Appropriations bill FY2005, Interior

(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)

Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2005 - Makes appropriations for the Department of the Interior and related agencies for FY 2005.

Title I: Department of the Interior - Makes appropriations for FY 2005 to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for: (1) land and resource management; (2) wildland fire management; (3) remedial action of hazardous waste substances; (4) construction; (5) land acquisition; (6) Oregon and California grant lands; (7) range improvements; (8) service charges, deposits, and forfeitures with respect to public lands; and (9) miscellaneous trust funds.

Appropriates funds for FY 2005 to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for: (1) resource management; (2) construction; (3) land acquisition; (4) the Landowner Incentive Program that provides assistance to private landowners for private conservation efforts; (5) the Private Stewardship Grants Program; (6) expenses related to carrying out the Endangered Species Act of 1973; (7) the National Wildlife Refuge Fund; (8) expenses related to carrying out the North American Wetlands Conservation Act; (9) financial assistance for projects to promote the conservation of neotropical migratory birds; (10) expenses related to carrying out, through the Multinational Species Conservation Fund, the African Elephant Conservation Act, the Asian Elephant Conservation Act of 1997, the Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Act of 1994, and the Great Ape Conservation Act of 2000; and (11) wildlife conservation grants to States, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories, and Indian tribes.

Makes appropriations for FY 2005 to the National Park Service (NPS) for: (1) the National Park System; (2) the U.S. Park Police; (3) expenses for national recreation and preservation programs; (4) expenses related to carrying out the Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and the Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act of 1996; (5) construction; and (6) land acquisition and State assistance from the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

Rescinds specified contract authority to obligate funds from the Land and Water Conservation Fund for FY 2005.

Makes appropriations for FY 2005 to: (1) the U.S. Geological Survey for surveys, investigations, and research; (2) the Minerals Management Service for royalty and offshore minerals management and oil spill research; (3) the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement for regulation and technology and the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund; (4) the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) for operation of Indian programs, construction, Indian land and water claim settlements and miscellaneous payments to Indians, and Indian guaranteed loans; (5) assistance to U.S. territories and to carry out the Compacts of Free Association with respect to the Marshall Islands and Palau; (6) the Department of the Interior for departmental management (including transfer of funds); (7) make payments in lieu of taxes to local units of government containing certain Federally owned lands; (8) the Offices of the Solicitor and of the Inspector General; (9) trust programs for Indians; (10) a program for consolidation of fractional interests in Indian lands by direct expenditure or cooperative agreement; and (11) the Department of the Interior for natural resource damage assessment and restoration.

Sets forth authorized and prohibited uses of specified funds.

(Sec. 128) Allows the transfer from "Departmental Management, Salaries and Expenses," to "United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Resource Management" of funds necessary for operational needs at the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge airport.

(Sec. 129) Provides that nothing in the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2002 affects the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in Sac and Fox Nation v. Norton, 240 F.3d 1250 (2001).

Prohibits the conduct of gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act on certain lands described in the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001, or land that is contiguous to such land, regardless of whether such land has been taken into trust by the Secretary of the Interior.

(Sec. 130) Prohibits the use of any funds appropriated for the Department of the Interior to study or implement any plan to drain Lake Powell or reduce the water level of the lake below the range of water levels required for the operation of the Glen Canyon Dam.

(Sec. 131) Limits the total amount of all fees imposed by the National Indian Gaming Commission for FY 2006 to $12 million.

(Sec. 132) Makes funds appropriated for FY 2005 under this Act available to the tribes within the California Tribal Trust Reform Consortium, the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community, the Confederated Salish-Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation, and the Chippewa Cree Tribe of the Rocky Boys Reservation on the same basis as funds were distributed in FY 2004.

Requires this Demonstration Project (sic), under specified conditions, to operate separately and apart from the Department of the Interior's trust reform organization. Prohibits the Department from imposing its trust management infrastructure upon or altering existing trust management systems of such tribes which have a self-governance compact and operate in accordance with the Tribal Self-Governance Program.

(Sec. 133) Prohibits the use of any funds to permit use of the National Mall for a special event, unless its permit expressly prohibits the erection, placement, or use of structures and signs bearing commercial advertising.

Title II: Related Agencies - Makes FY 2005 appropriations for the Department of Agriculture for the Forest Service for: (1) forest and rangeland research; (2) State and private forestry; (3) the National Forest System; (4) wildland fire management; (5) capital improvement and maintenance; (6) land acquisitions, including specified National Forest areas in Utah, Nevada, and California; (7) range rehabilitation protection, and improvement; (8) gifts, donations, and bequests for forest and rangeland research; and (9) Federal land management in Alaska.

Defers until October 1, 2005, the availability of certain funds otherwise made available for obligation in prior years for clean coal technology, subject to a specified condition. Makes appropriations for the Department of Energy for: (1) fossil energy research and development that includes acquisition of real property, plants or facilities, technological investigations and research targeting mineral substances, and a Clean Coal Power Initiative; (2) naval petroleum and oil shale reserve activities; (3) installment payments pertaining to the Elk Hills School Lands Fund; (4) implementation of energy conservation activities; (5) implementation of activities of the Energy Information Administration; and (6) the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve.

Specifies that, unless specifically provided for in an appropriations Act, funds made available to the Department of Energy under this Act may not be used to: (1) finance or implement authorized price support or loan guarantee programs; or (2) issue or process procurement documents for various enterprises.

Makes appropriations for FY 2005 to the Department of Health and Human Services for the Indian Health Service and Indian health facilities.

Makes appropriations for FY 2005 to: (1) the Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation; and (2) the Institute of American Indian and Alaska Native Culture and Arts Development.

