[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 145 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 145

   To require the Director of the National Park Service to refund to 
States all State funds that were used to reopen and temporarily operate 
  a unit of the National Park System during the October 2013 shutdown.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 12, 2015

  Mr. Flake (for himself, Mr. Alexander, Mr. Bennet, Mr. Corker, Mr. 
Gardner, Mr. Lee, Mr. McCain, Mr. Hatch, and Mr. Thune) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                      Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To require the Director of the National Park Service to refund to 
States all State funds that were used to reopen and temporarily operate 
  a unit of the National Park System during the October 2013 shutdown.

    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 Access Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) during the period in October 2013 in which there was a 
        lapse in appropriations (referred to in this section as the 
        ``Government shutdown''), the National Park Service entered 
        into agreements with the States of Arizona, Colorado, New York, 
        South Dakota, Tennessee, and Utah to temporarily reopen iconic 
        national treasures in the National Park System, such as the 
        Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore, and the Statue of Liberty;
            (2) pursuant to the agreements described in paragraph (1), 
        the States listed in paragraph (1) advanced approximately 
        $2,000,000 to the National Park Service to pay for park 
        operations during the Government shutdown;
            (3) the units of the National Park System that were 
        temporarily reopened using State funds also collected gate 
        entry fees;
            (4) the Government shutdown ended when Congress passed the 
        Continuing Appropriations Act, 2014 (Public Law 113-46), which 
        retroactively funded Federal agencies and Federal employee 
        salaries for the period of time during which the Government was 
        shut down;
            (5) by virtue of the retroactive appropriation made by 
        Congress, the National Park Service retained an unintended 
        shutdown windfall from the States listed in paragraph (1) of 
        approximately $2,000,000; and
            (6) the States listed in paragraph (1) that entered into 
        agreements described in paragraph (1) with the National Park 
        Service should be fully reimbursed for advancing funds to 
        maintain public access to iconic national treasures in the 
        National Park System during the Government shutdown.

SEC. 3. REFUND OF FUNDS USED BY STATES TO OPERATE NATIONAL PARKS DURING 
              SHUTDOWN.

    (a) In General.--The Director of the National Park Service shall 
refund to each State all funds of the State that were used to reopen 
and temporarily operate a unit of the National Park System during the 
period in October 2013 in which there was a lapse in appropriations for 
the unit.
    (b) Funding.--Funds of the National Park Service that are 
appropriated after the date of enactment of this Act shall be used to 
carry out this section.
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