Great American Outdoors Act 250

Key Points

• The bill creates the America's Legacy Restoration Fund to tackle the massive backlog of deferred maintenance at national parks, wildlife refuges, forests, and other public lands. The fund can receive up to $1.9 billion per year through fiscal year 2030, drawn mostly from federal energy development revenues.
• Foreign tourists visiting federal recreation sites would face a new $100 per-person entry fee on top of existing charges, or they can buy a $250 annual pass. All money raised goes into the restoration fund.
• The National Park Service gets the lion's share of funding at 70 percent, while the Forest Service receives 15 percent. The Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Indian Education each get 5 percent.
• Up to 15 percent of each agency's funding can go toward outdoor recreation and sportsmen's access projects, including improving wildlife habitat for hunting and fishing, not just fixing existing maintenance problems.
• The bill requires a publicly searchable online dashboard tracking every project's location, cost, timeline, and whether it is on schedule. The Government Accountability Office must also conduct annual studies on whether the program is actually reducing the maintenance backlog.
• Bureau of Indian Education schools are specifically included as a covered agency, meaning 5 percent of the fund (up to $95 million per year) goes toward fixing deferred maintenance at tribal education facilities.