Restoring Healthy Forests for Healthy Communities Act
Latest action. Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Restoring Healthy Forests for Healthy Communities Act - Title I: Restoring the Commitment to Rural Counties and Schools - (Sec. 103) Directs the Secretary of Agriculture (USDA) (the Secretary in this title) to establish at least one Forest Reserve Revenue Area (Area) within each unit of the National Forest System (NFS) designated for sustainable forest management for the production of national forest materials (the sale of trees, portions of trees, or forest products from NFS lands) and forest reserve revenues (to be derived from the sale of such materials in such an Area).
States that the purpose of an Area is to provide a dependable source of 25% payments and economic activity for each beneficiary county containing NFS land that was eligible to receive payments through its state under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000.
Requires the Secretary to determine the annual volume requirement for each Area.
Prohibits the Secretary from reducing the number of acres of NFS land in an Area once it has been established.
(Sec. 104) Instructs the Secretary to: (1) manage Areas in the manner necessary to achieve their annual volume requirement (a volume of national forest materials at least 50% of the Area's sustained yield), and (2) conduct covered forest reserve projects within those Areas in accordance with this section, which shall serve as the only means by which the Secretary will comply with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) and other applicable laws. Defines "covered forest reserve project" as one involving the management or sale of national forest materials within an Area to generate forest reserve revenues and achieve its annual volume requirement.
Requires the Secretary to complete an environmental assessment for a covered forest reserve project proposed for an Area, but does not require the Secretary to study, develop, or describe any alternative to the proposed agency action.
Makes the decision notice for a covered reserve project the final agency action, and prohibits the requirement of any additional analysis under NEPA to implement any part of the covered project.
The summary continues for 112 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed House amended" stage on September 20, 2013. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on September 23, 2013: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 113th Congress (2013-14), 296 of the 9,091 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.3 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
DOC HASTINGS (R-WA) introduced it on April 12, 2013, and 22 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 22 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on April 12, 2013, 4899 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 4735 days ago, on September 23, 2013.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 113th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2015 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers