§101915 Protection of Concessioner Investment

Summary

Gives concessioners who build things on U.S. park land a right to be paid for that investment when their contract ends or if the government takes the property. A "capital improvement" means a building, fixture, or fixed equipment a concessioner adds on federal land. The "Consumer Price Index" means the CPI-All Urban Consumers or a similar cost-of-living index. The right, called a leasehold surrender interest, is only a right to payment. It can be used as loan security if approved, transferred with the contract, given up by the concessioner, and it cannot be wiped out just because the contract ends or taken for public use without just payment. The value equals the original construction cost adjusted up or down by the percent change in the Consumer Price Index from when the investment was made to when it is paid, minus depreciation based on condition. If a concessioner adds to existing improvements, those costs are added to the value. For new contracts that the Secretary expects will have an interest over $10,000,000, the Secretary may use straight-line tax depreciation rules in effect on November 12, 1998, or another fair formula after notice and comment; if no bids result, the Secretary must use the CPI-based method. Special rules protect older “possessory interests” from contracts made before November 13, 1998. Those concessioners get compensation as their old contract or the laws in effect on November 12, 1998 say. If an existing concessioner wins a new contract after November 13, 1998, the old interest becomes a leasehold surrender interest and its initial value equals the old possessory value; disputes go to binding arbitration. A new concessioner who pays a prior concessioner gets a leasehold surrender interest with that paid amount as the initial value. A party may ask the U.S. Court of Federal Claims for a new review of a value decision within 180 days of the decision. Finally, title to any capital improvement on federal land belongs to the United States.