Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB674 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	118THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 674
5	5	To codify the authority of the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary
6	6	of the Interior to conduct certain landscape-scale forest restoration
7	7	projects, and for other purposes.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	JANUARY31, 2023
10	10	Mr. N
11	11	EWHOUSE(for himself and Mr. PETERS) introduced the following bill;
12	12	which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addi-
13	13	tion to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently de-
14	14	termined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions
15	15	as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
16	16	A BILL
17	17	To codify the authority of the Secretary of Agriculture and
18	18	the Secretary of the Interior to conduct certain land-
19	19	scape-scale forest restoration projects, and for other pur-
20	20	poses.
21	21	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
22	22	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
23	23	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
24	24	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Root and Stem Project 4
25	25	Authorization Act of 2023’’. 5
26	26	SEC. 2. ROOT AND STEM PROJECTS. 6
27	27	(a) D
28	28	EFINITIONS.—In this section: 7
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31	31	•HR 674 IH
32	32	(1) COLLABORATIVE PROCESS .—The term ‘‘col-1
33	33	laborative process’’ means a process that— 2
34	34	(A) includes multiple interested persons 3
35	35	representing diverse interests; and 4
36	36	(B)(i) is transparent and nonexclusive; or 5
37	37	(ii) meets the requirements for a resource 6
38	38	advisory committee under subsections (c) 7
39	39	through (f) of section 205 of the Secure Rural 8
40	40	Schools and Community Self-Determination Act 9
41	41	of 2000 (16 U.S.C. 7125). 10
42	42	(2) F
43	43	EDERAL LAND.—The term ‘‘Federal land’’ 11
44	44	means— 12
45	45	(A) land of the National Forest System (as 13
46	46	defined in section 11(a) of the Forest and 14
47	47	Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act 15
48	48	of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1609(a))); and 16
49	49	(B) public lands (as defined in section 103 17
50	50	of the Federal Land Policy and Management 18
51	51	Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702)). 19
52	52	(3) S
53	53	ECRETARY CONCERNED .—The term ‘‘Sec-20
54	54	retary concerned’’ means, as applicable— 21
55	55	(A) the Secretary of Agriculture, acting 22
56	56	through the Chief of the Forest Service; or 23
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59	59	•HR 674 IH
60	60	(B) the Secretary of the Interior, acting 1
61	61	through the Director of the Bureau of Land 2
62	62	Management. 3
63	63	(b) L
64	64	IST OFCONTRACTORS.—The Secretary con-4
65	65	cerned shall— 5
66	66	(1) maintain a list of non-Federal, third-party 6
67	67	contractors that the Secretary concerned can hire in 7
68	68	each State to complete the analysis described in sub-8
69	69	section (c)(1); and 9
70	70	(2) not later than 180 days after the date of 10
71	71	enactment of this Act, and every 3 years thereafter, 11
72	72	submit to the Committee on Energy and Natural 12
73	73	Resources of the Senate and the Committee on Nat-13
74	74	ural Resources of the House of Representatives a 14
75	75	copy of the list described in paragraph (1). 15
76	76	(c) A
77	77	GREEMENTS.—If a person submits to the Sec-16
78	78	retary concerned a proposal for a project on Federal land 17
79	79	that was developed through a collaborative process and 18
80	80	that meets local and rural community needs, the Secretary 19
81	81	concerned may enter into an agreement with the person, 20
82	82	under which— 21
83	83	(1) the person initially provides to the Secretary 22
84	84	concerned all, or a portion of, the funding necessary 23
85	85	to complete any analysis that the Secretary con-24
86	86	cerned determines to be necessary under Federal 25
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89	89	•HR 674 IH
90	90	law, including the National Environmental Policy 1
91	91	Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and the En-2
92	92	dangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et 3
93	93	seq.), for the consideration of the proposed project; 4
94	94	(2) the Secretary concerned uses the funding 5
95	95	provided under paragraph (1) to pay a contractor in-6
96	96	cluded on the list maintained under subsection 7
97	97	(b)(1) to conduct the analysis described in para-8
