Congress hands a named individual a free flagpole permit, exempts it from environmental law.

What it does

This bill directs the Secretary of Agriculture to issue a 10-year special use permit allowing Robert S. Collins of Provo, Utah (or a qualified Utah County resident/nonprofit if he declines) to place and maintain a U.S. flagpole at Kyhv Peak Lookout Point in the Uinta National Forest. The permit is free of land-use fees, renewable for successive 10-year periods, and exempt from environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act.

Why we flagged it

The bill's operative mechanism is a direct, named grant of a federal permit to a specific person (Robert S. Collins) with no competitive process, environmental review, or fee. The patriotic framing (flagpole, Star-Spangled Summit) masks a straightforward private benefit carved out of public land.

What the text implies

• NEPA exemption removes public notice and environmental impact review for all activities at the site, including placement, maintenance, and removal of the flagpole—setting a precedent for other special-use permits to claim similar exemptions.
• The 'qualified person' fallback definition is broad enough to capture any Utah County nonprofit or volunteer organization, but the bill's primary intent is to benefit Robert S. Collins specifically; the fallback is a legal shield against a direct-naming challenge.
• The fee waiver (no land-use fees) creates a permanent subsidy of private use of public land; comparable permits on federal land typically carry annual fees that fund forest management.
• The succession mechanism (permit holder can identify successor, who gets priority) creates a de facto hereditary or organizational monopoly on the permit, insulating it from competitive renewal.
• The bill's title ('Star-Spangled Summit Act') and patriotic framing obscure that the core mechanism is a private land-use monopoly, not a public patriotic initiative.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

The bill creates a named-individual carve-out for a federal permit that would normally be competitively awarded and subject to environmental review. Citizens lose transparency and environmental protection (NEPA exemption) in exchange for a single person's convenience; the public bears the cost of maintaining a flagpole on public land at no fee, with no competitive process or environmental scrutiny.

Who stands to gain

• Robert S. Collins (named individual)
• Utah County nonprofits or volunteer organizations (if Collins declines)

Named in the bill

Robert S. Collins, Provo, Utah, Utah County, Utah, Kyhv Peak Lookout Point, Uinta National Forest, U.S. Forest Service, Secretary of Agriculture, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

Where it stands

1 cosponsor: 1 Republicans.

• Jul 23, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
• Jul 23, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources”
• Feb 12, 2026 — 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 2 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $440,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 12 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.

• Leading Builders of America — $440,000 on 2 filings

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 1, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.