H.R. 1913 would designate about 75,000 acres of land in California as the Clear Creek National Recreation Area and 21,000 area of adjacent land as part of the National Wilderness Preservation System. Under the bill, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) would be required to complete a new land use plan for the recreation area within two years of enactment. Based on information from BLM regarding the costs of carrying out similar activities, CBO estimates that completing the land use plan would cost less than $500,000 over the 2018-2019 period.
CBO expects that, under the bill, the new recreation area would see a significant increase in use by the public and that BLM would need to hire additional personnel to manage the area. Based on an analysis of information provided by the agency, CBO estimates that operating the recreation area would require 10 to 15 new employees to carry out administrative and law enforcement functions and that the cost of employing those individuals would total roughly $1 million a year; such spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds. Because the lands being designated as wilderness are already being managed for conservation purposes, CBO estimates that so designating those lands would have no effect on the federal budget.
In addition, the bill would require BLM to establish a user fee program for operators of motorized vehicles to offset certain costs of administering the recreation area; we expect that those funds would be used primarily to construct trails and facilities for off-highway vehicles. Based on information regarding the amount of user fees collected at similar recreation areas, CBO estimates that fee collections and the associated spending would total less than $500,000 a year.
Because enacting H.R. 1913 would increase user fees, which are treated as reductions in direct spending, and the associated spending of those fees, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. However, CBO estimates that any net effects on direct spending would be negligible. Enacting the bill would not affect revenues.
CBO estimates that enacting the bill would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2028.
H.R. 1913 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
