[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2996 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2996

To provide incentives for the Forest Service to improve its accounting 
 and financial reporting systems by temporarily capping discretionary 
   appropriations for the Forest Service until improvements are made.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 1, 1999

 Mr. Goodlatte (for himself, Mr. Goode, Mr. Combest, Mr. Stenholm, Mr. 
 Tancredo, and Mr. Chambliss) introduced the following bill; which was 
                referred to the Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide incentives for the Forest Service to improve its accounting 
 and financial reporting systems by temporarily capping discretionary 
   appropriations for the Forest Service until improvements are made.

    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 ``Forest Service Financial 
Accountability Restoration Act of 1999''.

SEC. 2. USE OF INCENTIVES TO RESTORE FOREST SERVICE FINANCIAL 
              ACCOUNTABILITY.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Section 3521(e) of title 31, United States Code, 
        requires the Inspector General of the Department of Agriculture 
        to audit the annual financial statements required to be 
        prepared by the Forest Service. As a result of the inability of 
        the Forest Service to produce reliable financial statements, 
        the agency has received four successive adverse opinions or 
        disclaimers from the Inspector General.
            (2) In January 1999, the Comptroller General submitted a 
        report to Congress that identified the Forest Service as an 
        agency at ``high risk'' of waste, fraud, abuse, and 
        mismanagement due to the persistent and severe weaknesses in 
        the Forest Service's accounting and financial reporting 
        systems.
            (3) The Comptroller General has stated that the Forest 
        Service will maintain its high risk status until the agency, at 
        a minimum--
                    (A) receives two consecutive unqualified audit 
                opinions from the Inspector General; and
                    (B) corrects the material internal control 
                weaknesses, identified in the Inspector General's audit 
                reports of the financial statements of the Forest 
                Service, which adversely affect the ability of the 
                Forest Service to maintain accountability over its 
                assets on an ongoing basis.
            (4) Despite initial efforts on the part of the Forest 
        Service to correct deficiencies in its financial management 
        systems, the Comptroller General and the Inspector General of 
        the Department of Agriculture have indicated that the Forest 
        Service may still be years away from producing reliable 
        financial statements or changing its high risk status.
            (5) Performance incentives are necessary to ultimately 
        restore financial accountability to the Forest Service, and 
        such incentives must be structured so as to preserve the 
        ability of the Forest Service to perform its core missions, 
        particularly a sustained reduction of the natural resources 
        restoration and maintenance backlog within the National Forest 
        System, while safeguarding further investments of taxpayer 
        dollars from waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement.
    (b) Conditional Limitations on Forest Service Appropriations.--
Subject to subsections (c) and (d), for fiscal years beginning after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the total amount appropriated 
for the Forest Service to carry out discretionary programs and 
activities for a fiscal year shall not exceed the sum of the amounts 
appropriated under the heading ``Forest Service'' in title II of the 
Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 
1999 (as contained in section 101(e) of division A of Public Law 105-
277; 112 Stat. 2681-268).
    (c) Removal of Condition.--The limitations on the level of Forest 
Service appropriations or obligations specified in subsection (b) shall 
terminate on the earlier of the following:
            (1) The date on which the Forest Service is no longer an 
        agency at high risk of waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement 
        due to weaknesses in its accounting and financial reporting 
        systems, as determined under subsection (d).
            (2) The end of the fifth fiscal year subject to the 
        limitations.
    (d) Criteria for Removal of High Risk Status.--The Forest Service 
shall no longer be an agency at high risk under subsection (c)(1) if 
the Comptroller General certifies in writing to Congress that Forest 
Service financial management is no longer at high risk. The Comptroller 
General may make that certification only if--
            (1) the Forest Service receives two consecutive unqualified 
        audit opinions from the Inspector General of the Department of 
        Agriculture under section 3521(e) of title 31, United States 
        Code; and
            (2) the Forest Service corrects the material weaknesses 
        identified in the audit reports of the Inspector General 
        regarding the Forest Service's fiscal year 1995 financial 
        statements and all subsequent audit reports of the Inspector 
        General regarding the Forest Service's financial statements 
        published before the date of the enactment of this Act.
    (e) Backlog Reduction Outputs.--During each fiscal year identified 
in subsection (c)(2), the Forest Service shall maintain or increase 
outputs, relative to the levels achieved during fiscal year 1999, from 
programs that directly reduce the natural resources restoration and 
maintenance backlog within the National Forest System. Such outputs 
shall include the following:
            (1) Acres of forested land treated for reduction of 
        wildfire risk.
            (2) Acres of forested land treated for reduction of 
        mortality risk from insect and disease infestation.
            (3) Miles of roads and trails reconstructed or maintained.
            (4) Number of recreational facilities reconstructed or 
        maintained.
            (5) Acres of terrestrial habitat restored or enhanced.
            (6) Miles of riparian areas restored or enhanced.
            (7) Other priority outputs identified by the Secretary.
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