(ii) and 19 (E)(ii), the Secretary shall calculate the ad- 20 justed gross receipts collected for each trip or 21 event authorized under a special recreation per- 22 mit, using either of the following calculations, 23 based on the election of the recreation service [Text truncated for display. 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