§8544 Service First Initiative; Permits for Multijurisdictional Trips

Summary

Starting in fiscal year 2024 and every year after, the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture can run a "Service First Initiative" to work together more. They can do joint projects, planning, permits, leases, and contracts for each other. They can share or move into the same federal offices or leased spaces. They can try out rules for combined permits. They can give each other agency-wide authority to help customers and be more efficient. They can transfer or reimburse funds between the two Departments if money is available, but they cannot use transfers to get around rules on how the money must be used. They must send a yearly report to the House Natural Resources Committee and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. This does not change which laws apply to lands run by the BLM, National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, or other Interior or Agriculture offices. By January 4, 2027, the Secretaries must start a pilot program that offers people doing trips that cross multiple federal lands a set of separate special recreation permits or commercial use authorizations that cover each federal land unit used, under the rules that apply to each unit. By January 4, 2029, they must issue at least 10 such sets. For each set, they must name a lead agency and make the permits available at at least 4 offices, with at least 2 run by the Department of the Interior and at least 2 run by the Department of Agriculture through the Forest Service. Each Secretary keeps the power to enforce permit terms on the lands they manage. People may still apply for separate permits for each unit or for the pilot’s combined set. The pilot does not apply to National Park Service concession contracts.