Congress orders study on Utah's 280-mile historic trail
S. 1135 — A bill to amend the National Trails System Act to direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study on the feasibility of designating the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. · Filed by John Curtis (R-UT) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Mar 26, 2025 · Reported out
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What it does
This bill directs the Secretary of Agriculture to study whether the Bonneville Shoreline Trail—a 280-mile system of trails in Utah following an ancient lakebed—should be formally designated as part of the National Trails System. The study itself is the only action; no designation occurs unless Congress acts later on the study's findings.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is a mandate for a federal study on trail designation feasibility. It is a procedural step in the National Trails System process, not a substantive policy change or appropriation.
What the text implies
- Study outcome is non-binding; designation would require separate congressional action, so this bill does not guarantee trail protection or public access.
- Secretary of Agriculture (not Interior, despite the original title) will conduct the study, which may reflect jurisdictional or resource considerations not apparent from the bill text alone.
- Trail extends across multiple Utah counties and the Idaho border, potentially involving state and local coordination not addressed in the bill.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill creates a study process that may lead to formal trail designation, expanding public outdoor recreation access and conservation of a historic landscape feature. There is no immediate cost to citizens; the study is a low-cost information-gathering step that preserves future options for public benefit.
Named in the bill
Secretary of Agriculture, National Trails System Act, Bonneville Shoreline Trail, Utah, Idaho, Nephi, Utah, Lake Bonneville
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Republicans.
- Mar 26, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Mar 26, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources”
- Dec 9, 2025 — Hearing held · Congress.gov: “Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks. Hearings held”
- Mar 4, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a…”
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 2 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $0 in lobbying spend. A filing names 33 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.
John Curtis, the sponsor, reported $431,000 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Nebraska Hospital Association — $0 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 13, 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 (791 characters) on Jun 8, 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 13, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress orders study on Utah's 280-mile historic trail” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s1135 Report an error
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