Sponsors (69)
Official title: Amend title 54, United States Code, to reauthorize the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 1, 2025 by Steve Daines · Last progress May 1, 2025
The bill channels more predictable, locally-executed revenue toward urgent park and public‑lands repairs and faster project delivery, but it does so by narrowing revenue sources, loosening environmental and procurement safeguards, raising some visitor and small‑business costs, and giving DOI greater fee‑retention authority — trading long‑term oversight and environmental caution for speed and local funding flexibility.
Visitors, local communities, and park units would get more and better‑targeted funding for deferred maintenance, restoration, and park repairs because surcharge proceeds, trademark proceeds (after DOI cost recovery), and Fund allocations are directed to priority projects.
Projects would be delivered faster and more locally because the bill allows noncompetitive contracts to States, Tribes, nonprofits and concessioners, streamlines environmental review procedures, and lets park units set and retain surcharges to boost locally‑managed revenue for high‑demand sites.
Visitors and employees facing imminent hazards would benefit because projects posing immediate public health or safety risks are prioritized for repair funding.
Taxpayers, local governments, and park budgets could receive less or less stable revenue because the bill narrows deposit sources to specific 'Federal onshore land' receipts and the surcharge authority is temporary, creating potential long‑term funding reductions and planning uncertainty.
Communities and culturally sensitive landscapes face higher environmental and cultural risk because broad categorical exclusions and expedited NEPA procedures reduce the extent of environmental review, and prohibiting Fund use to decommission some roads can lock in maintenance and ecological harms.
Taxpayers and small businesses risk higher costs or favoritism because the bill enables noncompetitive contracts for priority projects, which can reduce competition and oversight if procurement controls are weak.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Revises Legacy Restoration Fund deposit sources and allocations, allows a temporary nonresident visitor surcharge at national parks, expands deferred-maintenance rules, and authorizes DOI IP licensing with fee retention for restoration and IP costs.
Changes how the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund receives and allocates deposits, narrows eligible deposit sources, and updates the Fund’s allocation rules. It authorizes a temporary entrance-fee surcharge on nonresident visitors to National Park units (through Sept 30, 2031) with proceeds going to the Restoration Fund, and allows the Department of the Interior to license and keep fees from Department-owned intellectual property, using those fees first to cover IP costs and then to support the Restoration Fund when possible. The bill also expands the statutory definition of “deferred maintenance” to potentially include reconstruction of recently removed assets under conditions and a $5,000,000 cost cap, and adjusts minimum allocation shares of Fund dollars among key land management agencies.