Modernizing Access to Our Public Land Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6169 To require the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works to digitize and make publicly available geographic information system mapping data relating to public access to Federal land and waters for outdoor recre- ation, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 10, 2020 Mr. FULCHER (for himself and Mr. KILMER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addi- tion to the Committees on Agriculture, and Transportation and Infra- structure, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic- tion of the committee concerned A BILL To require the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works to digitize and make publicly available geographic information system mapping data relating to public access to Federal land and waters for outdoor recreation, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:43 Mar 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6169.IH H6169 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6169 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Modernizing Access 2 to Our Public Land Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 4 Congress finds that— 5 (1) recreational fishing and hunting and other 6 forms of outdoor recreation are important and tradi- 7 tional activities in which millions of people in the 8 United States participate; 9 (2) a lack of information about publicly avail- 10 able outdoor recreation opportunities depresses par- 11 ticipation in those traditional activities; 12 (3) it is in the public interest to provide en- 13 hanced and expanded information about access to 14 Federal land for recreational opportunities; 15 (4) modern Global Positioning System tech- 16 nologies can provide detailed and real-time informa- 17 tion to the public about access to, and recreation op- 18 portunities on, Federal land; 19 (5) many of the access easement records held 20 by Federal land management agencies are held on 21 paper files and cannot be easily integrated into dig- 22 ital mapping systems; and 23 (6) Federal land management agencies 24 should— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:43 Mar 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6169.IH H6169 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6169 IH (A) accelerate efforts to digitize rec- 1 reational access information into geospatial 2 files; and 3 (B) make that recreational access informa- 4 tion available to the public. 5 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act: 7 (1) FEDERAL LAND.—The term ‘‘Federal land’’ 8 means any land or water managed by a Federal land 9 management agency. 10 (2) FEDERAL LAND MANAGEMENT AGENCY.— 11 The term ‘‘Federal land management agency’’ 12 means— 13 (A) the Bureau of Reclamation; 14 (B) the National Park Service; 15 (C) the Bureau of Land Management; 16 (D) the United States Fish and Wildlife 17 Service; 18 (E) the Forest Service; and 19 (F) the Corps of Engineers. 20 (3) SECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secretaries’’ 21 means— 22 (A) the Secretary of Agriculture; 23 (B) the Secretary of the Interior; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:43 Mar 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6169.IH H6169 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6169 IH (C) the Secretary of the Army, acting 1 through the Assistant Secretary of the Army 2 for Civil Works. 3 SEC. 4. INTERAGENCY DATA STANDARDIZATION. 4 Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment 5 of this Act, the Secretaries shall jointly develop and adopt 6 interagency standards to ensure compatibility and inter- 7 operability among applicable Federal databases with re- 8 spect to the collection and dissemination of outdoor recre- 9 ation data relating to Federal land. 10 SEC. 5. DATA CONSOLIDATION, DIGITIZATION, AND PUBLI- 11 CATION. 12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after the 13 date of enactment of this Act, each of the Secretaries, to 14 the maximum extent practicable, shall digitize and make 15 publicly available on the website of the Department of the 16 Interior, the Forest Service, and the Corps of Engineers, 17 as applicable, geographic information system mapping 18 data that includes, with respect to the Federal land ad- 19 ministered by the relevant Secretary— 20 (1) all Federal interests, including easements 21 and rights-of-way, in private land— 22 (A) to which the Federal Government does 23 not have a fee title interest; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:43 Mar 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6169.IH H6169 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6169 IH (B) that is used to provide recreational ac- 1 cess to the Federal land; 2 (2) status information with respect to whether 3 roads and trails on the Federal land are open or 4 closed; 5 (3) the dates on which roads and trails on the 6 Federal land are seasonally opened and closed; 7 (4) the types of vehicles that are allowed on 8 each segment of the roads and trails on the Federal 9 land, including the permissibility of— 10 (A) off-highway vehicles; 11 (B) motorcycles; 12 (C) bicycles; and 13 (D) passenger vehicles; 14 (5) the boundaries of areas where hunting or 15 recreational shooting is regulated or closed on the 16 Federal land; and 17 (6) the boundaries of any portion of a body of 18 water on the Federal land that— 19 (A) is closed to entry; 20 (B) is closed to watercraft; or 21 (C) has horsepower limitations for 22 watercraft. 23 (b) UPDATES.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:43 Mar 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6169.IH H6169 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6169 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretaries shall bienni- 1 ally update the data described in subsection (a). 2 (2) PUBLIC EVALUATION OF ACCURACY.—The 3 Secretaries shall include on each website referred to 4 in subsection (a), as applicable, a point of contact to 5 allow members of the public to confirm or dispute 6 the accuracy of the information described in that 7 subsection. 8 SEC. 6. REPORTS. 9 Not later than October 1 of each year— 10 (1) each of the Secretary of the Interior and 11 the Secretary of Agriculture shall submit to the 12 Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the 13 Senate and the Committee on Natural Resources of 14 the House of Representatives a report on the 15 progress made by the Secretary of the Interior and 16 the Secretary of Agriculture, respectively, toward 17 meeting the requirements of section 5; and 18 (2) the Secretary of the Army, acting through 19 the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, 20 shall submit to the Committee on Environment and 21 Public Works of the Senate and the Committee on 22 Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of 23 Representatives a report on the progress made by 24 the Secretary of the Army, acting through the As- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:43 Mar 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6169.IH H6169 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 6169 IH sistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, to- 1 ward meeting the requirements of section 5. 2 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 3 There are authorized to be appropriated— 4 (1) to the Secretary of the Interior to carry out 5 this Act— 6 (A) $2,500,000 for fiscal year 2021; and 7 (B) $5,500,000 for each of fiscal years 8 2022 and 2023; 9 (2) to the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out 10 this Act— 11 (A) $2,500,000 for fiscal year 2021; and 12 (B) $5,500,000 for each of fiscal years 13 2022 and 2023; and 14 (3) to the Secretary of the Army to carry out 15 this Act— 16 (A) $1,500,000 for fiscal year 2021; and 17 (B) $2,500,000 for each of fiscal years 18 2022 and 2023. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:43 Mar 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6169.IH H6169 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS