Outdoor Americans with Disabilities Act
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill changes how the Forest Service and Interior Department manage road closures and off-road-vehicle access on public lands. It defines disability-accessible land based on the amount of motorized-road access available and requires agencies to preserve that access when updating motor vehicle use maps or closing roads, subject to hearings, replacement-road options, and other process rules.
Who Benefits and How
People with disabilities who rely on motorized access to reach hunting, fishing, camping, scenic, or cultural sites benefit because the bill makes it harder for federal agencies to reduce accessible-road density below a set threshold. Off-road and motorized recreation users also benefit indirectly from broader pressure to keep approved roads open.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The Forest Service and the Interior Department bear the burden of measuring road density, holding hearings, justifying closures, identifying replacement routes, and adjusting planning decisions around the new accessibility rules. Land managers may face less flexibility to close roads for conservation or management reasons.
Key Provisions
- Defines disability-accessible land based on a minimum density of approved roads
- Requires federal land managers to preserve enough authorized roads for motorized access in each square mile of covered public land
- Imposes process requirements before road closures and encourages replacement-road options
- Clarifies that the bill does not itself create new roads or open wilderness, roadless areas, or most national parks to motorized use
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Requires federal land managers to preserve a minimum level of motorized-road access on public lands for disability-accessible recreation and imposes process rules before closing roads used for that access.
Key Policy Areas
Public Lands, Disability
Primary Purpose
Requires federal land managers to preserve a minimum level of motorized-road access on public lands for disability-accessible recreation and imposes process rules before closing roads used for that access.
Policy Domains
Sections 2, 4, and 5 - Disability-accessible road access on public lands
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- People with disabilities who rely on motorized access to public lands
- Motorized and off-road recreation users on covered federal lands
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Forest Service and Interior Department land-management staff responsible for road closures and motor vehicle use maps
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Sponsors
Mike Lee
R-UT | Primary Sponsor
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeCommittee on Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands, …
Mr. Lee (for himself and Mr. Curtis) introduced the following …
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and …
Introduced in Senate
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
People with disabilities who rely on motorized access to public lands for recreation
Motorized and off-road recreation users on covered federal lands
Forest Service and Interior Department land managers responsible for road-closure decisions
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary_concerned"
- → Secretary of Agriculture or Secretary of the Interior, depending on land jurisdiction
- "the_secretary_of_agriculture"
- → Secretary of Agriculture acting through the Chief of the Forest Service
- "the_secretary_of_the_interior"
- → Secretary of the Interior
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
A motorized vehicle capable of travel on land, water, or other natural terrain.
A square mile of public land that has at least 2.5 miles of authorized roads accessible to motorized or off-road vehicles as of enactment.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology