Congress increases federal spending on public land recreation access
H.R. 105 — Increasing Public Access to Recreation Act · Filed by Andy Biggs (R-AZ) · Introduced Jan 3, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill increases the federal government's annual spending on public recreational access to federal lands by raising the cap from $15 million to $50 million per year, and raises the percentage of certain federal recreation revenues that must be dedicated to access improvements from 3% to 10%. The changes make more money available for trails, facilities, and programs that help ordinary Americans use public lands for outdoor recreation.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is a straightforward increase in mandatory federal spending on public recreational access to federal lands. It is a direct appropriations/funding-level amendment with no hidden provisions or narrow beneficiaries.
What the text implies
- The bill does not specify which federal lands or which types of recreational access qualify; implementation depends on how the cited statute (54 U.S.C. § 200306) defines eligible projects and agencies. If that section is narrowly drawn or agency-specific, the benefit may be concentrated.
- Increased funding does not guarantee increased access if implementation is slow or if agencies prioritize maintenance over new facilities. Actual citizen benefit depends on agency execution and appropriations follow-through.
- The bill raises the percentage of 'certain federal recreation revenues' dedicated to access, but does not identify which revenues are subject to this requirement. The scope depends on the definition in the cited statute.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill increases public funding for recreational access to federal lands, directly benefiting ordinary citizens by expanding trails, facilities, and programs on public property they own. No restrictions on citizen rights or remedies are imposed; the mechanism is purely additive spending.
Named in the bill
U.S. Department of Interior (likely administering agency), U.S. Forest Service (likely administering agency), Federal lands (public lands managed by federal government)
Where it stands
- Jan 3, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jan 3, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $155,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 24 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Andy Biggs, the sponsor, reported $9,100 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Open Space Institute, Inc. — $155,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 21, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (319 characters) on Aug 12, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 21, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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