TABLE 3. STATUS OF HIGHWAY TRUST FUND, ACTUAL FISCAL YEARS 1957-80

1 Fiscal 1977 and prior years noninterstate authorizations and all fiscal year authorizations for interstate construction and resurfacing are available for obligation in advance of the fiscal year for which authorized. Fiscal 1978 and subsequent noninterstate authorizations become available on October 1 of the fiscal year for which authorized.

Section 4. Inland Waterways Trust Fund

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

After two years of congressional debate, the Inland Waterways Trust Fund was established in Title II of Public Law 95-502, the Inland Waterways Revenue Act of 1978, enacted on October 21, 1978. The purpose of the Act is to provide funding for making construction and rehabilitation expenditures for navigation on specified inland and intracoastal waterways.

FINANCING MECHANISM

The 1978 Act imposed an excise tax (section 4042 of the Internal Revenue Code) effective October 1, 1980, on fuel used by vessels in commercial waterway transportation on those 26 inland and intracoastal waterways specified in section 206 of the Act. These waterways include the Mississippi River upstream from Baton Rouge, the Mississippi's tributaries, and the Gulf and Atlantic Intracoastal Waterways.

The tax rate was established at 4 cents per gallon for October 1, 1980, through September 30, 1981, with scheduled increases of 2 cents per gallon on October 1, 1981 (to 6 cents), October 1, 1983 (to 8 cents), and October 1, 1985 (to 10 cents). The tax does not apply to deep-draft ocean-going vessels, passenger or fishing vessels, or certain barges. The revenues from this tax are deposited into the Trust Fund.

EXPENDITURE PURPOSES

Amounts in the Trust Fund are available as provided in appropriations acts, for construction and rehabilitation expenditures for navigation on the specified inland and intracoastal waterways.

MISCELLANEOUS

The 1978 Act required an extensive study on inland waterways user taxes and charges by the Secretary of Transportation and the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with a number of other agencies. Section 205 of the Act specified the issues to be considered in the study. These issues include: the extent to which the Federal Government should seek to recover its expenditures from users; the various forms of taxes or charges, methods for collecting, and coverage of users and waterways; the economic effects on carriers and users, regions, businesses, competitors, prices and so forth; the proper measurement of benefits to be assigned to users; the effects on development of the waterways. This study, to be submitted to Congress no later than September 30, 1981, along with the findings and recommendations of the Secretary of Transportation and various other agencies, was received in February 1982.

The Secretary of the Treasury is also required to submit an annual report to the Congress on the financial condition of the Trust Fund, beginning September 30, 1981. This annual report has not been received by the Congress.

The House Committee on Public Works and Transportation has jurisdiction over inland waterway authorizations.

The statutory provisions establishing the Inland Waterways Trust Fund and governing its operations are located at 33 U.S.C. 1801.

FINANCIAL STATUS OF THE TRUST FUND

The Budget for the United States for fiscal year 1983 shows receipts to the Inland Waterway Trust Fund of $21.6 million in fiscal year 1981 and an estimated $64.7 million in fiscal year 1982. There have been no appropriations from the Trust Fund for fiscal year 1981 or fiscal year 1982.

Section 5. Land and Water Conservation Fund

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

On September 3, 1964, the Congress enacted Public Law 88-578, which established the Land and Water Conservation Fund as a separate account in the Treasury, effective January 1, 1965. Minor amendments were made to the Fund in 1965 (Public Law 89-72).

In 1968, Public Law 90-401 eliminated the system of user fees for all Federal recreation areas that had been included previously in the law. The repeal was effective December 31, 1971.1 The 1968 Act also added authorization for additional appropriations of such amounts as are necessary to make the income of the Fund not less than $200 million for each of the five fiscal years beginning July 1, 1968, and ending June 30, 1973. To the extent that appropriated sums are insufficient to reach the required amounts, an amount sufficient to cover the remainder is to be credited to the Fund from revenues due and payable to the United States for deposit in the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.

In 1970, Public Law 91-485 increased the authorized appropriations to not less than $300 million for fiscal years 1971 through June 30, 1989. As a result of amendments in 1976 and 1977, the amount for fiscal year 1978 was increased to $900 million (Public Law 94-422, Public Law 94-273 and Public Law 95-42).

In 1981, Public Law 96-451 provided for the transfer from the Land and Water Conservation Fund up to $20 million per year for fiscal years 1981-1983 of revenues from motorboat fuel taxes to the National Recreational Boating Safety and Facilities Improvement Fund. (See section 6 for discussion of the Boating Fund.) In 1981, Public Law 96-514 provided that revenues from recreation fee collections should be deposited into the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

FINANCING MECHANISM

16 U.S.C. 4607-5 provides that the following amounts will be deposited in the Land and Water Conservation Fund:

(1) All proceeds (except that committed under 40 U.S.C. 485 (b) and (c) or the Independent Offices Appropriation Act, 1963, or in any later appropriation act) received from any disposal of surplus real property and related personal property under the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended, notwithstanding any provision of law that such pro

1 A limited system of fees was later reinstated, and for several years these revenues generally were to be covered into a special account in the Treasury to be administered in conjunction with, but separately from, the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

ceeds shall be credited to miscellaneous receipts of the Treasury;

(2) Generally, the amounts equivalent to the 4 cents per gallon tax on gasoline and special fuels used as fuel in motorboats (amounts specified in section 209(f)(5) of the Highway Revenue Act of 1956); 2

(3) In addition, there are authorized to be appropriated annually to the Fund such amounts as necessary to make the income of the Fund not less than $300 million for fiscal year 1977, and $900 million for fiscal year 1978 and for each fiscal year thereafter through September 30, 1989.

(4) To the extent that the appropriated sums are not sufficient to make the total annual income of the Fund equivalent to the amounts enumerated above, an amount sufficient to cover the remainder shall be credited to the Fund from revenues due and payable as miscellaneous receipts under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.).

EXPENDITURE PURPOSES

16 U.S.C. 4607-4 provides that the land and water conservation provisions of section 460 are "to assist in preserving, developing, and assuring accessibility to all citizens of the United States of America of present and future generations and visitors who are lawfully present within the boundaries of the United States of America such quality and quantity of outdoor recreation resources as may be available and are necessary and desirable for individual active participation in such recreation and to strengthen the health and vitality of the citizens of the United States by (1) providing funds for and authorizing Federal assistance to the States in planning, acquisition, and development of needed land and water areas and facilities and (2) providing funds for the Federal acquisition and development of certain lands and other areas."

Monies in the Fund are available for expenditures as provided in appropriation acts. Not less than 40 percent of annual appropriations are to be used for Federal purposes; these include activities and programs of the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Forest Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park System. The remainder of funds appropriated are for state purposes, and these funds are apportioned among the states on the basis of statutory formula and criteria.

MISCELLANEOUS

Jurisdiction over all the land and water conservation programs is within the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs.

No annual report is required on the Fund's financial condition or operations.

2 However, Public Law 96-451 provides for the transfer from the Land and Water Conservation Fund of up to $20 million per year for fiscal years 1981-1983 of motorboat fuel taxes to the National Recreational Boating Safety and Facilities Improvement Fund.