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                   CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE

                              COST ESTIMATE
                                                                 October 17, 2017


                                   H.R. 2921
      National Forest System Vegetation Management Pilot Program
                                   Act of 2017

     As ordered reported by the House Committee on Agriculture on October 4, 2017


H.R. 2921 would establish a pilot program that would permit electric utilities to conduct
vegetation management projects, including tree thinning and fuel reduction, within
75 feet of their rights-of-way on lands administered by the Forest Service. Firms
participating in the pilot program would be required to cover any costs incurred by the
Forest Service to administer the program. The agency would be authorized to retain the
receipts from such cost recovery, but because those amounts would not be available to be
spent until appropriated by the Congress enacting the bill would have the effect of
reducing direct spending.

The bill also would exempt an electric utility from legal liability if the utility causes
damage while carrying out a vegetation management project approved by the Forest
Service, unless the damage was caused by gross negligence or failure to comply with
safety requirements imposed by the Forest Service. Based on information provided by the
agency regarding damages caused by similar activities in recent years, CBO estimates
that enacting this provision would have a negligible effect on the amount of funds the
federal government would receive.

CBO estimates that implementing the bill would have no significant effect on the federal
budget. Because enacting H.R. 2921 would increase offsetting receipts (and thus decrease
direct spending), pay-as-you-go procedures apply. However CBO estimates that
additional receipts under the bill would total less than $500,000 a year. 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. 2921 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Jeff LaFave. The estimate was approved by
H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.

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