[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1637 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1637

 To provide a more effective, efficient, and responsive Department of 
                             the Interior.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

             November 8 (legislative day, November 2), 1993

 Mr. Johnston introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide a more effective, efficient, and responsive Department of 
                             the Interior.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be referred to as the ``Department of the Interior 
Reform and Savings Act of 1993''.

              TITLE I--IMPROVE THE FEDERAL HELIUM PROGRAM

SEC. 101. AMENDMENTS TO HELIUM ACT AMENDMENTS OF 1960.

    (a) Section 4 of the Helium Act Amendments of 1960 (74 Stat. 920, 
50 U.S.C. 167b) is amended to insert after ``lands acquired, leased, or 
reserved;'' the following: ``reduce costs and increase operational 
efficiencies, especially in operations that do not produce revenue; 
establish and adjust fees charged private industry for storage, 
transmission, and withdrawal of privately-owned helium from Government 
storage facilities to compensate fully for all costs incurred;''.
    (b) Section 6 of the Helium Act Amendments of 1960 (74 Stat. 921, 
50 U.S.C. 167d) is amended--
            (1) by amending subsection (b) to read:
    ``(b) The Secretary is authorized to sell helium for Federal, 
medical, scientific, and commercial uses in such quantities and under 
such terms and conditions as the Secretary determines. Sales shall be 
made in quantities and a manner to avoid undue disruption of the usual 
markets of producers, processors, and consumers of helium and to 
protect the United States against avoidable loss.''; and
            (2) by amending subsection (c) to read:
    ``(c) Sales of helium by the Secretary shall be at prices, as 
established by the Secretary, that are adequate to cover all costs 
incurred in carrying out the provisions of this Act. Helium shall be 
sold at prices comparable to helium sold by private industry. An annual 
review of price comparability shall be made and adjustments shall be 
made accordingly.''.

SEC. 102. LONG-TERM COMPREHENSIVE PLAN.

    The Secretary of the Interior shall prepare and develop a long-
term, comprehensive plan to (1) cancel the outstanding debt owed to the 
Treasury by the Department of the Interior related to the Federal 
helium program; and (2) improve Federal helium program operations over 
a multi-year period. The plan should analyze various options to 
accomplish (1) and (2) above, with emphasis on ways to minimize adverse 
impacts on Federal employment, Federal helium purchasers, and U.S. 
private sector helium markets. The plan, with the Secretary's preferred 
options, shall be presented to the President within 4 months of 
enactment of this Act. The President may adopt the plan, in whole or in 
part, and is authorized to cancel the out-standing debt upon a finding 
that such debt cancellation is in the national interest.

    TITLE II--IMPROVE MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE ROYALTY COLLECTION

SEC. 201. IMPROVEMENT OF MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE ROYALTY 
              COLLECTION.

    (a) The Secretary of the Interior shall, by fiscal year 1995, 
direct the Minerals Management Service, Royalty Management Program, to 
develop and implement (1) an automated business information system to 
provide to its auditors a lease history that includes reference, 
royalty, production, financial, compliance history, pricing and 
valuation, and other information; (2) the optimum methods to identify 
and resolve anomalies and to verify that royalties are paid correctly; 
(3) a more efficient and cost-effective royalty collection process by 
instituting new compliance and enforcement measures, including 
assessments and penalties for erroneous reporting and underreporting; 
and (4) such other actions as may be necessary to reduce royalty 
underpayment and increase revenue to the U.S. Treasury by an estimated 
total of $28 million by fiscal year 1999.
    (b) The Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982 (Public 
Law No. 97-451), (30 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) is amended by adding a new 
subsection 111(h) as follows:

                  ``penalty assessment for substantial

                      underreporting of royalty''

    ``Sec. 111. (h)(1) If there is any underreporting of royalty owned 
on production from any lease issued or administered by the Secretary 
for the production of oil, gas, coal, any other mineral, or geothermal 
steam, from any Federal or Indian lands or the Outer Continental Shelf, 
for any production month, by any person who is responsible for paying 
royalty, the Secretary may assess a penalty of 10 percent of the amount 
of that underreporting.
    ``(2) If there is a substantial underreporting of royalty owed on 
production from any lease issued or administered by the Secretary for 
the production of oil, gas, coal, any other mineral, or geothermal 
steam, from any Federal or Indian lands or the Outer Continental Shelf, 
for any production month, by any person who is responsible for paying 
royalty, the Secretary may access a penalty of 20 percent of the amount 
of that substantial underreporting.
    ``(3) For purposes of this section, the term `undereporting' means 
the difference between the royalty on the value of the production which 
should have been reported and the royalty on the value of the 
production which was reported, if the value of the production which 
should have been reported is greater than the value of the production 
which was reported. An underreporting constitutes a `substantial 
underreporting' if such difference exceeds 10 percent of the royalty on 
the value of the production which should have been reported.
    ``(4) The Secretary shall not impose the assessment provided in 
paragraphs (1) or (2) if the person corrects the underreporting before 
the date the person receives notice from the Secretary that an 
underreporting may have occurred, or before 90 days after the date of 
enactment of this section, whichever is later.
    ``(5) The Secretary shall waive any portion of an assessment 
provided in paragraphs (1) or (2) attributable to that portion of the 
underreporting for which the person demonstrates that--
            ``(i) the person had written authorization from the 
        Secretary to report royalty on the value of the production on 
        the basis on which it was reported, or
            ``(ii) the person had substantial authority for reporting 
        royalty on the value of the production on the basis on which it 
        was reported, or
            ``(iii) the person previously had notified the Secretary, 
        in such manner as the Secretary may by rule prescribe, of 
        relevant reasons or facts affecting the royalty treatment of 
        specific production which led to the underreporting, or
            ``(iv) the person meets any other exception which the 
        Secretary may, by rule, establish.
    ``(6) All penalties collected under this subsection shall be 
deposited to the same accounts in the Treasury or paid to the same 
recipients in the same manner as the royalty with respect to which such 
penalty is paid.''.

           TITLE III--PHASE OUT THE MINERAL INSTITUTE PROGRAM

SEC. 301. PHASE OUT OF MINERAL INSTITUTE PROGRAM.

    The Secretary of the Interior, beginning in fiscal year 1995, shall 
take action to phase out the Mining and Mineral Resources Research 
Institute Act of 1984, Public Law 98-409, as amended (98 Stat. 1536 
through 1541 and 102 Stat. 2339 through 2341, 30 U.S.C. 1221 through 
1230). There are hereby authorized to be appropriated under the Act the 
following amounts: fiscal year 1995--$6.5 million; fiscal year 1996--$5 
million; fiscal year 1997--$3 million; and fiscal year 1998--$1.5 
million. No further appropriations for this Act are authorized after 
September 30, 1998.

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