[House Report 108-669]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



108th Congress                                                   Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 2d Session                                                     108-669

======================================================================



 
                USE OF CABINS IN THE MINERAL KING VALLEY

                                _______
                                

 September 8, 2004.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on 
            the State of the Union and ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

  Mr. Pombo, from the Committee on Resources, submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                             together with

                            DISSENTING VIEWS

                        [To accompany H.R. 4508]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

  The Committee on Resources, to whom was referred the bill 
(H.R. 4508) to amend the National Parks and Recreation Act of 
1978 to require the Secretary to permit continued use and 
occupancy of certain privately owned cabins in the Mineral King 
Valley in the Sequoia National Park, having considered the 
same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend 
that the bill do pass.

                          Purpose of the Bill

    The purpose of H.R. 4508 is to amend the National Parks and 
Recreation Act of 1978 to require the Secretary to permit 
continued use and occupancy of certain privately owned cabins 
in the Mineral King Valley in the Sequoia National Park.

                  Background and Need for Legislation

    The National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978 which took 
the Mineral King Valley out of the Sequoia National Game refuge 
and brought it into the Sequoia National Park did so for the 
primary purpose of protecting the development from skiing 
facilities. The Mineral King community contains approximately 
66 privately owned cabins. In 1978, owners who signed an 
agreement with the National Parks Service (NPS) were able to 
renew their permits annually. The agreement stated that owners 
would be allowed to retain their cabin for themselves or their 
successors for twenty-five years or until death, whichever is 
later.
    The NPS has stopped renewing permits and will soon acquire 
all cabins upon the death of the owners who held them in 1978. 
Although the General Management Plan for the Sequoia National 
Park acknowledges that the Mineral King community has been 
placed on the National Register of Historic Places, nowhere 
does it recognize the need for preservation of the cabins as a 
part of the community. The concern has been raised that by 
shifting ownership from the private sector to the NPS, the 
cabins will eventually fall into disrepair and need to be 
removed, inevitably destroying part of the community's unique 
history. This has been the case for several cabins which has 
passed to the NPS.
    H.R. 4508 will allow the cabins to be retained by their 
current owners and passed down to their heirs and assigns in 
perpetuity.

                            Committee Action

    H.R. 4508 was introduced on June 3, 2004, by Congressman 
Devon Nunes (R-CA). The bill was referred to the Committee on 
Resources, and within the Committee to the Subcommittee on 
National Parks, Recreation and Public Lands. On July 14, 2004, 
the Full Committee met to consider the bill. The Subcommittee 
on National Parks, Recreation and Public Lands was discharged 
from further consideration of the bill by unanimous consent. No 
amendments were offered and the bill was ordered favorably 
reported to the House of Representatives by voice vote.
    During the 104th Congress, a similar bill, H.R. 3534, was 
ordered reported by the Committee on Resources by voice vote.

            Committee Oversight Findings and Recommendations

    Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of 
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the 
Committee on Resources' oversight findings and recommendations 
are reflected in the body of this report.

                   Constitutional Authority Statement

    Article I, section 8 and Article IV, section 3 of the 
Constitution of the United States grants Congress the authority 
to enact this bill.

                    Compliance With House Rule XIII

    1. Cost of Legislation. Clause 3(d)(2) of rule XIII of the 
Rules of the House of Representatives requires an estimate and 
a comparison by the Committee of the costs which would be 
incurred in carrying out this bill. However, clause 3(d)(3)(B) 
of that rule provides that this requirement does not apply when 
the Committee has included in its report a timely submitted 
cost estimate of the bill prepared by the Director of the 
Congressional Budget Office under section 402 of the 
Congressional Budget Act of 1974.
    2. Congressional Budget Act. As required by clause 3(c)(2) 
of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and 
section 308(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, this 
bill does not contain any new budget authority, spending 
authority, credit authority, or an increase or decrease in tax 
expenditures.
    3. General Performance Goals and Objectives. This bill does 
not authorize funding and therefore, clause 3(c)(4) of rule 
XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives does not 
apply.
    4. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate. Under clause 
3(c)(3) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives and section 403 of the Congressional Budget Act 
of 1974, the Committee has received the following cost estimate 
for this bill from the Director of the Congressional Budget 
Office:

                                     U.S. Congress,
                               Congressional Budget Office,
                                    Washington, DC, August 6, 2004.
Hon. Richard W. Pombo,
Chairman, Committee on Resources,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
    Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has 
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 4508, a bill to a 
bill to amend the National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978 to 
require the Secretary to permit continued use and occupancy of 
certain privately owned cabins in the Mineral King Valley in 
the Sequoia National Park.
    If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be 
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Deborah Reis.
            Sincerely,
                                         Elizabeth Robinson
                               (For Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Director).
    Enclosure.

