National Forest System Trails Stewardship Act
Latest action. Became public lawWhat a bill becomes when enacted, numbered by Congress and order of enactment: Public Law 119-4 is the 4th law of the 119th Congress.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) No: 114-245.
(This measure has not been amended since it was reported to the House on September 20, 2016 . The summary of that version is repeated here.)
National Forest System Trails Stewardship Act
(Sec. 4) This bill directs the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to publish a national strategy to significantly increase the role of volunteers and partners in trail maintenance.
The strategy shall:
augment and support the capabilities of federal employees to carry out or contribute to trail maintenance;
provide opportunities for volunteers and partners to carry out trail maintenance in each region of the Forest Service;
address the barriers to increased volunteerism and partnerships;
prioritize increased volunteerism and partnerships in those regions with the most severe trail maintenance needs, and where backlogs are jeopardizing access to national forest lands; and
aim to increase trail maintenance by volunteers and partners by 100% within 5 years.
As a component of the strategy, USDA shall study opportunities to improve trail maintenance by addressing opportunities to use fire crews in trail maintenance activities that do not jeopardize firefighting capabilities, public safety, or resource protection. Upon a determination that trail maintenance would be advanced by the use of fire crews, USDA shall incorporate these proposals into the strategy.
The Volunteers in the National Forest Act of 1972 is amended, for purposes of certain provisions relating to the employment status of volunteers in the National Forests Program, to include as a volunteer a person providing volunteer services to USDA who is recruited, trained, and supported by a cooperator under a mutual benefit agreement with the USDA.
Such a volunteer also performs such volunteer services under the cooperator's supervision as directed by the USDA in such agreement, including direction that specifies:
the volunteer services to be performed by the volunteers and the supervision to be provided by the cooperator;
the project safety standards and protocols to be adhered to by the volunteers and enforced by the cooperator; and
The summary continues for 36 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Public Law" stage on November 28, 2016. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
This bill has been enacted. It is law.
The record's latest action, on November 28, 2016: Became Public Law No: 114-245.
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?
Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) introduced it on February 10, 2015, and 86 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 38 Democrats, 48 Republicans.
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.
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
- HousePassed
- SenatePassed
- PresidentSigned into law