II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4718 

To amend the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 to clarify 

the nature of public involvement for purposes of certain rulemaking, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 11 (legislative day, JULY 10), 2024 

Mr. BARRASSO (for himself, Ms. LUMMIS, Mr. RISCH, and Mr. DAINES) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Land Policy and Management Act 

of 1976 to clarify the nature of public involvement for 

purposes of certain rulemaking, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Voices in 

5 Federal Lands Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT IN CERTAIN PUBLIC LAND 

7 RULEMAKING. 

8 (a) DEFINITION OF PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT.—Section 

9 103(d) of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act 


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•S 4718 IS

1 of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702(d)) is amended by striking ‘‘citi2 zens’’ and inserting ‘‘citizens of the United States, in ac3 cordance with section 310(d), as applicable,’’. 

4 (b) PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT RELATING TO CERTAIN

5 RULES AND REGULATIONS.—Section 310 of the Federal 

6 Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 

7 1740) is amended to read as follows: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 310. RULES AND REGULATIONS. 

9 ‘‘(a) AUTHORIZATION.— 

10 ‘‘(1) SECRETARY.—Subject to subsection (d), 

11 the Secretary, with respect to public lands, shall pro12 mulgate rules and regulations to carry out the pur13 poses of— 

14 ‘‘(A) this Act; and 

15 ‘‘(B) other laws applicable to public lands. 

16 ‘‘(2) SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE.—The Sec17 retary of Agriculture, with respect to land in the Na18 tional Forest System, shall promulgate rules and 

19 regulations to carry out the purposes of this Act. 

20 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENT.—The promulgation of rules and 

21 regulations pursuant to this section shall be in accordance 

22 with chapter 5 of title 5, United States Code, without re23 gard to section 553(a)(2) of that title. 

24 ‘‘(c) ABSENCE OF REGULATION.—Before the promul25 gation of a rule or regulation pursuant to this section with 


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1 respect to public lands or land in the National Forest Sys2 tem, the applicable land shall be administered under exist3 ing rules and regulations concerning the land, to the max4 imum extent practicable. 

5 ‘‘(d) PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT RELATING TO BUREAU

6 LAND.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, with 

7 respect to public lands managed by the Bureau, the Sec8 retary— 

9 ‘‘(1) in promulgating any applicable regulations 

10 pursuant to this or any other Act, may take into 

11 consideration only public comments received from 

12 citizens of the United States; and 

13 ‘‘(2) in any public involvement under this Act 

14 or any other provision of law (including regulations), 

15 shall establish and implement a process commonly 

16 known as ‘Completely Automated Public Test to tell 

17 Computers and Humans Apart (CAPTCHA)’ to 

18 deter attempts at public involvement via artificial in19 telligence.’’. 

Æ 


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