I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 177
To amend the Act of December 19, 1913 (38 Stat. 242), to expand access
to the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and Lake Eleanor Basin areas for rec-
reational purposes, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY3, 2025
Mr. M
CCLINTOCK(for himself, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. LAMALFA, and Mr.
V
ALADAO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Natural Resources
A BILL
To amend the Act of December 19, 1913 (38 Stat. 242),
to expand access to the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and
Lake Eleanor Basin areas for recreational purposes, 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 ‘‘Yosemite National 4
Park Equal Access and Fairness Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. EXPANSION OF ACCESS TO HETCH HETCHY RES-1
ERVOIR AND LAKE ELEANOR BASIN AREAS 2
FOR RECREATIONAL PURPOSES. 3
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Act of December 19, 1913 4
(38 Stat. 242), is amended— 5
(1) in section 7— 6
(A) in the first sentence— 7
(i) by striking ‘‘$30,000’’ and insert-8
ing ‘‘$2,000,000’’; and 9
(ii) by inserting ‘‘and adjusted annu-10
ally to reflect increases in the Consumer 11
Price Index for All Urban Consumers’’ 12
after ‘‘July of each year’’; 13
(B) by inserting ‘‘The grantee may not re-14
coup said sums from wholesale water or power 15
customers of the grantee.’’ after the first sen-16
tence; and 17
(C) in the second sentence, by inserting 18
‘‘and wildfire mitigation activities’’ after ‘‘other 19
improvements’’; and 20
(2) by inserting after section 11 the following: 21
‘‘SEC. 12. RECREATIONAL ACTIVITY. 22
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary of the Interior, 23
acting through the Director of the National Park Service 24
(in this section referred to as the ‘Secretary’), shall admin-25
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ister the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and Lake Eleanor Basin 1
areas— 2
‘‘(1) for public recreation, benefit, and use; 3
‘‘(2) to the extent practicable, in a manner that 4
will preserve, develop, and enhance the public recre-5
ation capacity of each such area; and 6
‘‘(3) in a manner that will preserve the features 7
of each such area that are scenic, historic, scientific, 8
or otherwise important. 9
‘‘(b) R
ECREATIONALACTIVITIES.—Subject to such 10
limitations, conditions, and regulations as the Secretary 11
determines necessary, the following activities shall be al-12
lowed within the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and Lake Elea-13
nor Basin areas for recreational purposes if such activities 14
are not inconsistent with the designated primary or rec-15
reational use of each such area: 16
‘‘(1) Swimming. 17
‘‘(2) Use of non-motorized watercraft. 18
‘‘(3) Camping in and around each such area if 19
such camping is not below the respective ordinary 20
high-water marks of each such area. 21
‘‘(4) Picnicking in and around each such area. 22
‘‘(5) Other recreational activities the Secretary 23
determines appropriate. 24
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‘‘(6) Use by motorized and non-motorized vehi-1
cles of roads required to access each such area to 2
conduct activities described in this subsection if such 3
use has no negative effect on the operation or main-4
tenance of any facility associated with a dam within 5
each such area.’’. 6
(b) R
EPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 7
of the enactment of this section, the Secretary of the Inte-8
rior, acting through the Director of the National Park 9
Service, shall submit to the appropriate congressional 10
committees a report that includes the following: 11
(1) An analysis of whether the original intent in 12
the Act of December 19, 1913 (38 Stat. 242), re-13
garding access to the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and 14
Lake Eleanor Basin areas for recreational purposes 15
has been followed since such areas were created. 16
(2) An analysis of how revenue collection and 17
the allocation of funds related to the administration 18
of the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and Lake Eleanor 19
Basin areas can be carried out to best provide equi-20
table access to such areas for recreational purposes 21
by the public, including consideration of— 22
(A) maintenance and support costs of such 23
areas, including— 24
(i) trail maintenance; 25
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(ii) road improvements; and 1
(iii) wildfire prevention and suppres-2
sion; and 3
(B) ways to mitigate such costs, includ-4
ing— 5
(i) adjusting the prices charged for 6
water and power generated by the Hetch 7
Hetchy Water and Power System created 8
by the Act of December 19, 1913 (38 Stat. 9
242); 10
(ii) treating the City of San Francisco 11
as a concessioner; and 12
(iii) adding to the annual rental fee 13
charged to the City of San Francisco by 14
section 7 of the Act of December 19, 1913 15
(38 Stat. 242), the annual monetary value 16
of the benefits that would be lost if such 17
areas had not been created, including con-18
sideration of— 19
(I) recreational activities; and 20
(II) flood control. 21
Æ
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