Ski Hill Resources for Economic Development Act
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Neguse (for himself, Mr. Moore of Utah, and Mr. …
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Ski Hill Resources for Economic Development Act (or "Ski Hill RED Act") creates a new special account at the U.S. Treasury that lets the Forest Service keep and spend the fees it collects from ski resorts operating on National Forest lands. Currently, these rental fees go into the general Treasury and the Forest Service has to compete for appropriations to manage ski areas. This bill changes that by letting the Forest Service retain these fees and spend them directly on ski area management, visitor safety, and infrastructure.
Who Benefits and How
Ski resort operators on National Forest lands benefit because the Forest Service will have more reliable funding to process their permit applications faster, maintain access roads and trails, and provide better visitor services. National Forest units that collect ski fees benefit directly - they get to keep 60-80% of the fees they collect to spend on local improvements like facility repairs, wildfire planning, avalanche forecasting, and search and rescue operations. The Forest Service ski area program benefits from having a dedicated, predictable funding source instead of relying on annual appropriations.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The U.S. Treasury general fund loses revenue because ski area permit fees that previously went to the general Treasury now stay in this special account. However, no new taxes or fees are imposed - this just redirects existing fees. Taxpayers generally see no direct burden, though the Treasury receives less revenue from these specific fees.
Key Provisions
- Creates a "Ski Area Fee Retention Account" in the Treasury where Forest Service ski area permit fees are deposited
- Returns 60-80% of fees to the specific National Forest unit that collected them for local use
- Makes 20-40% available for Forest Service-wide recreation programs
- Allows funds to be used for permit processing, facility maintenance, wildfire planning, visitor services, avalanche education, and search and rescue
- Prohibits using these funds for wildfire suppression or buying new land
- Makes fees available without needing annual congressional appropriations
- Ensures these retained fees supplement (not replace) regular Forest Service funding
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Establishes a special Treasury account allowing the Forest Service to retain and spend ski area permit rental charges for recreation management and infrastructure improvements.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Create dedicated funding stream for Forest Service recreation management by retaining ski area permit fees rather than sending them to general Treasury, ensuring local reinvestment in ski areas and National Forest infrastructure"
Likely Beneficiaries
- Forest Service recreation program (receives dedicated funding for ski area administration)
- Ski resort operators (benefit from improved Forest Service capacity to process permits and maintain facilities)
- National Forest System units collecting ski fees (receive 60-80% of fees back for local use)
- Visitors to National Forest ski areas (improved facilities, visitor services, safety)
Likely Burden Bearers
- General Treasury (loses revenue from ski area permit fees)
- Other Forest Service programs (funds are restricted to recreation uses, cannot be used for general operations or land acquisition)
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Agriculture
- "secretary_of_treasury"
- → Secretary of the Treasury
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
The Ski Area Fee Retention Account established under paragraph (2)
The unit of the National Forest System that collects the ski area permit rental charge under this section
Secretary of Agriculture
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology