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Us Congress House Bill HB187

Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB187 Compare Versions

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21 119THCONGRESS
32 1
43 STSESSION H. R. 187
5-To provide for the standardization, consolidation, and publication of data
6-relating to public outdoor recreational use of Federal waterways among
7-Federal land and water management agencies, and for other purposes.
8-IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9-JANUARY3, 2025
10-Mr. M
11-OOREof Utah (for himself, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. FULCHER, and Mrs.
12-D
13-INGELL) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
14-mittee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agri-
15-culture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
16-each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
17-tion of the committee concerned
18-A BILL
4+AN ACT
195 To provide for the standardization, consolidation, and publi-
206 cation of data relating to public outdoor recreational
217 use of Federal waterways among Federal land and water
228 management agencies, and for other purposes.
239 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
24-tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
25-SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
26-This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Modernizing Access 4
27-to our Public Waters Act of 2025’’ or the ‘‘MAPWaters 5
28-Act of 2025’’. 6
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32-SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 1
33-In this Act: 2
10+tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 2
11+•HR 187 EH
12+SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
13+This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Modernizing Access 2
14+to our Public Waters Act of 2025’’ or the ‘‘MAPWaters 3
15+Act of 2025’’. 4
16+SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 5
17+In this Act: 6
3418 (1) F
35-EDERAL FISHING RESTRICTION .—The 3
36-term ‘‘Federal fishing restriction’’ means a defined 4
37-area in which all or certain fishing activities are 5
38-temporarily or permanently prohibited or restricted 6
39-by a Federal land or water management agency. 7
19+EDERAL FISHING RESTRICTION .—The 7
20+term ‘‘Federal fishing restriction’’ means a defined 8
21+area in which all or certain fishing activities are 9
22+temporarily or permanently prohibited or restricted 10
23+by a Federal land or water management agency. 11
4024 (2) F
41-EDERAL LAND OR WATER MANAGEMENT 8
42-AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Federal land or water man-9
43-agement agency’’ means— 10
44-(A) the Bureau of Reclamation; 11
45-(B) the National Park Service; 12
46-(C) the Bureau of Land Management; 13
47-(D) the United States Fish and Wildlife 14
48-Service; and 15
49-(E) the Forest Service. 16
25+EDERAL LAND OR WATER MANAGEMENT 12
26+AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Federal land or water man-13
27+agement agency’’ means— 14
28+(A) the Bureau of Reclamation; 15
29+(B) the National Park Service; 16
30+(C) the Bureau of Land Management; 17
31+(D) the United States Fish and Wildlife 18
32+Service; and 19
33+(E) the Forest Service. 20
5034 (3) F
51-EDERAL WATERWAY .—The term ‘‘Federal 17
52-waterway’’ means waters managed by 1 or more of 18
53-the relevant Secretaries. 19
35+EDERAL WATERWAY .—The term ‘‘Federal 21
36+waterway’’ means waters managed by 1 or more of 22
37+the relevant Secretaries. 23
5438 (4) F
55-EDERAL WATERWAY RESTRICTION .—The 20
56-term ‘‘Federal waterway restriction’’ means a re-21
57-striction on the access or use of a Federal waterway 22
58-applied under applicable law by 1 or more of the 23
59-Secretaries. 24
39+EDERAL WATERWAY RESTRICTION .—The 24
40+term ‘‘Federal waterway restriction’’ means a re-25
41+striction on the access or use of a Federal waterway 26 3
42+•HR 187 EH
43+applied under applicable law by 1 or more of the 1
44+Secretaries. 2
6045 (5) S
61-ECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secretaries’’ 25
62-means— 26
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66-(A) the Secretary of Agriculture, acting 1
67-through the Chief of the Forest Service; and 2
68-(B) the Secretary of the Interior. 3
46+ECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secretaries’’ 3
47+means— 4
48+(A) the Secretary of Agriculture, acting 5
49+through the Chief of the Forest Service; and 6
50+(B) the Secretary of the Interior. 7
6951 (6) S
70-TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 4
71-the several States, the District of Columbia, and 5
72-each territory of the United States. 6
73-SEC. 3. INTERAGENCY DATA STANDARDIZATION. 7
74-Not later than 30 months after the date of enactment 8
75-of this Act, the Secretaries, in coordination with the Fed-9
76-eral Geographic Data Committee established by section 10
77-753(a) of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 (43 11
78-U.S.C. 2802(a)), shall jointly develop and adopt inter-12
79-agency standards to ensure compatibility and interoper-13
80-ability among applicable Federal databases with respect 14
81-to the collection and dissemination of geospatial data re-15
82-lating to public outdoor recreational access of Federal wa-16
83-terways and Federal fishing restrictions. 17
84-SEC. 4. DATA CONSOLIDATION AND PUBLICATION. 18
52+TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 8
53+the several States, the District of Columbia, and 9
54+each territory of the United States. 10
55+SEC. 3. INTERAGENCY DATA STANDARDIZATION. 11
56+Not later than 30 months after the date of enactment 12
57+of this Act, the Secretaries, in coordination with the Fed-13
58+eral Geographic Data Committee established by section 14
59+753(a) of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 (43 15
60+U.S.C. 2802(a)), shall jointly develop and adopt inter-16
61+agency standards to ensure compatibility and interoper-17
62+ability among applicable Federal databases with respect 18
63+to the collection and dissemination of geospatial data re-19
64+lating to public outdoor recreational access of Federal wa-20
65+terways and Federal fishing restrictions. 21
66+SEC. 4. DATA CONSOLIDATION AND PUBLICATION. 22
8567 (a) F
86-EDERALWATERWAYRESTRICTIONS.—Not later 19
87-than 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act, each 20
88-of the Secretaries, to the maximum extent practicable, 21
89-shall digitize and make publicly available online, as appli-22
90-cable, geographic information system data that includes, 23
91-with respect to Federal waterway restrictions— 24
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95-(1) status information with respect to the con-1
96-ditions under which Federal waterways are open or 2
97-closed to entry or watercraft, including watercraft 3
98-inspection, decontamination requirements, low-ele-4
99-vation aircraft, or diving; 5
100-(2) the dates on which Federal waterways are 6
101-seasonally closed to entry or watercraft; 7
102-(3) the areas of Federal waterways with restric-8
103-tions on motorized propulsion, horsepower, or fuel 9
104-type; 10
105-(4) the areas of Federal waterways with an-11
106-choring restrictions, no wake zones, exclusion zones, 12
107-danger areas, or vessel speed restrictions; 13
108-(5) Federal waterway restrictions on the direc-14
109-tion of travel, including upstream or downstream 15
110-travel; and 16
111-(6) the uses, including by watercraft, that are 17
112-restricted on each area of a Federal waterway, in-18
113-cluding the permissibility of— 19
114-(A) canoes and other paddlecraft; 20
115-(B) rafts and driftboats; 21
116-(C) motorboats; 22
117-(D) personal watercraft; 23
118-(E) airboats; 24
119-(F) amphibious aircraft; 25
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123-(G) hovercraft; 1
124-(H) oversnow vehicles and other motorized 2
125-vehicles on frozen bodies of water; 3
126-(I) oceangoing ships; 4
127-(J) swimming; and 5
128-(K) other applicable recreational activities, 6
129-as determined to be appropriate by the Secre-7
130-taries. 8
68+EDERALWATERWAYRESTRICTIONS.—Not later 23
69+than 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act, each 24
70+of the Secretaries, to the maximum extent practicable, 25 4
71+•HR 187 EH
72+shall digitize and make publicly available online, as appli-1
73+cable, geographic information system data that includes, 2
74+with respect to Federal waterway restrictions— 3
75+(1) status information with respect to the con-4
76+ditions under which Federal waterways are open or 5
77+closed to entry or watercraft, including watercraft 6
78+inspection, decontamination requirements, low-ele-7
79+vation aircraft, or diving; 8
80+(2) the dates on which Federal waterways are 9
81+seasonally closed to entry or watercraft; 10
