II
Calendar No. 122
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 199
[Report No. 118–50]
To codify the authority of the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary
of the Interior to conduct certain landscape-scale forest restoration
projects, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY1, 2023
Mr. D
AINES(for himself and Mrs. FEINSTEIN) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Nat-
ural Resources
J
ULY11, 2023
Reported by Mr. M
ANCHIN, without amendment
A BILL
To codify the authority of the Secretary of Agriculture and
the Secretary of the Interior to conduct certain land-
scape-scale forest restoration projects, and for other pur-
poses.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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•S 199 RS
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Root and Stem Project 2
Authorization Act of 2023’’. 3
SEC. 2. ROOT AND STEM PROJECTS. 4
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 5
(1) C
OLLABORATIVE PROCESS .—The term ‘‘col-6
laborative process’’ means a process that— 7
(A) includes multiple interested persons 8
representing diverse interests; and 9
(B)(i) is transparent and nonexclusive; or 10
(ii) meets the requirements for a resource 11
advisory committee under subsections (c) 12
through (f) of section 205 of the Secure Rural 13
Schools and Community Self-Determination Act 14
of 2000 (16 U.S.C. 7125). 15
(2) F
EDERAL LAND.—The term ‘‘Federal land’’ 16
means— 17
(A) land of the National Forest System (as 18
defined in section 11(a) of the Forest and 19
Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act 20
of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1609(a))); and 21
(B) public lands (as defined in section 103 22
of the Federal Land Policy and Management 23
Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702)). 24
(3) S
ECRETARY CONCERNED .—The term ‘‘Sec-25
retary concerned’’ means, as applicable— 26
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•S 199 RS
(A) the Secretary of Agriculture, acting 1
through the Chief of the Forest Service; or 2
(B) the Secretary of the Interior, acting 3
through the Director of the Bureau of Land 4
Management. 5
(b) L
IST OFCONTRACTORS.—The Secretary con-6
cerned shall— 7
(1) maintain a list of non-Federal, third-party 8
contractors that the Secretary concerned can hire in 9
each State to complete the analysis described in sub-10
section (c)(1); and 11
(2) not later than 180 days after the date of 12
enactment of this Act, and every 3 years thereafter, 13
submit to the Committee on Energy and Natural 14
Resources of the Senate and the Committee on Nat-15
ural Resources of the House of Representatives a 16
copy of the list described in paragraph (1). 17
(c) A
GREEMENTS.—If a person submits to the Sec-18
retary concerned a proposal for a project on Federal land 19
that was developed through a collaborative process and 20
that meets local and rural community needs, the Secretary 21
concerned may enter into an agreement with the person, 22
under which— 23
(1) the person initially provides to the Secretary 24
concerned all, or a portion of, the funding necessary 25
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•S 199 RS
to complete any analysis that the Secretary con-1
cerned determines to be necessary under Federal 2
law, including the National Environmental Policy 3
Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and the En-4
dangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et 5
seq.), for the consideration of the proposed project; 6
(2) the Secretary concerned uses the funding 7
provided under paragraph (1) to pay a contractor in-8
cluded on the list maintained under subsection 9
(b)(1) to conduct the analysis described in para-10
graph (1); 11
(3) on completion of the analysis described in 12
paragraph (1), if the Secretary concerned makes a 13
decision to proceed with the project, the Secretary 14
concerned— 15
(A) solicits bids to carry out the project; 16
and 17
(B) enters into a contract or agreement 18
under section 604 of the Healthy Forests Res-19
toration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6591c) to 20
carry out the project; and 21
(4) using any receipts described in subsection 22
(d)(1), the Secretary concerned, to the maximum ex-23
tent practicable, repays to the person the funding 24
initially provided under paragraph (1). 25
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•S 199 RS
(d) ADDITIONALRELATEDAUTHORITIES.— 1
(1) U
SE OF RECEIPTS.—Any receipts that are 2
generated by a project described in subsection (c) 3
that are normally deposited in the General Fund of 4
the Treasury shall be available for expenditure by 5
the Secretary concerned, without further appropria-6
tion or fiscal year limitation, for the use described 7
in subsection (c)(4). 8
(2) C
ONTRACTORS.—The Secretary concerned 9
may noncompetitively hire a contractor included on 10
the list maintained under subsection (b)(1) to con-11
duct the analysis described in subsection (c)(1). 12
(e) S
AVINGSCLAUSES.— 13
(1) A
UTHORITY OF THE SECRETARY CON -14
CERNED.—The Secretary concerned shall— 15
(A) determine the sufficiency of any docu-16
ments prepared by a contractor under sub-17
section (c)(2); and 18
(B) retain responsibility for any author-19
izing decision relating to a proposed project de-20
scribed in subsection (c). 21
(2) R
EVIEW AND APPROVAL OF INDEPENDENT 22
THIRD PARTIES.—The Secretary concerned shall 23
verify that there is no conflict of interest between— 24
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•S 199 RS
(A) a person that submits a proposal 1
under subsection (c); and 2
(B) a contractor that the Secretary con-3
cerned hires under paragraph (2) of that sub-4
section to carry out an analysis with respect to 5
that proposal. 6
(3) A
DMINISTRATIVE COSTS .—The Secretary 7
concerned— 8
(A) shall only use the funding provided to 9
the Secretary concerned under subsection (c)(1) 10
to pay a contractor pursuant to subsection 11
(c)(2); and 12
(B) shall not use any portion of the fund-13
ing provided to the Secretary concerned under 14
subsection (c)(1) to cover any other expense or 15
cost incurred by the Secretary concerned, in-16
cluding administrative costs. 17
(4) L
IMITATIONS ON REIMBURSEMENTS .—If in-18
sufficient receipts are generated by a project de-19
scribed in subsection (c) to reimburse the person 20
that provided funding under paragraph (1) of that 21
subsection, the Secretary concerned shall not provide 22
additional funding to the person. 23
(f) P
ROMOTION.—Not later than 60 days after the 24
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary concerned 25
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shall provide guidance to each local field office of the Sec-1
retary concerned for— 2
(1) making stakeholders aware of the authority 3
under this Act; and 4
(2) encouraging use of that authority to meet 5
land management goals. 6
(g) T
REATMENT OF COLLABORATIVEMEMBERS.— 7
For purposes of a civil action relating to a project de-8
scribed in subsection (c), any person that participated in 9
the collaborative process to develop the proposal for the 10
project shall be— 11
(1) entitled to intervene, as of right, in any sub-12
sequent civil action; and 13
(2) considered to be a full participant in any 14
settlement negotiation relating to the project. 15
(h) S
UNSET.—The requirements described in sub-16
section (b) and the authority to enter into an agreement 17
under subsection (c) shall expire on January 1, 2033. 18
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122
118
TH
CONGRESS
1
ST
S
ESSION
S. 199
[Report No. 118–50]
A BILL
To codify the authority of the Secretary of Agri-
culture and the Secretary of the Interior to con-
duct certain landscape-scale forest restoration
projects, and for other purposes.
J
ULY
11, 2023
Reported without amendment
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