Federal agencies to coordinate on expanding playgrounds and youth activity spaces
H.R. 6245 — PLAY Act · Filed by Nikema Williams (D-GA) · 5 cosponsors · Introduced Nov 20, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a federal task force within 180 days, composed of leaders from 12 federal agencies (HHS, Interior, EPA, Agriculture, HUD, Transportation, CEQ, Defense, Army Corps of Engineers, AmeriCorps, Education, and others), to coordinate efforts on building and improving community playgrounds and outdoor physical activity spaces for children. The task force will identify barriers to access, develop recommendations for inter-agency coordination, and promote public-private partnership models for evidence-based play environments; it will issue a preliminary report within 180 days of establishment and a final report one year later, then dissolve.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is the establishment of an interagency task force to coordinate federal efforts on youth physical activity infrastructure. It is a coordination and recommendation-generating measure, not a spending bill, regulatory mandate, or private-sector carve-out.
What the text implies
- Task force recommendations may lead to future appropriations requests or regulatory changes; this bill itself does not appropriate funds or mandate spending, but it creates a planning vehicle that could drive future budget proposals.
- Public-private partnership language (subsection (1)(e)) may create pathways for private playground equipment manufacturers, landscaping firms, or recreation companies to bid on federally-coordinated projects, though no direct subsidy or preference is stated in this bill.
- The inclusion of the Secretary of Defense and Army Corps of Engineers suggests potential use of federal lands (military bases, Corps-managed waterways) for youth recreation, which could expand access but also raise questions about liability and civilian use of federal property.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill creates a coordination mechanism to expand access to safe, free or low-cost community playgrounds and outdoor activity spaces—infrastructure that reduces childhood obesity, improves mental health, and strengthens community cohesion. No restrictions on citizen rights or remedies are imposed; the bill is purely additive (a task force and recommendations). The primary cost is staff time and administrative overhead, which is modest relative to the public health benefit of increased physical
Who stands to gain
- playground equipment manufacturers
- landscape architecture and design firms
- nonprofit community development organizations
- outdoor recreation and sports equipment suppliers
Named in the bill
Department of Health and Human Services, Department of the Interior, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Agriculture, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Transportation, Council on Environmental Quality, Department of Defense, Army Corps of Engineers, Corporation for National and Community Service, Department of Education, House Committee on Energy and Commerce — and 1 more
Where it stands
5 cosponsors: 3 Democrats, 2 Republicans.
- Nov 20, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Nov 20, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
3 lobbying clients named this bill on 4 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $544,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 2 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 61% of bills with at least one filing.
Nikema Williams, the sponsor, reported $431,250 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- American Heart Association — $400,000 on 1 filing
- Kaboom! — $114,000 on 2 filings
- Kaboom! — $30,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 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 (4,846 characters) on Aug 17, 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 Dec 2025 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 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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