[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3427 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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116th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 3427
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.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 10, 2020
Ms. McSally (for herself and Mr. King) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources
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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 Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Modernizing Access to Our Public
Land Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that--
(1) recreational fishing and hunting and other forms of
outdoor recreation are important and traditional activities in
which millions of people in the United States participate;
(2) a lack of information about publicly available outdoor
recreation opportunities depresses participation in those
traditional activities;
(3) it is in the public interest to provide enhanced and
expanded information about access to Federal land for
recreational opportunities;
(4) modern Global Positioning System technologies can
provide detailed and real-time information to the public about
access to, and recreation opportunities on, Federal land;
(5) many of the access easement records held by Federal
land management agencies are held on paper files and cannot be
easily integrated into digital mapping systems; and
(6) Federal land management agencies should--
(A) accelerate efforts to digitize recreational
access information into geospatial files; and
(B) make that recreational access information
available to the public.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Federal land.--The term ``Federal land'' means any land
or water managed by a Federal land management agency.
(2) Federal land management agency.--The term ``Federal
land management agency'' means--
(A) the Bureau of Reclamation;
(B) the National Park Service;
(C) the Bureau of Land Management;
(D) the United States Fish and Wildlife Service;
(E) the Forest Service; and
(F) the Corps of Engineers.
(3) Secretaries.--The term ``Secretaries'' means--
(A) the Secretary of Agriculture;
(B) the Secretary of the Interior; and
(C) the Secretary of the Army, acting through the
Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works.
SEC. 4. INTERAGENCY DATA STANDARDIZATION.
Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act,
the Secretaries shall jointly develop and adopt interagency standards
to ensure compatibility and interoperability among applicable Federal
databases with respect to the collection and dissemination of outdoor
recreation data relating to Federal land.
SEC. 5. DATA CONSOLIDATION, DIGITIZATION, AND PUBLICATION.
(a) In General.--Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment
of this Act, each of the Secretaries, to the maximum extent
practicable, shall digitize and make publicly available on the website
of the Department of the Interior, the Forest Service, and the Corps of
Engineers, as applicable, geographic information system mapping data
that includes, with respect to the Federal land administered by the
relevant Secretary--
(1) all Federal interests, including easements and rights-
of-way, in private land--
(A) to which the Federal Government does not have a
fee title interest; and
(B) that is used to provide recreational access to
the Federal land;
(2) status information with respect to whether roads and
trails on the Federal land are open or closed;
(3) the dates on which roads and trails on the Federal land
are seasonally opened and closed;
(4) the types of vehicles that are allowed on each segment
of the roads and trails on the Federal land, including the
permissibility of--
(A) off-highway vehicles;
(B) motorcycles;
(C) bicycles; and
(D) passenger vehicles;
(5) the boundaries of areas where hunting or recreational
shooting is regulated or closed on the Federal land; and
(6) the boundaries of any portion of a body of water on the
Federal land that--
(A) is closed to entry;
(B) is closed to watercraft; or
(C) has horsepower limitations for watercraft.
(b) Updates.--
(1) In general.--The Secretaries shall biennially update
the data described in subsection (a).
(2) Public evaluation of accuracy.--The Secretaries shall
include on each website referred to in subsection (a), as
applicable, a point of contact to allow members of the public
to confirm or dispute the accuracy of the information described
in that subsection.
SEC. 6. REPORTS.
Not later than October 1 of each year--
(1) each of the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary
of Agriculture shall submit to the Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources of the Senate and the Committee on Natural
Resources of the House of Representatives a report on the
progress made by the Secretary of the Interior and the
Secretary of Agriculture, respectively, toward meeting the
requirements of section 5; and
(2) the Secretary of the Army, acting through the Assistant
Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, shall submit to the
Committee on Environment and Public Works of the Senate and the
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of
Representatives a report on the progress made by the Secretary
of the Army, acting through the Assistant Secretary of the Army
for Civil Works, toward meeting the requirements of section 5.
SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There are authorized to be appropriated--
(1) to the Secretary of the Interior to carry out this
Act--
(A) $2,500,000 for fiscal year 2021; and
(B) $5,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 and
2023;
(2) to the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out this Act--
(A) $2,500,000 for fiscal year 2021; and
(B) $5,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 and
2023; and
(3) to the Secretary of the Army to carry out this Act--
(A) $1,500,000 for fiscal year 2021; and
(B) $2,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 and
2023.
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