[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 472 Referred in House (RFH)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                 S. 472


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 21, 1994

             Referred to the Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
To improve the administration and management of public lands, National 
   Forests, units of the National Park System, and related areas by 
 improving the availability of adequate, appropriate, affordable, and 
 cost effective housing for employees needed to effectively manage the 
                             public lands.

    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 ``Land Management Agency Housing 
Improvement Act of 1994''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    As used in this Act, the term--
            (1) ``public lands'' means Federal lands administered by 
        the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture; 
        and
            (2) ``Secretaries'' means the Secretary of the Interior and 
        the Secretary of Agriculture.

SEC. 3. EMPLOYEE HOUSING.

    (a)(1) To promote the recruitment and retention of qualified 
personnel necessary for the effective management of public lands, the 
Secretaries are authorized to--
            (A) make employee housing available, subject to the 
        limitations set forth in paragraph (2), on or off public lands, 
        and
            (B) rent or lease such housing to employees of the 
        respective Department at a reasonable value.
    (2)(A) Housing made available on public lands shall be limited to 
those areas designated for administrative use.
    (B) No private lands or interests therein outside of the boundaries 
of federally administered areas may be acquired for the purposes of 
this Act except with the consent of the owner thereof.
    (b) The Secretaries shall provide such housing in accordance with 
this Act and section 5911 of title 5, United States Code, except that 
for the purposes of this Act, the term--
            (1) ``availability of quarters'' (as used in this Act and 
        subsection (b) of section 5911) means the existence, within 
        thirty miles of the employee's duty station, of well-
        constructed and maintained housing suitable to the individual 
        and family needs of the employee, for which the rental rate as 
        a percentage of the employee's annual gross income does not 
        exceed the most recent Census Bureau American Housing Survey 
        median monthly housing cost for renters inclusive of utilities, 
        as a percentage of current income, whether paid as part of rent 
        or paid directly to a third party;
            (2) ``contract'' (as used in this Act and subsection (b) of 
        section 5911) includes, but is not limited to, ``Build-to-
        Lease'', ``Rental Guarantee'', ``Joint Development'' or other 
        lease agreements entered into by the Secretary, on or off 
        public lands, for the purposes of sub-leasing to Departmental 
        employees; and
            (3) ``reasonable value'' (as used in this Act and 
        subsection (c) of section 5911) means the base rental rate 
        comparable to private rental rates for comparable housing 
        facilities and associated amenities: Provided, That the base 
        rental rate as a percentage of the employee's annual gross 
        income shall not exceed the most recent American Housing Survey 
        median monthly housing cost for renters inclusive of utilities, 
        as a percentage of current income, whether paid as part of rent 
        or paid directly to a third party.
    (c) Subject to appropriation, the Secretaries may enter into 
contracts and agreements with public and private entities to provide 
employee housing on or off public lands.
    (d) The Secretaries may enter into cooperative agreements or joint 
ventures with local governmental and private entities, either on or off 
public lands, to provide appropriate and necessary utility and other 
infrastructure facilities in support of employee housing facilities 
provided under this Act.

SEC. 4. SURVEY OF RENTAL QUARTERS.

    The Secretaries shall conduct a survey of the availability of 
quarters at field units under each Secretary's jurisdiction at least 
every five years. If such survey indicates that government owned or 
suitable privately owned quarters are not available as defined in 
section 3(b)(1) of this Act for the personnel assigned to a specific 
duty station, the Secretaries are authorized to provide suitable 
quarters in accordance with the provisions of this Act. For the 
purposes of this section, the term ``suitable quarters'' means well-
constructed, maintained housing suitable to the individual and family 
needs of the employee.

SEC. 5. SECONDARY QUARTERS.

    (a) The Secretaries may determine that secondary quarters for 
employees who are permanently duty stationed at remote locations and 
are regularly required to relocate for temporary periods are necessary 
for the effective administration of an area under the jurisdiction of 
the respective agency. Such secondary quarters are authorized to be 
made available to employees, either on or off public lands, in 
accordance with the provisions of this Act.
    (b) Rental rates for such secondary facilities shall be established 
so that the aggregate rental rate paid by an employee for both primary 
and secondary quarters as a percentage of the employee's annual gross 
income shall not exceed the Census Bureau American Housing Survey 
median monthly housing cost for renters inclusive of utilities as a 
percentage of current income, whether paid as part of rent or paid 
directly to a third party.

SEC. 6. SURVEY OF EXISTING FACILITIES.

    (a) Within two years after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Secretaries shall survey all existing government owned employee housing 
facilities under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior and 
the Department of Agriculture, to assess the physical condition of such 
housing and the suitability of such housing for the effective 
prosecution of the agency mission. The Secretaries shall develop an 
agency-wide priority listing, by structure, identifying those units in 
greatest need of repair, rehabilitation, replacement or initial 
construction, as appropriate. The survey and priority listing study 
shall be transmitted to the Committees on Appropriations and Energy and 
Natural Resources of the United States Senate and the Committees on 
Appropriations and Natural Resources of the United States House of 
Representatives.
    (b) Unless otherwise provided by law, expenditure of any funds 
appropriated for construction, repair or rehabilitation shall follow, 
in sequential order, the priority listing established by each agency. 
Funding available from other sources for employee housing repair may be 
distributed as determined by the Secretaries.

SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 
necessary to carry out this Act.

            Passed the Senate June 16 (legislative day, June 7), 1994.

            Attest:

                                                MARTHA S. POPE,

                                                             Secretary.