98	98	graph (1); 9
99	99	(3) on completion of the analysis described in 10
100	100	paragraph (1), if the Secretary concerned makes a 11
101	101	decision to proceed with the project, the Secretary 12
102	102	concerned— 13
103	103	(A) solicits bids to carry out the project; 14
104	104	and 15
105	105	(B) enters into a contract or agreement 16
106	106	under section 604 of the Healthy Forests Res-17
107	107	toration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6591c) to 18
108	108	carry out the project; and 19
109	109	(4) using any receipts described in subsection 20
110	110	(d)(1), the Secretary concerned, to the maximum ex-21
111	111	tent practicable, repays to the person the funding 22
112	112	initially provided under paragraph (1). 23
113	113	(d) A
114	114	DDITIONALRELATEDAUTHORITIES.— 24
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117	117	•HR 674 IH
118	118	(1) USE OF RECEIPTS.—Any receipts that are 1
119	119	generated by a project described in subsection (c) 2
120	120	that are normally deposited in the general fund of 3
121	121	the Treasury shall be available for expenditure by 4
122	122	the Secretary concerned, without further appropria-5
123	123	tion or fiscal year limitation, for the use described 6
124	124	in subsection (c)(4). 7
125	125	(2) C
126	126	ONTRACTORS.—The Secretary concerned 8
127	127	may noncompetitively hire a contractor included on 9
128	128	the list maintained under subsection (b)(1) to con-10
129	129	duct the analysis described in subsection (c)(1). 11
130	130	(e) S
131	131	AVINGSCLAUSES.— 12
132	132	(1) A
133	133	UTHORITY OF THE SECRETARY CON -13
134	134	CERNED.—The Secretary concerned shall— 14
135	135	(A) determine the sufficiency of any docu-15
136	136	ments prepared by a contractor under sub-16
137	137	section (c)(2); and 17
138	138	(B) retain responsibility for any author-18
139	139	izing decision relating to a proposed project de-19
140	140	scribed in subsection (c). 20
141	141	(2) R
142	142	EVIEW AND APPROVAL OF INDEPENDENT 21
143	143	THIRD PARTIES.—The Secretary concerned shall 22
144	144	verify that there is no conflict of interest between— 23
145	145	(A) a person that submits a proposal 24
146	146	under subsection (c); and 25
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149	149	•HR 674 IH
150	150	(B) a contractor that the Secretary con-1
151	151	cerned hires under paragraph (2) of that sub-2
152	152	section to carry out an analysis with respect to 3
153	153	that proposal. 4
154	154	(3) A
155	155	DMINISTRATIVE COSTS .—The Secretary 5
156	156	concerned— 6
157	157	(A) shall only use the funding provided to 7
158	158	the Secretary concerned under subsection (c)(1) 8
159	159	to pay a contractor pursuant to subsection 9
160	160	(c)(2); and 10
161	161	(B) shall not use any portion of the fund-11
162	162	ing provided to the Secretary concerned under 12
163	163	subsection (c)(1) to cover any other expense or 13
164	164	cost incurred by the Secretary concerned, in-14
165	165	cluding administrative costs. 15
166	166	(4) L
167	167	IMITATIONS ON REIMBURSEMENTS .—If in-16
168	168	sufficient receipts are generated by a project de-17
169	169	scribed in subsection (c) to reimburse the person 18
170	170	that provided funding under paragraph (1) of that 19
171	171	subsection, the Secretary concerned shall not provide 20
172	172	additional funding to the person. 21
173	173	(f) P
174	174	ROMOTION.—Not later than 60 days after the 22
175	175	date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary concerned 23
176	176	shall provide guidance to each local field office of the Sec-24
177	177	retary concerned for— 25
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180	180	•HR 674 IH
181	181	(1) making stakeholders aware of the authority 1
182	182	under this Act; and 2
183	183	(2) encouraging use of that authority to meet 3
184	184	land management goals. 4
185	185	(g) T
186	186	REATMENT OF COLLABORATIVEMEMBERS.— 5
187	187	For purposes of a civil action relating to a project de-6
188	188	scribed in subsection (c), any person that participated in 7
189	189	the collaborative process to develop the proposal for the 8
190	190	project shall be— 9
191	191	(1) entitled to intervene, as of right, in any sub-10
192	192	sequent civil action; and 11
193	193	(2) considered to be a full participant in any 12
194	194	settlement negotiation relating to the project. 13
195	195	(h) S
196	196	UNSET.—The requirements described in sub-14
197	197	section (b) and the authority to enter into an agreement 15
198	198	under subsection (c) shall expire on January 1, 2033. 16
199	199	Æ
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