§6214 Cabin User and Transfer Fees

Summary

Sets fees for special-use permits for recreational cabins on National Forest land. The Secretary of Agriculture must charge an interim annual fee from January 1, 2014 until the appraisal cycle is finished. That interim fee is the lower of the fee set under the old Cabin User Fee Fairness Act (with any year-to-year increase capped at 25%) or $5,600. The Secretary must finish the appraisal cycle no later than one year after December 19, 2014. Only appraisals done and approved in that cycle set the base lot value; if a second appraisal is approved it replaces the first, otherwise the first stands. On the day the cycle is finished, the Secretary will make one one-time update to each lot value using the 4th quarter 2012 NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index. After that, annual fees follow an 11-tier schedule with amounts from $650 up to $5,650 (each tier applies to a portion of permits). Those fees are adjusted up or down for inflation using the GDP Implicit Price Deflator on a 5-year rolling average. The Secretary must make rules to suspend or lower a fee if access or occupancy is seriously limited and must allow an administrative appeal. Ten years after December 19, 2014 the Secretary must report to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the House Natural Resources Committee about the fee system and any recommendations; changes need not use appraisals. The Secretary must set a $1,200 transfer fee when a cabin changes ownership; that fee is also adjusted yearly by the same 5-year GDP deflator. Nothing here reduces U.S. ownership rights in National Forest land. Fees or conditions in Alaska must follow section 3193(d). Starting 10 years after December 19, 2014 the Secretary may keep and spend these fees to run the cabin and other recreation programs without more congressional approval. When the Secretary first starts charging the new annual fees under the tiered schedule and tells Congress, the Cabin User Fee Fairness Act of 2000 is repealed.