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Updated December 15, 2022
The Great American Outdoors Act (P.L. 116-152)
The Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA; P.L. 116-152)
established a new fund with mandatory spending authority
to address deferred maintenance (DM) needs of five federal
agencies. The law also made the deposits to an existing
fund-the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF)-
available as mandatory spending and made other changes to
the LWCF Act (54 U.S.C. §§200301 et seq.). This CRS
product addresses selected provisions of the law.
National Parks and Public Land Legacy
Restoration Fund
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Forest Service
(FS), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and National
Park Service (NPS) maintain thousands of diverse assets,
such as roads and buildings. Each agency has a backlog of
deferred maintenance, defined as maintenance not
performed as needed and put off for a future time. For
FY2021, the backlog for NPS was reported at $22.8 billion,
FS at $6.3 billion, BLM at $4.4 billion, and FWS at $1.8
billion. Additionally, the Department of the Interior (DOI)
reported DM of $1.6 billion for Indian Affairs, including
the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE). A relatively large
portion of DM for NPS (46%), FS (68%), and BLM (83%)
is related to transportation assets.
Prior to the enactment of the GAOA, most funding for
agency DM came from discretionary appropriations (i.e.,
through the annual appropriations process). The agencies
also have had other mandatory sources of funds, such as
transportation maintenance monies from the Highway Trust
Fund and entrance and recreation fees under the Federal
Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (16 U.S.C. §§6801-
6814).
The GAOA established the National Parks and Public Land
Legacy Restoration Fund (LRF) with mandatory
appropriations to address DM for the five agencies (NPS,
FS, FWS, BLM, and BIE). The fund is to receive annual
deposits for FY2021-FY2025 of 50% of all federal energy
development revenues (from oil, gas, coal, or renewable
energy) credited in the preceding fiscal year as
miscellaneous receipts to the Treasury, up to a cap of $1.9
billion annually. The law explicitly provides that such
deposits would not affect the disposition of energy revenues
due to states, trust funds, or special funds (e.g., to the
LWCF and the Historic Preservation Fund [HPF, 54 U.S.C.
§303102]). It also explicitly provides that such deposits
would not affect revenues otherwise appropriated under
federal law, including appropriations from the LWCF and
HPF and under the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act
(GOMESA; 43 U.S.C. §1331 note) and the Mineral Leasing
Act (30 U.S.C. §191).
Of the amounts deposited in the fund each year, NPS
receives a 70% share, FS 15%, FWS 5%, BLM 5%, and
BIE 5% for its schools. The agencies must use the funding
for priority deferred maintenance projects. Over the full
period of FY2021-FY2025, at least 65% of each agency's
funds are to be allocated for non-transportation projects.
To allocate the funds, the GAOA generally directs the
President to submit lists of priority DM projects to
Congress with annual budget justifications. The law
specifies that appropriations acts may provide an alternate
allocation under the percentages defined for each agency.
If Congress does not enact an alternate allocation by the
date of enactment of full-year appropriations for Interior,
Environment, and Related Agencies (or if Congress
allocates less than the full amount), the President shall
allocate any unallocated amounts.
Funding Allocations
For the first year of the LRF (FY2021), the maximum
amount of $1.9 billion was available for allocation. The
FY2021 appropriations law for Interior, Environment, and
Related Agencies (P.L. 116-260, Division G, §434) and the
accompanying explanatory statement allocated the funding
to specific DM projects, which appeared to match those that
had been proposed by the Administration. The explanatory
statement also reflected the Administration's proposal for
some non-project-specific allocations for each agency for
activities such as program support, project delivery, and
mission support.
The maximum amount of $1.9 billion was deposited in the
LRF for FY2022, subject to sequestration. (See, below,
under Budgetary Implications of the Great American
Outdoors Act.) The FY2022 Interior, Environment, and
Related Agencies appropriations law (P.L. 117-103,
Division G, §431) and its accompanying explanatory
statement included project-specific and non-project-specific
allocations of the GAOA funding. This allocation generally
matched the proposed allocations submitted in the
President's budget request, with some changes.
The amount of funding available through the LRF for
FY2023 will depend on federal energy revenues collected
in FY2022 (up to the $1.9 billion cap). President Biden's
FY2023 budget request proposed allocations for the
maximum amount according to the percentages for each
agency specified in the GAOA. Full-year appropriations for
FY2023 have not been enacted as of the date of this CRS
product.
Land and Water Conservation Fund
Under the LWCF Act, $900.0 million is deposited annually
into the LWCF. Nearly all of the revenue is derived from oil and](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/govejur0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)