Description:
As ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on February 6, 2014
S. 1451 would authorize appropriations to restore the ecological health of the Lake Tahoe Basin in California and Nevada. The authorized funds would be available to the Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for projects that reduce the risk of fire, provide assistance to state and local governments for water management, and protect against invasive species.
Assuming appropriation of the authorized amounts, CBO estimates that implementing S. 1451 would cost $192 million over the 2015-2019 period and $223 million after 2019. Enacting the legislation could increase offsetting receipts (from inspection fees) and associated direct spending, as well as revenues (from civil penalties); therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. However, CBO estimates that any net effects of new offsetting receipts, direct spending, and revenues would be negligible in any year.
S. 1451 would impose an intergovernmental and private-sector mandate as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) on owners and operators of watercraft used in the Lake Tahoe Basin. CBO estimates that the cost of the mandate would fall significantly below the annual thresholds established in UMRA for intergovernmental and private-sector mandates ($76 million and $152 million in 2014, respectively, adjusted annually for inflation).
