The U.S. Senate today passed the National Defense Authorization Act of 2015, which included a provision authored by House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) to establish a fair, predictable fee-setting system for families who own cabins in our National Forests.  The bill will now be sent to the President to be signed into law.

"After years of hard work to fix this problem, I’m pleased that this bill is now on its way to being signed into law.   It puts a fair solution in place by creating a stable pricing structure and will help keep these family-owned cabins affordable for future generations to enjoy,” said Hastings.

Cabin owners have recently been faced with arbitrary, skyrocketing fees as a result of a faulty appraisal system that has allowed annual cabin fees to increase exponentially.  Unable to afford the mounting fees, owners are faced with the choice of selling their cabins or abandoning and tearing them down.  Hastings’ Cabin Fee Act of 2014, which was the basis for this provision, establishes a simple, predictable fee-setting system under which cabin lots are assigned a place on a six tiered fee structure based on current appraisal.

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