Description:
As ordered reported by the House Committee on Natural Resources on September 18, 2014
H.R. 4166 would transfer administrative jurisdiction over 30,221 acres of federal land underlying or adjacent to Lake Berryessa in California from the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Based on information provided by the affected agencies and assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts, CBO estimates that implementing the bill would cost $3 million over the 2015-2019 period. Because enacting the legislation would increase direct spending, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. However, we estimate that the net budgetary effect of those changes would not be significant. Enacting H.R. 4166 would not affect revenues.
Under current law, CBO expects that BOR would collect receipts from concession contracts and franchise fees from recreational activities near Lake Berryessa totaling less than $100,000 a year. Those fees are classified as offsetting receipts, which are treated as reductions in direct spending. Based on information provided by BLM, CBO expects that, under the bill, the agency would collect a similar amount of fees. However, because BLM would probably use its existing authorities to retain and spend a portion of those amounts, we estimate that enacting the bill would increase direct spending by less than $50,000 a year.
In addition, CBO estimates that, under current law, BOR would spend about $3 million a year to administer the affected lands, assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts. Under the bill, BLM would carry out similar activities to administer the affected lands plus certain additional activities related to endangered species preservation, hazardous fuels removal, and habitat preservation. Based on information provided by BLM, and assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts, CBO estimates that conducting those activities would cost an additional $3 million over the 2015-2019 period, assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts.
H.R. 4166 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not affect the budgets of state, local, and tribal governments.
