Bill > HR674

This bill codifies the authority of the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior to conduct certain landscape-scale forest restoration projects. The key provisions include: 1. Defining key terms like "collaborative process", "Federal land", and "Secretary concerned". 2. Requiring the Secretary concerned to maintain a list of non-Federal, third-party contractors that can be hired to complete analyses required for project consideration. 3. Allowing the Secretary concerned to enter into agreements with persons who have developed project proposals through a collaborative process, where the person initially provides funding for the required analyses, the Secretary hires a contractor from the list to conduct the analyses, and the Secretary then uses any receipts generated by the project to repay the person. 4. Providing the Secretary concerned with additional authorities, such as the ability to use receipts generated by the project and to non-competitively hire contractors from the list. 5. Establishing savings clauses to ensure the Secretary concerned retains decision-making authority and that there are no conflicts of interest. 6. Requiring the Secretary concerned to provide guidance to local field offices to promote the use of this authority. 7. Granting certain rights to persons who participated in the collaborative process to develop the project proposal. 8. Setting a sunset date of January 1, 2033 for the requirement to maintain a contractor list and the authority to enter into the agreements.

Agriculture and Natural Resources, Government Affairs

https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/674/all-info