82+(3) the areas of Federal waterways with restric-11
83+tions on motorized propulsion, horsepower, or fuel 12
84+type; 13
85+(4) the areas of Federal waterways with an-14
86+choring restrictions, no wake zones, exclusion zones, 15
87+danger areas, or vessel speed restrictions; 16
88+(5) Federal waterway restrictions on the direc-17
89+tion of travel, including upstream or downstream 18
90+travel; and 19
91+(6) the uses, including by watercraft, that are 20
92+restricted on each area of a Federal waterway, in-21
93+cluding the permissibility of— 22
94+(A) canoes and other paddlecraft; 23
95+(B) rafts and driftboats; 24
96+(C) motorboats; 25 5
97+•HR 187 EH
98+(D) personal watercraft; 1
99+(E) airboats; 2
100+(F) amphibious aircraft; 3
101+(G) hovercraft; 4
102+(H) oversnow vehicles and other motorized 5
103+vehicles on frozen bodies of water; 6
104+(I) oceangoing ships; 7
105+(J) swimming; and 8
106+(K) other applicable recreational activities, 9
107+as determined to be appropriate by the Secre-10
108+taries. 11
131109 (b) F
132-EDERALWATERWAYACCESS ANDNAVIGATION 9
110+EDERALWATERWAYACCESS ANDNAVIGATION 12
133111 I
134-NFORMATION.—Not later than 5 years after the date of 10
135-enactment of this Act, each of the Secretaries, to the max-11
136-imum extent practicable, shall digitize and make publicly 12
137-available online, as applicable, geographic information sys-13
138-tem data that includes, with respect to Federal waterway 14
139-access and navigation information— 15
140-(1)(A) the location of boat ramps, portages, and 16
141-fishing access sites under the authority of the Fed-17
142-eral land or water management agency; and 18
143-(B) the identification of the dates on which 19
144-the facilities and sites identified under subpara-20
145-graph (A) are open or closed, as applicable; and 21
146-(2) bathymetric information and depth charts, 22
147-as feasible. 23
112+NFORMATION.—Not later than 5 years after the date of 13
113+enactment of this Act, each of the Secretaries, to the max-14
114+imum extent practicable, shall digitize and make publicly 15
115+available online, as applicable, geographic information sys-16
116+tem data that includes, with respect to Federal waterway 17
117+access and navigation information— 18
118+(1)(A) the location of boat ramps, portages, and 19
119+fishing access sites under the authority of the Fed-20
120+eral land or water management agency; and 21
121+(B) the identification of the dates on which 22
122+the facilities and sites identified under subpara-23
123+graph (A) are open or closed, as applicable; and 24 6
124+•HR 187 EH
125+(2) bathymetric information and depth charts, 1
126+as feasible. 2
148127 (c) F
149-EDERALFISHINGRESTRICTIONS.—Not later 24
150-than 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act, each 25
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154-of the Secretaries, to the maximum extent practicable, 1
155-shall digitize and make publicly available online geo-2
156-graphic information system data that describes, with re-3
157-spect to Federal fishing restrictions— 4
158-(1) the location and geographic boundaries of 5
159-Federal fishing restrictions on recreational and com-6
160-mercial fishing, including— 7
161-(A) full or partial closures; 8
162-(B) no-take zones; and 9
163-(C) Federal fishing restrictions within or 10
164-surrounding marine protected areas; 11
165-(2) Federal fishing restrictions on the use of 12
166-specific types of equipment or bait; and 13
167-(3) Federal requirements with respect to catch 14
168-and release. 15
128+EDERALFISHINGRESTRICTIONS.—Not later 3
129+than 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act, each 4
130+of the Secretaries, to the maximum extent practicable, 5
131+shall digitize and make publicly available online geo-6
132+graphic information system data that describes, with re-7
133+spect to Federal fishing restrictions— 8
134+(1) the location and geographic boundaries of 9
135+Federal fishing restrictions on recreational and com-10
136+mercial fishing, including— 11
137+(A) full or partial closures; 12
138+(B) no-take zones; and 13
139+(C) Federal fishing restrictions within or 14
140+surrounding marine protected areas; 15
141+(2) Federal fishing restrictions on the use of 16
142+specific types of equipment or bait; and 17
143+(3) Federal requirements with respect to catch 18
144+and release. 19
169145 (d) P
170-UBLICCOMMENT.—The Secretaries shall de-16
171-velop a process to allow members of the public to submit 17
172-questions or comments regarding the information de-18
173-scribed in subsections (a) and (b). 19
146+UBLICCOMMENT.—The Secretaries shall de-20
147+velop a process to allow members of the public to submit 21
148+questions or comments regarding the information de-22
149+scribed in subsections (a) and (b). 23
174150 (e) U
175-PDATES.—The Secretaries, to the maximum ex-20
176-tent practicable, shall update— 21
177-(1) the data described in subsections (a) and 22
178-(b) not less frequently than 2 times per year; and 23
179-(2) the data described in subsection (c) in real 24
180-time as changes go into effect. 25
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184-(f) EXCLUSION.—This section shall not apply to irri-1
185-gation canals and flowage easements. 2
151+PDATES.—The Secretaries, to the maximum ex-24
152+tent practicable, shall update— 25 7
153+•HR 187 EH
154+(1) the data described in subsections (a) and 1
155+(b) not less frequently than 2 times per year; and 2
156+(2) the data described in subsection (c) in real 3
157+time as changes go into effect. 4
158+(f) E
159+XCLUSION.—This section shall not apply to irri-5
160+gation canals and flowage easements. 6
186161 (g) D
187-ISCLOSURE.—Any geographic information sys-3
188-tem data made publicly available under this section shall 4
189-not disclose information regarding the nature, location, 5
190-character, or ownership of historic, paleontological, or ar-6
191-chaeological resources, consistent with applicable law. 7
192-SEC. 5. COOPERATION AND COORDINATION. 8
162+ISCLOSURE.—Any geographic information sys-7
163+tem data made publicly available under this section shall 8
164+not disclose information regarding the nature, location, 9
165+character, or ownership of historic, paleontological, or ar-10
166+chaeological resources, consistent with applicable law. 11
167+SEC. 5. COOPERATION AND COORDINATION. 12
193168 (a) C
194-OMMUNITYPARTNERS ANDTHIRD-PARTYPRO-9
195-VIDERS.—For purposes of carrying out this Act, the Sec-10
196-retaries may— 11
197-(1) coordinate and partner with non-Federal 12
198-agencies and private sector and nonprofit partners, 13
199-including— 14
200-(A) State natural resource agencies; 15
201-(B) Tribal natural resource agencies; 16
202-(C) technology companies; 17
203-(D) geospatial data companies; and 18
204-(E) experts in data science, analytics, and 19
205-operations research; and 20
206-(2) enter into an agreement with a third party 21
207-to carry out any provision of this Act. 22
169+OMMUNITYPARTNERS ANDTHIRD-PARTYPRO-13
170+VIDERS.—For purposes of carrying out this Act, the Sec-14
171+retaries may— 15
172+(1) coordinate and partner with non-Federal 16
173+agencies and private sector and nonprofit partners, 17
174+including— 18
175+(A) State natural resource agencies; 19
176+(B) Tribal natural resource agencies; 20
177+(C) technology companies; 21
178+(D) geospatial data companies; and 22
179+(E) experts in data science, analytics, and 23
180+operations research; and 24 8
181+•HR 187 EH
182+(2) enter into an agreement with a third party 1
183+to carry out any provision of this Act. 2
208184 (b) U
209-NITEDSTATESGEOLOGICALSURVEY.—The 23
210-Secretaries may work with the Director of the United 24
211-States Geological Survey to collect, aggregate, digitize, 25
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215-standardize, and publish data on behalf of the Secretaries 1
216-to meet the requirements of this Act. 2
185+NITEDSTATESGEOLOGICALSURVEY.—The 3
186+Secretaries may work with the Director of the United 4
187+States Geological Survey to collect, aggregate, digitize, 5
188+standardize, and publish data on behalf of the Secretaries 6
189+to meet the requirements of this Act. 7
217190 (c) R
218-EQUIREMENT.—With respect to data developed 3
219-and distributed under this Act, the Secretaries shall— 4
220-(1) develop the data in accordance with applica-5
221-ble Federal, State, and Tribal laws (including regu-6
222-lations); and 7
223-(2) include a notice that any geospatial data 8
224-are subject to applicable Federal, State, and Tribal 9
225-laws (including regulations). 10
191+EQUIREMENT.—With respect to data developed 8
192+and distributed under this Act, the Secretaries shall— 9
193+(1) develop the data in accordance with applica-10
194+ble Federal, State, and Tribal laws (including regu-11
195+lations); and 12
196+(2) include a notice that any geospatial data 13
