Sponsors (18)
The bill protects public access and prevents privatization of publicly accessible federal tracts—benefiting recreation and community access—but it reduces flexibility for land conveyances, may slow transfers and infrastructure projects, imposes administrative burdens, and can exclude users who rely on informal access.
Rural communities, recreationists, hunters, and anglers keep access because the bill prevents publicly accessible Federal tracts from being transferred into private ownership.
Local communities and visitors retain recreational and conservation lands that border public access routes because the bill protects those parcels from privatization or loss of access.
State and local governments face more predictable federal landholdings because the bill bans subdivision to evade acreage minimums, reducing risk of piecemeal disposals.
Local governments, small businesses, and developers face reduced options because the bill limits the federal government's ability to sell or convey public land for development or economic projects.
Homeowners, renters, and communities needing infrastructure or housing could see projects delayed or made harder because the bill complicates transfers of adjacent federal parcels needed for such development.
Federal agencies and state partners will face slower conveyances because the bill increases administrative steps to determine public-access status and contiguity before transfers.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Prohibits most federal land title transfers to non‑federal parties for publicly accessible or contiguous tracts, while preserving specified statutory exceptions and small‑parcel transfers.
Official title: To prohibit the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture from transferring certain Federal land, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 23, 2025 by Ryan Zinke · Last progress January 23, 2025
Prohibits the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture from conveying title of many federal lands to non‑federal entities when those lands are publicly accessible or contiguous to publicly accessible tracts or state/local‑owned accessible lands, with a set of narrow statutory and acreage exceptions. The bill defines “publicly accessible tract,” preserves a list of existing transfer authorities and small‑parcel exceptions, forbids deliberate subdivision to evade size limits, and clarifies it does not change rules about stepping over property corners between public parcels.