Federal conservation funding gets easier for local partners
S. 1228 — A bill to amend the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993 to modify the cost-sharing requirement for conservation projects carried out by a qualified youth or conservation corps, and for other purposes. · Filed by James Risch (R-ID) · 5 cosponsors · Introduced Apr 1, 2025 · Hearing held
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill reduces the federal cost-sharing requirement for conservation projects run by youth and conservation corps from 75% federal / 25% local to 90% federal / 10% local. It makes federal funding cover a larger share of project costs, reducing the burden on state, local, and nonprofit partners.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is a straightforward increase in federal cost-sharing for youth and conservation corps projects, making federal dollars cover a larger percentage of project costs. This is routine appropriations-adjacent policy adjustment with no hidden provisions.
What the text implies
- Increased federal cost-share may incentivize more conservation projects by lowering barriers for cash-strapped state and local governments, potentially expanding youth employment in conservation work.
- The change may shift project selection toward regions or organizations with weaker local fundraising capacity, potentially directing more federal conservation resources to underserved areas.
- Reduced local cost-sharing requirement could free up state and local budgets for other priorities, or conversely reduce local stakeholder investment and oversight in project outcomes.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill shifts more of the conservation project cost burden to the federal government, reducing financial barriers for state, local, and nonprofit organizations to participate in youth employment and land stewardship. This expands access to conservation work and public lands management without requiring local entities to raise matching funds.
Who stands to gain
- state and local government agencies
- nonprofit conservation organizations
- youth and conservation corps programs
Named in the bill
Public Lands Corps Act of 1993, Section 212(a)(1), qualified youth or conservation corps, state and local governments, nonprofit organizations
Where it stands
5 cosponsors: 3 Democrats, 2 Republicans.
- Apr 1, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Apr 1, 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 2, 2025 — Hearing held · Congress.gov: “Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining. Hearings held”
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, Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. Those filings disclosed $139,430 in lobbying spend. A filing names 46 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.
James Risch, the sponsor, reported $1,209,927 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- National Parks Conservation Association — $139,430 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jan 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 (301 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 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 2026-10-20.
“Federal conservation funding gets easier for local partners” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s1228 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.