[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1827 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1827

  To eliminate below-cost sales of timber from National Forest System 
                                 lands.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 6, 1997

  Ms. Furse introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                        Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To eliminate below-cost sales of timber from National Forest System 
                                 lands.

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

SECTION 1. ELIMINATION OF BELOW-COST SALES OF TIMBER FROM NATIONAL 
              FOREST SYSTEM LANDS.

    (a) In General.--The National Forest Management Act of 1976 is 
amended by inserting after section 14 (16 U.S.C. 472a) the following 
new section:

``SEC. 14A. ELIMINATION OF BELOW-COST TIMBER SALES FROM NATIONAL FOREST 
              SYSTEM LANDS.

    ``(a) Requirement That Sale Revenues Exceed Costs.--On and after 
October 1, 2002, in appraising timber and setting a minimum bid for 
trees, portions of trees, or forest products located on National Forest 
System lands proposed for sale under section 14 or any other provision 
of law, the Secretary of Agriculture shall ensure that the estimated 
cash returns to the United States Treasury from each sale exceed the 
estimated costs to be incurred by the Federal Government in the 
preparation of the sale or as a result of the sale.
    ``(b) Costs To Be Considered.--For purposes of estimating under 
this section the costs to be incurred by the Federal Government from 
each timber sale, the Secretary shall assign to the sale the following 
costs:
            ``(1) The actual appropriated expenses for sale preparation 
        and harvest administration incurred or to be incurred by the 
        Federal Government from the sale and the payments to counties 
        to be made as a result of the sale.
            ``(2) A portion of the annual timber resource planning 
        costs, silvicultural examination costs, other resource support 
        costs, road design and construction costs, road maintenance 
        costs, transportation planning costs, appropriated 
        reforestation costs, timber stand improvement costs, forest 
        genetics costs, general administrative costs (including 
        administrative costs of the national and regional offices of 
        the Forest Service), and facilities construction costs of the 
        Federal Government directly or indirectly related to the timber 
        harvest program conducted on National Forest System lands.
    ``(c) Method of Allocating Costs.--The Secretary shall allocate the 
costs referred to in subsection (b)(2) to each unit of the National 
Forest System, and each proposed timber sale in such unit, on the basis 
of harvest volume.
    ``(d) Transitional Requirements.--To ensure the elimination of all 
below-cost timber sales by the date specified in subsection (a), the 
Secretary shall progressively reduce the number and size of below-cost 
timber sales on National Forest System lands as follows:
            ``(1) In fiscal years 1998 and 1999, the quantity of timber 
        sold in below-cost timber sales on National Forest System lands 
        shall not exceed 75 percent of the quantity of timber sold in 
        such sales in the preceding fiscal year.
            ``(2) In fiscal year 2000, the quantity of timber sold in 
        below-cost timber sales on National Forest System lands shall 
        not exceed 65 percent of the quantity of timber sold in such 
        sales in fiscal year 1998.
            ``(3) In fiscal year 2001, the quantity of timber sold in 
        below-cost timber sales on National Forest System lands shall 
        not exceed 50 percent of the quantity of timber sold in such 
        sales in the fiscal year 2000.
    ``(e) Below-Cost Timber Sale.--For purposes of this section, the 
term `below-cost timber sale' means a sale of timber in which the costs 
to be incurred by the Federal Government exceed the cash returns to the 
United States Treasury.''.
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