TOURISM INDUSTRY GROUP PREDICTS BILL'S DEMISE

Two Key Western Senators Sign up as Sponsors of Baucus-Crapo Bill

By Bill Schneider, 2-04-08

The Baucus-Crapo Bill, S.2438, the Fee Repeal and Expanded Access Act, recently received a big boost when two more key western senators signed on to the grassroots effort to bring sanity to recreational fee policy on federal lands.

Meanwhile, a tourism industry group discounted the bill as “not a serious threat” to the expanding recreational fee program on federal lands.

Shortly after introduction, freshman Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) signed on, and last week, veteran Senator Ken Salazar (D-CO) became the fourth western senator to sponsor the end of the so-called Recreation Access Tax (RAT) by repealing the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act, which Congress passed as a rider on a must-pass spending bill in 2004.

Senator Salazar serves on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and on both the National Parks and Public Lands & Forests Subcommittees, so he is in an excellent position to influence the passage of the RAT repeal.

At this point, all four sponsors of S.2438 hail from states with large tracts of federal land where residents and nonresidents are frequently subjected to new and increasing fees to use these publicly owned lands.

Also recently, the Western States Tourism Policy Council, a nonprofit, tourism-promotion group made up mainly of state travel directors, sent out an “issues bulletin” discussing the Baucus-Crapo bill, and in essence, said the legislation wasn’t going anywhere because Congress is unlikely to give up recreational fee revenue even though both Senators Baucus and Crapo have vowed to replace any lost revenue through the normal appropriation process.

In response to this bulletin, Scott Silver, director of Wild Wilderness, an advocate for sound recreational fee policy, said “it will be up to us to prove them wrong.”

Footnote: For more NewWest.Net coverage on recreational fee policy, check out our Recreation Fee Chronology.

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