H.R. 4508--A bill to amend the National Parks and Recreation Act of 
        1978 to require the Secretary to permit continued use and 
        occupancy of certain privately owned cabins in the Mineral King 
        Valley in the Sequoia National Park

    H.R. 4508 would eliminate certain restrictions on the 
occupancy of about 65 cabins located in the Mineral King Valley 
addition of the Sequoia National Park. Specifically, the bill 
would remove existing limits on the right of use and occupancy 
granted to the owners (and their successors) of cabins 
purchased by the National Park Service (NPS) after the valley 
was added to the park in 1978. In addition, the bill would 
require the NPS to issue or renew certain special-use permits 
or leases on other cabins that were covered by various 
occupancy agreements at the time that the agency assumed 
jurisdiction of the valley from the Forest Service. CBO 
estimates that enacting these changes would have no significant 
impact on the federal budget.
    The bill contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandate Reform Act and 
would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
    Under current law, the previous owners (and their 
successors) of cabins in the Mineral King Valley that were 
purchased by the NPS were granted a right of use and occupancy 
in exchange for a reduction in the price of their property. 
That right expires at the end of 25 years or with the death of 
the original owner or spouse.
    In addition, current law allows persons who owned or leased 
cabins on land that was transferred to the park from the Forest 
Service to continue to occupy that property (unless such 
occupancy is incompatible with park purposes) until their 
deaths. Five-year renewable permits or leases for those cabins 
may only be issued to the original property-owner or lessee of 
record at the time the property was transferred to the NPS. The 
NPS currently charges less than $1,000 a year for such leases 
or permits (collecting a total of less than $1000,000 annually) 
and spends about half of that amount on administrative 
expenses.
    Few if any occupancy agreements are still in effect on 
cabins purchased by the NPS in 1978, and extending those 
agreements would have no budgetary impact because such 
occupants do not pay any fees for the use of these cabins.
    For those cabins originally occupied under agreements with 
the Forest Service, the NPS has generally stopped issuing five-
year renewals if the original lessees or permit-holders have 
died. (The agency has been issuing annual permits in some 
cases.) Once an agreement has expired on a cabin, the structure 
may be left standing (and unoccupied), be demolished, or be 
restored and leased out at fair market value. Proceeds from 
such fair-market-value leases are available to the agency to 
spend without appropriation action.
    If H.R. 4508 is enacted, the NPS would have to allow the 
heirs or successors of the original permit-holders or lessees 
to occupy the Mineral King cabins in perpetuity. CBO estimates 
that this outcome would have no significant impact on the 
federal budget. For cabins that would be demolished or left 
empty in the absence of legislation, we estimate that enacting 
the bill would increase net receipts by less than $50,000 a 
year. For cabins that might otherwise be refurbished and leased 
at market value, renewing the existing agreements could keep 
the NPS from executing more lucrative agreements. Any amounts 
that could have been collected from such rental agreements, 
however, would have been spent without appropriation action.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Deborah Reis. 
This estimate was approved by Robert A. Sunshine, Assistant 
Director for Budget Analysis.

                    Compliance With Public Law 104-4

    This bill contains no unfunded mandates.

                Preemption of State, Local or Tribal Law

    This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local or 
tribal law.

         Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported

  In compliance with clause 3(e) of rule XIII of the Rules of 
the House of Representatives, changes in existing law made by 
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows (existing law 
proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new 
matter is printed in italic, existing law in which no change is 
proposed is shown in roman):

      SECTION 314 OF THE NATIONAL PARKS AND RECREATION ACT OF 1978


        ADDITION OF MINERAL KING VALLEY TO SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK

