The U.S. Department of the Interior and the National Park Service violated federal laws during last winter’s federal government shutdown by spending entrance fee revenues for daily operations, the government oversight agency has found.
Members of Congress asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate the parks’ compliance with appropriations laws when routine government activities were suspended due to lack of federal budget authority from Dec. 22, 2018, through Jan. 25, 2019. The parks apparently were kept open by diverting entrance and user fees from their intended uses.
According to GAO, user fees are collected under the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA) and must be spent on facility maintenance and improvements, restoration of natural and cultural resources and educational and interpretive programs.
Funding for routine daily operations, such as trash collection, restroom maintenance and sanitation, come from another appropriations category, Operation of the National Park System (ONPS).
GAO found that the Interior kept parks open during the shutdown by diverting funds from its facility maintenance account to daily operations.
Last year NPS announced plans to increase entrance fees at some parks and impose user fees at parks that had not been charging them. Administrators said the revenue is needed to address $11.6 billion in needed repairs and improvements at the 417 national parks. Implementation of the fee increases appears to be on hold as the NPS has formed a study committee representing the tourism industry and including the United Motorcoach Association.
Following the government shutdown, the Department of the Interior said it “replenished” the funds removed from the FLREA account and “asserted that this simple, two-step approach provides a useful model for dealing with lapse conditions in the future.”
However, the GAO report stated, “Appropriated funds are available only for authorized purposes… we conclude that Interior violated the purpose statute when, during the shutdown, it obligated FLREA fees for expenses that it would normally charge to ONPS appropriations.”
The Department of the Interior should report its violation to Congress as required by federal law “and enumerate actions it has taken to prevent recurring violations in the event of future funding lapses. With this decision, we will consider such violations in the future to be knowing and willful violations of the Act.”
The Interior Department did not respond to requests to “provide its explanation of the pertinent facts and its legal views,” GAO added. “An agency’s failure to respond will not preclude our issuance of an opinion. We take our responsibility to Congress seriously, and will not allow an agency’s lack of cooperation to interfere with Congress’s oversight of executive spending.”
