S1547-119

What This Bill Does

The America the Beautiful Act revises and extends the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund. One reauthorization provision extends the Fund through 2033, increases the annual amount from $1.9 billion to $2 billion, broadens language for Fish and Wildlife Service lands, prioritizes projects with donations of at least 15 percent of project cost, allows subsequent-fiscal-year project allocations when full-year appropriations have not been enacted, authorizes public donation solicitations at project sites and pass checkout, credits cash donations to the Fund and the relevant covered agency, requires disposal of obsolete constructed assets on deferred-maintenance lists, and requires a report and plan on reducing deferred maintenance outside the Fund.

The reported version also rewrites core Fund mechanics. It defines deferred maintenance to include delayed maintenance or repair and certain reconstruction of demolished assets if deterioration created health, safety, natural-resource, or cultural-resource risks, the asset was not temporary, the replacement is comparable, and total cost is below $5 million. It reauthorizes deposits for fiscal years 2027 through 2031, changes the deposit base to federal onshore land revenue, adds deposits from recreation-fee surcharges and Interior intellectual-property fees, and sets an order of deposits. It requires nontransportation deferred-maintenance allocations of at least 65 percent for the National Park Service, 65 percent for the Fish and Wildlife Service, 32 percent for the Forest Service, and 15 percent for the Bureau of Land Management, while allowing remaining amounts for deferred-maintenance transportation projects. It bars Fund use for land acquisition, supplanting recurring operations or maintenance funding, federal employee bonuses, and road decommissioning on National Forest System or BLM land.

The bill tightens project-list and allocation rules. Until all Fund amounts are allocated, the President must annually submit a list of projects for the applicable and subsequent fiscal years with detailed project data sheets, including assets addressed, benefits, and consequences of failing to act. If lists and data sheets are missing by specified deadlines, allocations are delayed until later full-year appropriations. The Secretary of the Interior and Secretary of Agriculture must solicit project recommendations from governors of states and territories and Indian Tribes. Project selection must prioritize health or safety threats, public-access or core-function risks, prevention of higher future repair costs, backlog reduction, mission-critical assets, timely completion, visitor-facing assets, and a reasonable balance between higher- and lower-visitation units.

The bill expands donation and project-delivery authorities. The Interior and Agriculture Secretaries must inform the public that donations are accepted, including through public awareness campaigns, physical or digital donation points at project sites, and recreational pass checkout. All cash donations are credited to the Fund, allocated to the covered agency for which they were made, and excluded from the annual deposit cap. The bill adds streamlining authorities for Fund projects, including use of applicable categorical exclusions under NEPA, emergency action authority for certain replacement or repair work, day-labor authority for projects below $1 million with CPI adjustments, disposal of obsolete constructed assets, a one-year report and preventative maintenance plan, a 3 percent administrative-expense cap on annual deposits, and standardized metrics for deferred-maintenance calculations within two years.

The bill creates a National Park System entrance-fee surcharge for nonresident visitors at units that charge entrance fees. The Secretary of the Interior must set the surcharge to maximize revenue while retaining nonresident visitation and must provide public participation for gateway communities and local stakeholders. The bill provides rules for per-vehicle fees, standard collection methods, third-party travel vendor collection agreements, tiered pricing or modifications, separate treatment from visa fees, no administration by the Secretaries of State or Homeland Security, an international peace park exemption for nationals of the relevant foreign country, deposit of proceeds into the Fund until the annual maximum is reached, unit retention after that cap, use of recreation fees for administrative costs, and expiration on September 30, 2031.

The bill also authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to license Department-owned or controlled intellectual property, including trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and similar rights, to qualified entities. License fees must at least recover processing and issuance costs. Licensees generally may not transfer, sell, or relicense the licensed property without authorization. The Secretary may retain and expend fees without further appropriation, first for intellectual-property development, protection, enforcement, licensing, marketing, management, and program operations, and then for deposit in the Legacy Restoration Fund unless the Fund's maximum has already been reached.

Who Benefits and How

National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Bureau of Indian Education assets benefit from extended and revised deferred-maintenance funding, clearer project selection criteria, donation authority, surcharge deposits, IP licensing proceeds, and standardized maintenance metrics. Public lands visitors benefit from repairs to visitor-facing and mission-critical assets that protect public health, safety, access, and core operations. Gateway communities and local stakeholders benefit from public participation in nonresident surcharge decisions. Department of the Interior IP licensees benefit from a formal licensing pathway. Covered agencies benefit from fee retention and maintenance-planning authorities.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of Agriculture, President, and covered agencies bear administrative burdens from project lists, data sheets, prioritization, solicitation of recommendations, donation systems, categorical-exclusion compliance, emergency-action decisions, day-labor rules, asset disposal, maintenance reports, administrative caps, and standardized metrics. Nonresident National Park System visitors bear higher entrance costs from the surcharge through September 30, 2031. Third-party travel vendors may bear collection duties under agreements. Department of the Interior IP licensees bear licensing fees and transfer restrictions. Federal land agencies must comply with allocation floors, use prohibitions, and project-list deadlines.

Key Provisions

• Extends one Fund authorization through 2033 and raises the annual amount from $1.9 billion to $2 billion while prioritizing projects with donations of at least 15 percent of project cost.
• Reauthorizes current-version deposits for fiscal years 2027 through 2031 and defines deferred maintenance to include qualifying reconstruction of recently demolished assets below $5 million.
• Establishes deposit priority rules, allocation floors for nontransportation projects, use prohibitions, annual project lists, data sheets, no-list allocation delays, project recommendation solicitation, and prioritization criteria.
• Expands public donation solicitation and credits 100 percent of cash donations to the Fund and the relevant covered agency outside the annual deposit cap.
• Provides project-delivery streamlining through NEPA categorical exclusions, emergency actions, day-labor authority, obsolete-asset disposal, maintenance reporting, administrative-expense limits, and standardized deferred-maintenance metrics.
• Creates a nonresident visitor surcharge for National Park System units with entrance fees, with public participation, travel-vendor collection, peace-park exemptions, Fund deposits, unit retention after the cap, and expiration on September 30, 2031.
• Authorizes Interior intellectual-property licensing, fee retention, cost recovery, transfer restrictions, program-cost use, and deposits of excess proceeds into the Fund.