Gateway Arch National Park can host private events with legal protection.
H.R. 5254 — Gateway Partnership Act of 2025 · Filed by Wesley Bell (D-MO) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Sep 10, 2025 · Passed chamber
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What it does
The bill lets the Interior Secretary sign a five-year deal with the Gateway Arch Park Foundation. The Foundation can hold private events in park buildings like the Visitor Center and Old Courthouse. The Foundation pays fees to cover maintenance and daily costs. The deal includes insurance and rules to protect the park. The deal also protects the park from lawsuits for harm.
Who it affects
Visitors to Gateway Arch National Park may see some buildings reserved for private events at times. Event attendees face the risk of harm without being able to sue the park. The Gateway Arch Park Foundation gains the right to host events.
One thing to notice
The park is protected from lawsuits for harm even if park staff or broken buildings cause it. This shifts the risk to people at private events.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 1 Democrats, 1 Republicans.
- Sep 10, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Sep 10, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Natural Resources and Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources”
- Dec 2, 2025 — Hearing held · Congress.gov: “Subcommittee Hearings Held”
- Jan 22, 2026 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Jan 22, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute (Amended) by Unanimous Consent”
- Mar 16, 2026 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H2519-2520)”
- Mar 16, 2026 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Wittman moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 1 reports from Dec 2025 to Dec 2025.
Those reports show $139,430 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 46 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.
More groups named this bill than 0% of bills with any report.
Wesley Bell, who sponsored the bill, received $654,445 from PACs for the 2026 election.
- National Parks Conservation Association — $139,430 in 1 report
Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.
Words to know
- Gateway Arch Park Foundation — A nonprofit group that works with Gateway Arch National Park.
- lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
- PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.
- sponsored — To sponsor a bill is to introduce it in Congress and put your name on it.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (4,375 characters) on Jul 9, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,522 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 Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. 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 Jan 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-09-21.
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