Lapas attēli
PDF
ePub

J. Federal Aid to Wildlife Restoration Fund

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

The Act of September 2, 1937, provided for cooperation between the Federal Government and the States regarding wildlife restoration projects. The 1939 Reorganization Plan No. II, section 4(f), transferred the functions of the Secretary of Agriculture relating to the conservation of wildlife game and migratory birds to the Secretary of the Interior.

The 1937 Act provided that amounts equivalent to excise taxes on sporting arms and ammunition would be deposited into the Federal Aid to Wildlife Restoration Fund.

The Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act Amendments of 1970 (Title I of Public Law 91-503), added provisions for the deposit of the amounts equivalent to excise taxes on pistols and revolvers into the Fund beginning in fiscal year 1971. Public Law 92-558 added provisions for the deposit of amounts equivalent to the excise taxes on bows and arrows and their parts and accessories into the Fund beginning with fiscal year 1975.

FINANCING MECHANISM

To carry out wildlife restoration projects, there is a permanent appropriation authorized of an amount equal to all revenues accruing from any tax imposed by Internal Revenue Code section 4161(b) on bows, arrows, and parts and accessories and section 4181 on pistols, revolvers, other firearms, shells, and cartridges. The tax amounts are appropriated in the fiscal year following the year of receipt.

Section 4161(b) imposes an excise tax of 11 percent of the manufacturer's or importer's price on bows with a draw weight of 10 pounds or more; arrows that measure 18 inches overall or more in length or arrows that measure less than 18 inches in overall length which are suitable for use with a taxable bow; and parts, accessories, or quivers suitable for use with taxable bows.

Section 4181 imposes an excise tax of 10 percent of the manufacturer's or importer's price upon the sale of pistols and revolvers and 11 percent on other firearms (i.e., sporting rifles and shotguns), shells, and cartridges. Section 4182 provides exemptions for certain machine guns (including automatic weapons), and short barrelled firearms (on which a transfer tax has been paid under section 5811) and sales to the Defense Department.

EXPENDITURE PURPOSES

Any State which wishes to receive any of these appropriations must assent to the provisions of Chapter 5B of U.S. Code Title 16 and enact laws for the conservation of wildlife including a prohibi

tion against the diversion of license fees paid by hunters for any purpose other than the administration of the State fish and game department. The Secretary of the Interior and the State fish and game department must agree upon the wildlife restoration projects to be aided in the State. The project must conform to the standards set by the Secretary of the Interior.

A wildlife restoration project is defined to include the selection, restoration, rehabilitation, and improvement of areas of land or water adaptable as feeding, resting, or breeding places for wildlife, including acquisition by purchase, condemnation, lease or gift of such areas or estates or interests therein as are suitable or capable of being made suitable therefore, and the construction thereon or therein of such works as may be necessary to make them available for such purposes. The term includes also such research into problems of wildlife management as may be necessary to efficient administration affecting wildlife resources. States are reimbursed up to 75 percent of the cost of approved wildlife restoration and hunter education projects.

The authorized revenues are made available until expended. Amounts not spent by a State within two fiscal years are made available for expenditure by the Secretary of the Interior to carry out the provisions of the Migratory Bird Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 715).

Up to 8 percent of the available funds are required to be apportioned as the Secretary of the Interior estimates necessary to administer the Migratory Bird Conservation Act. The remainder of the revenue (except as provided in the following paragraph) is apportioned among the States in the following manner: one-half in the ratio which the area of each State bears to the total area of all the States, and one-half in the ratio which the number of paid hunting-license holders of each State (2 years earlier) bears to the total number of paid license holders of all the States. No State is to receive less than one-half of 1 percent or more than 5 percent of the total amount apportioned.

One-half of the revenues from the tax imposed on pistols, revolvers, bows, and arrows is to be apportioned among the States in proportion to the ratio that the population of each States bears to the population of all the States. Each State is to be apportioned between 1 and 3 percent of the revenue under this population apportionment.

Puerto Rico, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands can also be appropriated limited amounts of these revenues.

MISCELLANEOUS

Statutory language regarding the wildlife aid program and related matters is located at 16 U.S.C. 669 and following.

The House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries has jurisdiction over expenditures for wildlife restoration projects.

FINANCIAL STATUS OF THE FUND

The table below presents data on fund amounts available for appropriation.

FEDERAL AID TO WILDLIFE RESTORATION FUND: AMOUNTS AVAILABLE FOR APPROPRIATION

[blocks in formation]

K. Reforestation Trust Fund

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

In 1980, the Congress enacted Title III of Public Law 96-451, which provided for the amortization of certain reforestation expenses and established the Reforestation Trust Fund.

In 1982, provisions were enacted as part of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982 (H.R. 6211, P.L. 97-424) directing the Secretary of Agriculture to expend all amounts in the Trust Fund during fiscal years 1983, 1984, and 1985, and directing that the Secretary spend not less than $104 million in fiscal year 1983. The 1982 Act also stated that it was the intent of the Congress that amounts remaining in the Trust Fund as of October 1, 1985, from the earlier period were to be distributed to the States for use in State forestry programs no later than April 30, 1986.

FINANCING MECHANISM

Funds for the Reforestation Trust Fund are derived from import duties on plywood and lumber. The Secretary of the Treasury is required to transfer receipts from these tariffs to the Trust Fund in maximum amounts of $30 million for each fiscal year. In addition, the Trust Fund earns interest on investments of any cash balance.

EXPENDITURE PURPOSES

Moneys in the Trust Fund are to be used to supplement congressional appropriations for reforestation and timber stock improvement on publicly owned national forests, in order to eliminate and prevent a backlog in reforestation of the National Forest System. For each of the five fiscal years from fiscal year 1981 through fiscal year 1985, appropriations were authorized from the Trust Fund to the Secretary of Agriculture to pay estimated necessary direct costs and properly allocable administrative costs for reforestation and related programs (under section 3(d)(2)) of the Forest Rangeland Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1601(d)(2)), but only to the extent these estimated costs exceeded amounts appropriated out of the general fund for these purposes.

While the expenditure language regarding the Trust Fund appears to provide expenditure purposes only through fiscal year 1985, it does add that it is the intent of the Congress that the Secretary of Agriculture expend all of the funds available in the Trust Fund in each fiscal year. Any such funds which are not expended in a given fiscal year remain available for expenditure without fiscal year limitation (except as noted above).

MISCELLANEOUS

After consulting with the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of the Treasury must submit annual reports to the Congress setting forth the financial condition and operating results of the Reforestation Trust Fund for the preceding fiscal year and the expected condition and results of the Trust Fund for the next year.

The statutory language establishing the Reforestation Trust Fund and governing its operations are located at 16 U.S.C. 1606(a).

FINANCIAL STATUS OF FUND

The table below presents data on amounts in the Reforestation Trust Fund available for appropriation.

[blocks in formation]
« iepriekšējāTurpināt »