197+are subject to applicable Federal, State, and Tribal 14
198+laws (including regulations). 15
226199 (d) E
227-XISTINGEFFORTS.—To the extent practicable, 11
228-the Secretary concerned shall use or incorporate existing 12
229-applicable data, maps, and resources in carrying out this 13
230-Act, including data, maps, and resources developed and 14
231-published under— 15
232-(1) the Modernizing Access to Our Public Land 16
233-Act (16 U.S.C. 6851 et seq.); 17
234-(2) section 103 of division DD of the Consoli-18
235-dated Appropriations Act, 2023 (43 U.S.C. 776); or 19
236-(3) other applicable law. 20
237-SEC. 6. REPORTS. 21
238-Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 22
239-of this Act and annually thereafter through March 30, 23
240-2034, the Secretaries shall submit a report that describes 24
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243-•HR 187 IH
244-the progress made by the Secretaries with respect to meet-1
245-ing the requirements of this Act to— 2
246-(1) the Committee on Natural Resources of the 3
247-House of Representatives; 4
248-(2) the Committee on Energy and Commerce of 5
249-the House of Representatives; 6
250-(3) the Committee on Agriculture of the House 7
251-of Representatives; 8
252-(4) the Committee on Energy and Natural Re-9
253-sources of the Senate; and 10
254-(5) the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, 11
255-and Forestry of the Senate. 12
256-SEC. 7. EFFECT. 13
257-Nothing in this Act— 14
258-(1) modifies or alters the definition of the term 15
259-‘‘navigable waters’’ under Federal law; 16
260-(2) affects the jurisdiction or authority of State 17
261-or Federal agencies to regulate navigable waters; 18
262-(3) modifies or alters the authority or jurisdic-19
263-tion of Federal or State agencies to manage fish-20
264-eries; or 21
265-(4) authorizes or is intended to result in a 22
266-change in the accessibility of waters open to hunting, 23
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270-fishing, or other forms of outdoor recreation as of 1
271-the date of the enactment of this Act. 2
272-Æ
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200+XISTINGEFFORTS.—To the extent practicable, 16
201+the Secretary concerned shall use or incorporate existing 17
202+applicable data, maps, and resources in carrying out this 18
203+Act, including data, maps, and resources developed and 19
204+published under— 20
205+(1) the Modernizing Access to Our Public Land 21
206+Act (16 U.S.C. 6851 et seq.); 22
207+(2) section 103 of division DD of the Consoli-23
208+dated Appropriations Act, 2023 (43 U.S.C. 776); or 24
209+(3) other applicable law. 25 9
210+•HR 187 EH
211+SEC. 6. REPORTS. 1
212+Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 2
213+of this Act and annually thereafter through March 30, 3
214+2034, the Secretaries shall submit a report that describes 4
215+the progress made by the Secretaries with respect to meet-5
216+ing the requirements of this Act to— 6
217+(1) the Committee on Natural Resources of the 7
218+House of Representatives; 8
219+(2) the Committee on Energy and Commerce of 9
220+the House of Representatives; 10
221+(3) the Committee on Agriculture of the House 11
222+of Representatives; 12
223+(4) the Committee on Energy and Natural Re-13
224+sources of the Senate; and 14
225+(5) the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, 15
226+and Forestry of the Senate. 16
227+SEC. 7. EFFECT. 17
228+Nothing in this Act— 18
229+(1) modifies or alters the definition of the term 19
230+‘‘navigable waters’’ under Federal law; 20
231+(2) affects the jurisdiction or authority of State 21
232+or Federal agencies to regulate navigable waters; 22
233+(3) modifies or alters the authority or jurisdic-23
234+tion of Federal or State agencies to manage fish-24
235+eries; or 25 10
236+•HR 187 EH
237+(4) authorizes or is intended to result in a 1
238+change in the accessibility of waters open to hunting, 2
239+fishing, or other forms of outdoor recreation as of 3
240+the date of the enactment of this Act. 4
241+Passed the House of Representatives January 21,
242+2025.
243+Attest:
244+Clerk. 119
245+TH
246+CONGRESS
247+1
248+ST
249+S
250+ESSION
251+
252+H. R. 187
253+AN ACT
254+To provide for the standardization, consolidation,
255+and publication of data relating to public outdoor
256+recreational use of Federal waterways among
257+Federal land and water management agencies,
258+and for other purposes.