Makes appropriations in specified amounts for various purposes to: (1) the Smithsonian Institution (earmarking certain funds for the National Museum of the African American History and Culture, the Council of American Overseas Research Centers, and other specified programs); (2) the National Gallery of Art; (3) the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; (4) the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; (5) the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities, including the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities; (6) the Commission of Fine Arts, including expenses for National Capital Arts and Cultural Affairs; (7) the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation; (8) the National Capital Planning Commission; (9) the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, for the Holocaust Memorial Museum; and (10) the Presidio Trust Fund.

Title III: General Provisions - Sets forth limitations on the use of funds under this Act.

(Sec. 305) Prohibits any assessments, charges, or billings from being levied against any program, budget activity, subactivity, or project funded by this Act without advance notice to, and approval by, the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations.

(Sec. 322) Makes permanent the authority of employees of congressional foundations who solicit private sector funds on behalf of Federal land management agencies to qualify for General Service Administration contract airfares.

(Sec. 323) Permits the Secretaries of Agriculture and of the Interior (Secretaries) to make reciprocal agreements in which the individuals furnished by an agreement to provide fire management services are considered, for tort liability, employees of the foreign country receiving the services when the individuals are fighting fires. Prohibits the Secretaries from making any agreement in which a foreign country does not assume any and all responsibility for acts or omissions of American firefighters who are firefighting in such foreign country.

(Sec. 328) Allows the Secretaries, in awarding a Federal contract for any of specified purposes with funds made available by this Act, to give consideration to local contractors who are from economically disadvantaged rural communities and who provide employment and training for dislocated and displaced workers. Allows the Secretaries to award grants or cooperative agreements in certain areas to various entities, including local non-profits and the Youth Conservation Corps. Includes in such areas habitat restoration or management and forest hazardous fuels reduction.

(Sec. 330) Amends the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1996 to prohibit the Secretary of Agriculture from charging or collecting fees for: (1) admission to a National Forest System unit; or (2) use of either singly or in combination of, undesignated parking along roads, overlook sites or scenic pullouts, information offices and centers that only provide general area information and limited services or interpretive exhibits, and dispersed areas for which expenditures in facilities or services are limited.

(Sec. 331) Requires the Secretary concerned to report by the end of each calendar year to specified congressional committees on the competitive sourcing studies for the preceding fiscal year conducted by the Department of the Interior, the Forest Service, or the Department of Energy, as appropriate, and the cost and cost savings to U.S. citizens of such studies.

Exempts the Forest Service from implementing the Letter of Obligation and post-competition accountability guidelines where a competitive sourcing study involved 65 or fewer full-time equivalents, the performance decision was made in favor of the agency provider, no net savings was achieved by conducting the study, and the study was completed before the date of this Act.

Limits the amounts of funds made available by this Act or any other Act to the Departments of Energy or the Interior to initiate or continue competitive sourcing studies in FY 2005 for programs, projects, and activities for which funds are appropriated by this Act until the appropriate Secretary submits a reprogramming proposal to the Committees on Appropriations and it has been processed consistent with certain reprogramming guidelines.

Limits funds appropriated by this Act to $2 million in FY 2005 for use by the Forest Service for competitive sourcing studies and related activities.

Prohibits the use of funds to convert to contractor performance an activity or function of the Forest Service, an activity or function of the Departments of the Interior or Agriculture performed under programs, projects, and activities for which funds are appropriated by this Act (except certain commercial or industrial type functions), if such activity or function is performed by more than ten Federal employees, unless: (1) the conversion is based on the result of a public-private competition that includes a more efficient and cost effective organization plan developed by such activity or function; and (2) the Competitive Sourcing Official determines that, over all performance periods stated in the solicitation of offers, the cost of performance of the activity or function by a contractor would be less costly to the Federal Government by an amount that equals or exceeds the lesser of either ten percent of the more efficient organization's personnel-related costs for performance of that activity or function by Federal employees, or $10 million.

Credits the conversion of any activity or function under the authority provided by this Act toward any competitive or outsourcing goal, target, or measurement that may be established.

(Sec. 332) Requires: (1) estimated overhead charges, deductions, reserves or holdbacks from programs, projects and activities to support governmentwide, departmental, agency or bureau administrative functions or headquarters, regional or central office operations to be presented in annual budget justifications; and (2) changes to such estimates to be presented to the Committees on Appropriations for approval.

(Sec. 333) Prohibits the use of funds by the agencies funded in this Act to implement Safecom, Disaster Management, E-Training, and E-Rulemaking.

(Sec. 334) Requires the Secretary of Agriculture, under specified conditions, to convey to the Mills Creek Homeowners Association all right, title, and interest of the United States in and to Mill Creek in San Bernardino National Forest, California. Terminates this authority if, within two years from the enactment of this Act, the Secretary and the Association for any reason do not complete the sale.

(Sec. 335) Amends the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001 to extend through FY 2009 the authority of the Secretary of Agriculture to permit the Colorado State Forest Service to perform watershed restoration and protection services on National Forest System lands in Colorado when similar and complementary services are being performed by the State Forest Service on adjacent State or private lands. Makes this same authority available through FY 2009 to the Secretary of the Interior with respect to public lands in Colorado administered by the Secretary through the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

Title IV: Supplemental Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2004 and 2005 for Urgent Wildland Fire Suppression Activities - Chapter 1: Fiscal Year 2004 - Appropriates funds for FY 2004 to the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management and the Department of Agriculture's Forest Service for wildland fire management.

Chapter 2: Fiscal Year 2005 - Appropriates funds for FY 2005 to the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management and the Department of Agriculture's Forest Service for wildland fire management.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov