We’ve discussed this bill before, and I think it’s great news for a variety of reasons. Congress worked together through all the Congressy give-and-take to get something important to the country passed. The effort was co-led by Senators Manchin of West Virginia and Senator Gardner of Colorado. Any bill is complicated, and I’m not sure I got all the relevant pieces, but I did pick out this part of potential interest. I wonder how they arrived at the percentages for each agency…was it based on their deferred maintenance calculations or ????
“(1) IN GENERAL.—Amounts deposited in the Fund for each fiscal year shall be used for priority deferred maintenance projects in the System, in the National Wildlife Refuge System, on public land administered by the Bureau of Land Management, for the Bureau of Indian Education schools, and in the National Forest System, as follows:
“(A) 70 percent of the amounts deposited in the Fund for each fiscal year shall be allocated to the Service.
“(B) 15 percent of the amounts deposited in the Fund for each fiscal year shall be allocated to the Forest Service.
“(C) 5 percent of the amounts deposited in the Fund for each fiscal year shall be allocated to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
“(D) 5 percent of the amounts deposited in the Fund for each fiscal year shall be allocated to the Bureau of Land Management.
“(E) 5 percent of the amounts deposited in the Fund for each fiscal year shall be allocated to the Bureau of Indian Education.
“(A) NON-TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS.—Over the term of the Fund, within each covered agency, not less than 65 percent of amounts from the Fund shall be allocated for non-transportation projects.
“(B) TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS.—The amounts remaining in the Fund after the allocations required under subparagraph (A) may be allocated for transportation projects of the covered agencies, including paved and unpaved roads, bridges, tunnels, and paved parking areas.
“(C) PLAN.—Any priority deferred maintenance project funded under this section shall be consistent with an applicable transportation, deferred maintenance, or capital improvement plan developed by the applicable covered agency.
“(2) to supplant discretionary funding made available for annually recurring facility operations, maintenance, and construction needs; or“(3) for bonuses for employees of the Federal Government that are carrying out this section.”
Am I misreading that LWCF cannot be used for Land Acquisition? That to me is a primary purposed with the USFS and other agencies: to acquire land that may be used for developments that would be contrary to the land use plans of the agency.
David, with the caveat that this is a bit confusing to those of us not having followed the bill, this bill seems to fully fund LWCF and In addition, set up a separate fund from the same sources to fund the backlogs. https://sgbonline.com/senate-passes-gardners-great-american-outdoors-act/
From the summary of the bill: “This bill establishes the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund to support deferred maintenance projects on federal lands.” That is the “Fund” this section is referring to. Then, “Additionally, the bill makes funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) permanent.”
(I’m curious what motivated them to exclude “bonuses for employees of the Federal Government that are carrying out this section.”)
I didn’t mean to make that typeface larger, but didn’t take the time to fix it. Wish we knew someone we could ask…