H.R. 373 would require the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to expedite access to federal lands for search and recovery missions conducted by certain individuals or organizations. Under the bill, entities conducting search and recovery missions would not be considered federal employees or volunteers, and the federal government would not be liable for the actions of such entities.
Based on information provided by the Department of the Interior and the Forest Service, CBO expects that the costs of expediting access to federal lands for search and recovery purposes would be minimal, and we estimate that implementing the legislation would have no significant effect on the federal budget. Enacting H.R. 373 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
H.R. 373 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments.
