Congress expands free national parks access to firefighters and police
S. 3456 — Law Enforcement Officer and Firefighter Recreation Pass Act · Filed by Tim Sheehy (R-MT) · 16 cosponsors · Introduced Dec 11, 2025 · Hearing held
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What it does
This bill amends federal law to provide free annual passes to national parks and federal recreational lands for law enforcement officers and firefighters (federal, state, local, and tribal employees). Currently, these passes are available only to active-duty military members and their dependents; the bill extends the same benefit to eligible law enforcement and firefighting personnel at no cost.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is to extend an existing federal recreation pass benefit to a defined class of public-service workers (law enforcement and firefighters). It is a straightforward eligibility expansion with no hidden provisions or narrow carve-outs.
What the text implies
- The bill defines 'firefighter' and 'law enforcement officer' broadly to include federal, state, local, and tribal employees, potentially covering tens of thousands of workers nationwide.
- No sunset or review mechanism is included; the benefit is permanent once enacted, creating an ongoing but modest federal revenue loss.
- The Secretary retains discretion to determine 'adequate proof of eligibility,' which could create administrative variance in implementation across regions.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Law enforcement officers and firefighters gain a tangible benefit (free annual park access) that recognizes their public service and provides modest recreation access. The cost to the federal government is minimal (foregone pass revenue from a defined occupational group) and is offset by the public-service recognition value and the fact that these workers often work irregular schedules and have limited leisure time.
Named in the bill
Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act, National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass, Department of Interior (implied Secretary), Law enforcement officers (federal, state, local, tribal), Firefighters (federal, state, local, tribal), Armed Forces (existing beneficiary class)
Where it stands
16 cosponsors: 12 Republicans, 4 Democrats.
- Dec 11, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Dec 11, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources”
- Jul 21, 2026 — Hearing held · Congress.gov: “Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks. 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, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $50,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 85 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.
Tim Sheehy, the sponsor, reported $398,825 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Peace Officers Research Association of California — $50,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 19, 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 (1,314 characters) on Jul 5, 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 Jun 2026 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 19, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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