Sponsor
Mike Kennedy
Representative · R-UT
The bill secures and clarifies access (including disability protections and retained management roads) and pushes agencies to prioritize travel-plan updates, but does so in ways that expand motorized access, limit closures and environmental review, and shift administrative, legal, and financial burdens onto agencies, localities, and taxpayers.
Rural communities, recreationists, and land managers keep and can maintain or build motorized and nonmotorized routes, and agencies are directed to prioritize updating travel/motor-vehicle use plans to improve access and management.
People with disabilities retain access and gain clearer expectations about which areas qualify as 'disability-accessible' because accessibility designations cannot be removed except in narrow emergency or safety cases and the bill clarifies criteria.
Firefighters, emergency responders, and nearby residents benefit because retaining roads supports fuels reduction, wildfire response, and search-and-rescue operations.
The law makes it harder to close or fully review many routes (including categorical NEPA exclusions) and expands conditions enabling motorized access, increasing risk of habitat loss, erosion, disturbance to wildlife, and degradation of nonmotorized recreation areas.
Agencies, local governments, and taxpayers could face substantial unfunded administrative, maintenance, and litigation costs because the bill creates expectations and new requirements without providing funding or clear timelines.
Procedural overrides, carve-outs, and new rules increase legal uncertainty and coordination burdens, likely producing more disputes and litigation among federal, state, tribal, and local governments.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Directs Interior and Agriculture to prioritize travel/motor vehicle use plan updates, preserve or create "disability-accessible" public lands by accounting for road miles, and limit certain road closures.
Official title: To ensure access to certain public land, and for other purposes.
Introduced June 9, 2026 by Mike Kennedy · Last progress June 9, 2026
Representative · R-UT
Requires the Forest Service and the Department of the Interior to prioritize updating travel management and motor vehicle use plans and to treat the density of approved, traversable roads when deciding whether public land is considered “disability-accessible.” It directs agencies to favor keeping and approving routes that provide motorized access (including e-bikes and over-snow vehicles), to coordinate with federal, state, local, and Tribal partners on recreation routes, to keep certain historic or claimed roads open during adjudication, and to limit road closures on lands designated as disability-accessible or for wildfire/fuels or search-and-rescue purposes. The bill preserves agency authority to build new roads but does not provide funding or set implementation deadlines.