I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 5335
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
SEPTEMBER1, 2023
Ms. P
EREZ(for herself and Mrs. CHAVEZ-DEREMER) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition
to the Committee on Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provi-
sions 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 2023’’. 5
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:43 Sep 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5335.IH H5335
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2
•HR 5335 IH
SEC. 2. CHARGES AND FEES FOR HARVEST OF FOREST BO-1
TANICAL PRODUCTS. 2
(a) R
ECOVERY OFFAIRMARKETVALUE FORPROD-3
UCTS.— 4
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish 5
and carry out a program to charge and collect fees 6
under subsection (b) for forest botanical products 7
harvested on National Forest System lands. 8
(2) A
PPRAISAL METHODS ; BIDDING PROCE-9
DURES.—The Secretary shall establish appraisal 10
methods and bidding procedures to ensure that the 11
amounts collected for forest botanical products are 12
not less than fair market value. 13
(b) F
EES.— 14
(1) I
MPOSITION AND COLLECTION .—The Sec-15
retary shall charge and collect fees from persons who 16
harvest forest botanical products on National Forest 17
System lands. 18
(2) A
MOUNT OF FEE.—The fees collected under 19
paragraph (1) shall be in an amount established by 20
the Secretary to recover at least a portion of the fair 21
market value of the harvested forest botanical prod-22
ucts and a portion of all the costs incurred by the 23
Department of Agriculture associated with the 24
granting, modifying, or monitoring the authorization 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:43 Sep 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5335.IH H5335
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3
•HR 5335 IH
for harvest of the forest botanical products, includ-1
ing the costs of any environmental or other analysis. 2
(3) S
ECURITY.—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) S
USTAINABLEHARVESTLEVELS FORFOREST 8
B
OTANICALPRODUCTS.— 9
(1) I
N 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) P
ROHIBITION 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 00:43 Sep 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5335.IH H5335
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4
•HR 5335 IH
(d) WAIVERAUTHORITY.— 1
(1) P
ERSONAL USE.—The Secretary shall es-2
tablish a personal use harvest level for each forest 3
botanical product, and the harvest of a forest botan-4
ical product below that level by a person for personal 5
use shall not be subject to charges and fees under 6
subsections (a) and (b). 7
(2) O
THER EXCEPTIONS.—The Secretary may 8
also waive the application of subsection (a) or (b) 9
pursuant to such regulations as the Secretary may 10
prescribe. 11
(e) D
EPOSIT ANDUSE OFFUNDS.— 12
(1) D
EPOSIT.—Funds collected under the pro-13
gram in accordance with subsections (a) and (b) 14
shall be deposited into a special account in the 15
Treasury of the United States. 16
(2) F
UNDS AVAILABLE.—Funds deposited into 17
the special account in accordance with paragraph (1) 18
shall remain available until expended without further 19
appropriation. 20
(3) A
UTHORIZED USES.—The funds made avail-21
able under paragraph (2) shall be expended at units 22
of the National Forest System in proportion to the 23
charges and fees collected at that unit under the 24
program under this section to pay for— 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:43 Sep 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5335.IH H5335
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5
•HR 5335 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) T
REATMENT 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 00:43 Sep 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5335.IH H5335
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6
•HR 5335 IH
(E) Section 6 of the Act of June 14, 1926 1
(commonly known as the Recreation and Public 2
Purposes Act; 43 U.S.C. 869–4). 3
(F) Chapter 69 of title 31, United States 4
Code. 5
(G) Section 401 of the Act of June 15, 6
1935 (16 U.S.C. 715s). 7
(H) Section 4 of the Land and Water Con-8
servation Fund Act of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 460l– 9
6a). 10
(I) Any other provision of law relating to 11
revenue allocation. 12
(f) R
EPORTINGREQUIREMENTS.—As soon as prac-13
ticable after the end of each fiscal year in which the Sec-14
retary collects charges and fees under the program in ac-15
cordance with subsections (a) and (b) or expends funds 16
from the special account under subsection (e), the Sec-17
retary shall submit to the Congress a report summarizing 18
the activities of the Secretary under the program under 19
this section, including the funds collected under the pro-20
gram in accordance with subsections (a) and (b), the ex-21
penses incurred to carry out the program under this sec-22
tion, and the expenditures made from the special account 23
during that fiscal year. 24
(g) D
EFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:43 Sep 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5335.IH H5335
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7
•HR 5335 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) N
ATIONAL 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) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 15
the Secretary of Agriculture. 16
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:43 Sep 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5335.IH H5335
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB