[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2143 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H.R. 2143

To provide that certain escrowed oil and gas revenues be available for 
   improving National Park System visitor facilities, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 10, 1997

   Mr. Miller of California introduced the following bill; which was 
                 referred to the Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide that certain escrowed oil and gas revenues be available for 
   improving National Park System visitor facilities, and for other 
                               purposes.

    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 cited as the ``National Park Improvement Act of 
1997''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
            (1) The National Park System consists of 374 areas which 
        are protected and preserved by the National Park Service, 
        including 5 new parks which were added by the Omnibus Parks and 
        Public Lands Management Act of 1996.
            (2) National park areas receive over 260,000,000 recreation 
        visitors annually, but the quality of park visitor facilities 
        and related infrastructure is declining because of inadequate 
        budgets, according to the General Accounting Office.
            (3) An estimated backlog of over $5,000,000,000 in 
        maintenance and repair projects exists for national parks, 
        including visitor facilities, buildings, transportation 
        systems, trails, interpretive sites, sanitation, and other 
        priority needs.
            (4) On June 19, 1997, the Supreme Court held in United 
        States of America v. State of Alaska that the United States 
        retains title to lands underlying tidal waters off Alaska's 
        North Slope.
            (5) As a result of the Supreme Court decision, 
        approximately $1,600,000,000 in escrowed oil and gas lease 
        revenues are to be received by the United States. These funds 
        are double the amount included by the Congressional Budget 
        Office in revenue estimates for the concurrent resolution on 
        the budget.
    (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to provide that the 
escrowed North Slope oil and gas lease sale revenues received by the 
United States pursuant to the Supreme Court decision in United States 
of America v. State of Alaska are dedicated to improving visitor 
facilities and other resources in the National Park System.

SEC. 3. NATIONAL PARK IMPROVEMENT ACCOUNT.

    (a) Special Account.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
all escrowed oil and gas revenues received by the United States 
pursuant to the June 19, 1997, decision by the Supreme Court in United 
States of America v. State of Alaska shall be deposited in a special 
account in the Treasury of the United States, to be known as the 
National Park Improvement Account, for use pursuant to the provisions 
of subsection (c). Not more than \1/3\ of the amount available to the 
Secretary of the Interior shall be expended in any 1 fiscal year.
    (b) Investment of Special Account.--All funds deposited as 
principal in the National Park Improvement Account shall earn interest 
in the amount determined by the Secretary of the Treasury. Such 
interest shall be added to the principal of the account and expended 
according to the provisions of subsection (c).
    (c) National Park System Improvement.--Amounts in the National Park 
Improvement Account shall be available without further appropriation 
and may be expended by the Secretary of the Interior for purposes of 
improving the National Park System through maintenance, repair, 
reconstruction, and restoration of visitor facilities, buildings, 
transportation systems, trails, grounds, interpretive sites, 
sanitation, and other park resources. Such funds shall be used for 
projects which are consistent with the applicable General Management 
Plan for the park unit involved and shall be allocated for the highest 
priority projects pursuant to the project priority list maintained by 
the National Park Service.
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