Protecting America’s Wilderness and Public Lands Act
Latest action. Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Protecting America's Wilderness and Public Lands Act
This bill provides for the preservation, conservation, and recreational use of public lands, including in Arizona, California, Maine, North Carolina, Oregon, Virginia, Washington, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
In Colorado, the bill designates wilderness, potential wilderness, a recreation management area, wildlife conservation areas, a national historic landscape, and special management areas and establishes the Greater Thompson Divide Fugitive Coal Mine Methane Use Pilot Program, the Fugitive Methane Emission Leasing Program, and a recreation area.
In California, the bill
establishes a recreation area, partnerships, and a special management area;
designates a trail, wilderness, potential wilderness, and wild, scenic, and recreational rivers;
establishes a special conservation management area;
establishes the San Gabriel National Recreation Area Public Advisory Council and the San Gabriel National Recreation Area Partnership; and
adds specified areas to the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park.
In Washington, the bill designates wilderness and wild, scenic, and recreational rivers.
In Arizona and Oregon, the bill withdraws specified federal lands.
In North Carolina and Virginia, the bill requires a study of designating an area as the Great Dismal Swamp National Heritage Area.
In Maine, the bill designates a recreational river.
In the U.S. Virgin Islands, the bill establishes a heritage area.
In Virginia, the bill adds certain lands to Rough Mountain and Rich Hole Wildernesses.
The bill extends the Cape Cod National Seashore Advisory Commission until September 26, 2028.
The bill establishes an outdoor recreation legacy partnership grant program.
The bill establishes a National Heritage Area System.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed House" stage on February 26, 2021. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on March 2, 2021: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 117th Congress (2021-22), 362 of the 15,242 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.4 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
DIANA DEGETTE (D-CO) introduced it on February 4, 2021, and 3 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 3 Democrats.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on February 4, 2021, 2044 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 2018 days ago, on March 2, 2021.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 117th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2023 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers