Description:
Three cabins in the Coronado National Forest in Arizona are privately owned under special use permits from the Forest Service that will expire in 2028. S. 2062 would direct the Forest Service to convey the parcels of land that are associated with the cabins (roughly 10 acres in total) at fair market value if those owners wish to purchase the parcels. CBO expects that under the bill, the owners would submit a request to buy the available land. S. 2062 would require the Forest Service to pay any costs associated with the conveyances. Using information from the agency, CBO estimates that those costs would be less than $500,000; such spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds. Under current law, the permit holders pay annual fees to the Forest Service, which are deposited into the Treasury. CBO estimates that those fees, which are recorded in the budget as offsetting receipts (or reductions in direct spending), will total less than $100,000 over the 2019-2028 period. Because the Forest Service has no plans to renew the permits when they expire, CBO expects that the government will not collect any such fees after 2028. Under S. 2062, proceeds from the sale of the parcels would be available without further appropriation to the Forest Service to acquire inholdings (privately held land surrounded by federal land) in national forests in Arizona. Those sale proceeds would be recorded in the budget as offsetting receipts and would be subsequently spent. If the Forest Service conveys the parcels in the next few years under the bill, the annual permit fees would no longer be collected. On net, CBO estimates, enacting S. 2062 would result in an insignificant increase in direct spending (from the forgone permit fees) over the 2019-2028 period; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. The bill would not affect revenues. CBO estimates that enacting S. 2062 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029. S. 2062 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
