Federal grant program funds search and rescue on public lands
H.R. 3777 — Public Land Search and Rescue Act · Filed by Celeste Maloy (R-UT) · 7 cosponsors · Introduced Jun 5, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill directs the Interior Secretary to create a federal grant program that funds remote search and rescue operations on public lands managed by Interior and Agriculture. States and local governments can apply for grants covering up to 75% of costs for equipment, maintenance, and actual rescue operations in remote areas, with priority given to regions with high visitor-to-resident ratios.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is straightforward: a federal grant program for state and local search and rescue capacity on public lands. It is a standard intergovernmental funding instrument with no hidden provisions or narrow beneficiaries.
What the text implies
- Grant prioritization for high-visitor areas may concentrate resources in popular national parks and recreation zones, potentially leaving remote wilderness areas with lower visitor traffic underserved.
- The 75% federal cap means poorer states or rural counties with limited budgets may struggle to fund the 25% local match, creating a de facto eligibility barrier despite formal openness.
- Reimbursement for past rescue activities (not just equipment/training) could incentivize states to submit inflated historical cost claims to recover expenses already incurred.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill funds a public safety service (search and rescue) that directly protects citizens visiting federal lands, with no apparent restrictions on citizens' rights or access. The cost-sharing requirement (25% local match) ensures local accountability and prevents pure federal subsidy.
Who stands to gain
- state and local government search and rescue agencies
- equipment manufacturers and suppliers (rescue gear, communications, vehicles)
Named in the bill
Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of Agriculture, State governments, Political subdivisions, Federal lands
Where it stands
7 cosponsors: 4 Republicans, 3 Democrats.
- Jun 5, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jun 5, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Agriculture and House Committee on Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,210 characters) on Aug 11, 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.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
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