{"bills":[{"photos":{"featured":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/s3172-115/featured_restore-our-parks-act-1533831423.jpg","featured_large":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/s3172-115/featured_large_restore-our-parks-act-1533831423.jpg","shareable":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/bills/s3172-115.png"},"introduced_on":"2018-06-28","title_override":"Should Revenue From Energy Developed on Other Public Lands be Used to Address the National Park Service’s Maintenance Backlog?","summary_override":"

This bill — known as the Restore Our Parks Act — would establish and fund a National Park Service Legacy Restoration Fund to address the National Park Service’s (NPS) nearly $12 billion maintenance backlog. This fund would draw on existing energy development revenues paid to the federal government from oil, gas, coal, or alternative or renewable energy development on federal land and water, taking 50% of those revenues up to $1.3 billion in any fiscal year.

NPS maintenance projects these funds could be used for include:

Repair and maintenance of historic structure, facilities, and other historic assets,
Park facilities to ensure visitor access, disability access, health and safety, and recreation options,
Maintenance and repair of visitor facilities, water and utility systems, and NPS employee housing, and
Road, bridge, tunnel, or other transportation-related projects on and leading to NPS lands

Money from the Fund couldn’t be used for land acquisition or to supplant annual discretionary funding made available for annual NPS operations.

This bill would also allow public cash or in-kind donations to the Fund, which may be used to reduce the NPS maintenance backlog or to encourage relevant public-private partnerships.

","official_title":"A bill to amend title 54, United States Code, to establish, fund, and provide for the use of amounts in a National Park Service Legacy Restoration Fund to address the maintenance backlog of the National Park Service, and for other purposes.","short_title":"Restore Our Parks Act","popular_title":null,"short_summary":null,"summarized":true,"cost":null,"cost_commentary":"A CBO cost estimate for this bill is unavailable.","impact":"Visitors to public parks; National Park Service; energy development revenues; Dept. of the Interior; and the Treasury Dept.","argument_for":"The National Park Service is responsible for maintaining many of America’s most treasured public lands, and it faces a substantial backlog of deferred maintenance that undercuts the public’s ability to enjoy our national parks. Using funds from taxes derived through energy development on federal lands to fund that vital maintenance strikes a worthwhile balance.","argument_against":"The NPS has already increased entry fees at 117 parks in order to raise funds for park maintenance, and while it’s not as much as this bill would raise it’s still $60 million annually which should cover the NPS’ most urgent maintenance needs. Energy development on federal lands & waters should be discouraged.","bill_type":"s","published":true,"type":"FederalBill","id":"s3172-115","bill_id":"s3172-115","formal_id":"S. 3172","chamber":"senate","congress":115,"last_action_at":"2018-12-06T00:00:00.000Z","active":true,"enacted":false,"enacted_at":null,"vetoed":false,"last_vote_at":null,"debated_on":null,"congress_url":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th/senate-bill/3172","plain_text_url":"https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-115s3172rs/html/BILLS-115s3172rs.htm","shareable_image_url":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/bills/s3172-115.png","congress_full_text_url":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th/senate-bill/3172/text","is_current_congress":false,"last_version_on":"2018-12-04","related_bill_ids":["hr2584-115","s751-115","hr6510-115"],"progress":"Introduced","house_passage_result":false,"senate_passage_result":false,"position_count":298,"committees":[{"name":"National Parks Subcommittee","chamber":"senate","committee_id":"SSEG04","subcommittee":true},{"name":"Committee on Energy and Natural Resources","chamber":"senate","committee_id":"SSEG","subcommittee":false}],"links":{"rollCalls":"/api/roll_calls?bill_id=s3172-115","details":"/api/bills/s3172-115/details","sharingMessage":"/api/sharing_messages/s3172-115","positionsFor":"/api/bills/s3172-115/positions/for","positionsAgainst":"/api/bills/s3172-115/positions/against"},"upcoming":false,"cosponsors_count":36,"slug":"s3172-115-restore-our-parks-act","latest_chamber_votes_id":null,"official_url":null,"target_video":true,"following":false,"vote_count":1711,"yea_vote_count":1163,"nay_vote_count":541,"passed_house":false,"passed_senate":false,"vote_id":null,"my_position_id":null,"topic_ids":[],"issue_ids":[],"sponsor_id":532}],"votes":[],"issues":[],"users":[{"name":"Lee","vote_count":501,"photos":{"large":"https://graph.facebook.com/10103631516174275/picture?width=150&height=150","small":"https://graph.facebook.com/10103631516174275/picture?width=75&height=75","tiny":"https://graph.facebook.com/10103631516174275/picture?width=20&height=20","facebook":"https://graph.facebook.com/10103631516174275/picture"},"links":{"following":"/api/users/omEDPxrZ/following","followers":"/api/users/omEDPxrZ/followers"},"about_me":null,"twitter_id":null,"facebook_id":null,"youtube_id":null,"google_plus_id":null,"website":null,"slug":null,"issue_count":0,"is_following":null,"influence_score":250,"influence_level":20,"follower_count":6,"following_count":1,"position_count":330,"id":"omEDPxrZ","partner_id":null}],"bill_position":{"flagged":false,"id":"6e85a1db-c0db-4f3c-abae-0a1ff6f1fbd3","argument_for":null,"argument_against":"More attempts to auction off our national resources to the energy companies. Vote no.","show_argument_for":false,"show_argument_against":true,"upvote_count":0,"upvotes_for_count":null,"upvotes_against_count":0,"has_upvoted":false,"endorsement_count":0,"links":{"self":"https://www.causes.com/positions/6e85a1db-c0db-4f3c-abae-0a1ff6f1fbd3"},"body":"More attempts to auction off our national resources to the energy companies. Vote no.","stance":"nay","created_at":"2018-08-13T20:41:47.178Z","shareable_image_url":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/positions/6e85a1db-c0db-4f3c-abae-0a1ff6f1fbd3.png","note_color":null,"note_text":null,"bill_id":"s3172-115","user_id":"omEDPxrZ","endorser_ids":[]}}

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Should Revenue From Energy Developed on Other Public Lands be Used to Address the National Park Service’s Maintenance Backlog?