  Sec. 314 (a) * * *

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *

  (c)(1) * * *
  (2) Where the private use of any property acquired pursuant 
to this subsection would, in the judgment of the Secretary, be 
compatible with the purposes of this section, the Secretary 
may, as a condition of such acquisition, permit the owner or 
owners of such property to retain for themselves and their 
successors or assigns rights of use and occupancy. [Such rights 
of use and occupancy shall be for not more than twenty-five 
years or for a term ending at the death of the owner or his or 
her spouse, whichever is later.] The owner shall reserve such 
rights and elect the term to be reserved on the date of 
acquisition of the property. Except for so much of the property 
as is donated, the Secretary shall pay to the owner the fair 
market value of the property on the date of its acquisition, 
less the fair market value on that date of the right retained 
by the owner.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *

  (d)(1) * * *
  (2)(A) * * *
  (B) In the case of a lease or permit which is continued under 
subparagraph (A), upon notice to the Secretary by the lessee or 
permittee of his intention to seek renewal or extension of such 
lease or permit, the lease or permit shall be reviewed by the 
Secretary, and may be renewed or extended for an additional 
period of five years. Any such lease or permit shall be 
reviewed at the end of such renewal or extension period and may 
also be renewed or extended in the same manner for additional 
five-year periods thereafter. Any renewals or extensions of 
leases or permits shall be granted only to those persons who 
were lessees or permittees of record on the date of enactment 
of this Act and to their heirs, successors, and assigns, and 
any such lease or permit shall provide that the lease or permit 
may be terminated by the Secretary at any time if the Secretary 
determines that such lease or permit is incompatible with the 
administration of the park pursuant to this section or that the 
land is needed for park purposes.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


                            DISSENTING VIEWS

    H.R. 4508 is special interest legislation that would 
subvert the public interest for the benefit of a few select 
private parties. It was bad legislation eight years ago and it 
is bad legislation today. For those members not here in 1996 
and for others who had long since forgotten this matter, a 
little history is in order.
    Back in the 1970's, the 67 cabins covered by H.R. 4508 were 
slated for removal as part of a plain to put a Disney Ski 
Resort on national forest lands in Mineral King Valley. The 
proposed ski resort was very controversial and as a result 
legislation was introduced and signed into law in 1978 that 
transferred Mineral King Valley and the cabin permits to the 
administration of the National Park Service as part of Sequoia 
National Park.
    The law was very clear on the issue of these cabin permits 
for the use of public land in Mineral King Valley. The 
extension of cabin permits was to only be for permittees of 
record as of the date on enactment. No one was tricked and no 
one was blind sided. In fact, earlier versions of that 1978 
legislation had more restrictive terms for cabin permits but 
was amended to grant existing permittees potential lifetime use 
of these national park lands.
    In the 104th Congress legislation was introduced to 
accomplish the same thing that H.R. 4508 seeks to do today. 
That legislation was very controversial. We don't often receive 
veto threats on legislation in the Resources Committee but we 
did receive a veto threat from the Administration on that bill. 
In hearings before the Resources Committee the sponsor of the 
1978 legislation and the Congressman who represented the area 
at that time, John Krebs, vigorously protested the attempt to 
overturn the clear terms of the law. That legislative attempt 
died in 1996 only to arise again today.
    What generated so much concern from the Administration, 
former Representative Krebs, and many others was that the cabin 
permittees were then and are again today attempting to gain for 
themselves and their heirs the exclusive use of publicly owned 
national park lands in perpetuity. There are definite winners 
and losers here. The winners are the cabin permittees and their 
heirs. The losers are the public.
    Mineral King is a small valley prone to avalanches. Because 
of this there is a limited amount of usable land and the cabin 
permittees monopolize most of the limited space available for 
recreational development.
    The National Park Service has reported that on many summer 
weekends overnight visitors to the valley had to be turned away 
because the NPS campground was full and other available sites 
were occupied by the cabins. So, it is really the public who is 
being evicted from the valley.
    The National Park Service has taken an extra step to work 
with permittees. Under the terms of the 1978 Act, a number of 
cabin permits have expired. But rather than enforcing the law, 
the NPS has allowed several expired permits to be renewed on a 
yearly basis while it develops a new plan for public use of the 
valley. In fact, options for that plan were put out for public 
comment just recently but would be negated by H.R. 4508.
    Permits are privileges, not rights. A reasonable deal was 
made in 1978. Now those cabins permittees and their heirs want 
to break that deal for their exclusive benefit. The public is 
the loser under H.R. 4508. We should be looking out for the 
public interest, not a special interest and as such we oppose 
H.R. 4508.

                                   Nick Rahall.
                                   George Miller.
                                   Edward J. Markey.
                                   Mark Udall.
                                   Jay Inslee.

                                  
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