▶ 0:20:41Chair Lee: Good morning. The committee will come to order. Before giving my opening statement, ii think senator heis staff for working with us on today's markup. The purpose of the business meeting is to consider pending legislation listed on the agenda that the committee sent to each of your offices friday, january 30.
▶ 0:21:08Chair Lee: As soon as we have a reporting quorum present, I will ask the committee to vote on those 12 items that were included in the notice last friday. We will begin by amending a handful of bills followed by roll call votes on two bills and a voice vote to report remaining bills as amended. I will recognize any member who would like to speak on behalf of the items on which we have voted.
▶ 0:21:35Chair Lee: The bills will be considered today including priorities from republican and -- members of the committee and also democrats, including protecting america's historic roadways, maintaining access to federal lands, and important legislation to address western wildfires. I would like to spend a few minutes discussing one of the bills on the agenda, the historic roadways protection act.
▶ 0:22:05Chair Lee: Utah is home to some of the most extraordinary public lands in the country. Many of the roads that still exist on those landscapes were built long before modern federal land management systems existed. The roads were established under a law passed in 1866. This was a law that was developed in order to encourage settlement of the western united states.
▶ 0:22:35Chair Lee: When congress repealed the statute in 1976, it did not erase those roads. It repealed the non-retroactively preserving valid existing rights mac existence as of the moment of the law's enactment.
▶ 0:22:56Chair Lee: It expressly preserves them and so they remain valid today, yet in recent years we have seen federal travel management plans sometimes close roads that likely do not belong to the federal government at all, so by closing something that is not theirs to close. In one area, a single travel management plan close more than 300 miles of roads. Of those, over a third are claimed as far as rights of way. So the question is not settled.
▶ 0:23:26Chair Lee: It is being litigated. Utah's counties under utah law, those rows are jointly owned by the state and county governments in which they and the counties in which the roads may be found. And the counties in utah have filed over 12,005 hundred claims, final decision still pending. Utah is winning a lot of those. Last year, a judge of the U.S.
▶ 0:23:53Chair Lee: District court for the district of utah granted the state of utah a title to a number of rights-of-way. Titles to roads like the house rock valley road, the main vein for access to dozens of world-class trails and sensational geological features, such as the wave that people from all over the world travel to see or hole in the rock road, which runs through remote canyon country, following the route
▶ 0:24:25Chair Lee: Carved by pioneers as they settled to the west. Closing these roads would destroy a tangible link for you tons -- utahns. The problem is the bureau of land management is moving faster than the courts. The bureau's closing rose faster than the court can adjudicate these road claims within my state, and that is backwards.
▶ 0:24:53Chair Lee: The historic roadways protection act simply says this, until the courts determine who owns the roads the federal government may not permit we close them. It does not decide ownership. It does not resolve the lawsuits. It does not pick winners and losers. Instead, it will prevent funds from being used to finalize or implement certain management plans until these claims are fully adjudicated.
▶ 0:25:17Chair Lee: That clause protects historic roadways and protects local community access to hunting and fishing, farmland, scenic and rural preservation, water infrastructure, emergency response routes, and essential services. With these roads are closed or destroyed, communities are cut off. Response times for first responders increase appear in everyday life becomes harder. Once those roads are gone, they rarely come back.
▶ 0:25:46Chair Lee: If the federal government turns out have authority and full ownership of a road, it can manage and do so in accordance with law but if it does not it should not act as if it did. Because once a historic road is closed to damage is often irreversible. The chair now recognizes ranking member senator heinrich.
▶ 0:26:07Sen. Heinrich: We have 12 bills on our agenda today, many of which I look forward to supporting. These bills address some important topics were constituents, safety in national parks, places to bury loved ones, and science for future designations. I'm disappointed there are no conservation bills under consideration today. No bills that would protect even another acre of public land for our children and grandchildren.
▶ 0:26:36Sen. Heinrich: There are conservation bills this committee could consider today, bills whose sponsors asked for them to be included. Bills that would expand the park in california or to establish new historic sites to remember national euros like ralph abernathy. I'm glad our committee is taking care of the local public lands concerns our communities have. It is important work.
▶ 0:27:04Sen. Heinrich: But in addition to that I hope our future business meetings can reflect a more balanced agenda that includes the conservation of places that make our state the places that we love. I want to make one comment on as 1321 to transfer some land and associated infrastructure from the department of energy. I have no objection to transferring this land.
▶ 0:27:30Sen. Heinrich: I have concerns about the specifics of how this site would be conveyed while groundwater remediation by the department of energy is incomplete. I hope we might work on a technical amendment to clarify the standard for completion of remediation before the full senate considers this legislation. Would you like me to talk about your legislation now?
▶ 0:27:55Chair Lee: It is up to you.
▶ 0:27:57Sen. Heinrich: I will do that now. This bill seems simple on his face, pause administrative actions until the courts can adjudicate claims, but the problem is that these are not just any claims. At issue are more than 12,000 individual roads and two tracks totaling nearly 36,000 miles, literally enough roadway to get from here to san francisco and back 12 times over. Or circle the earth and get halfway around again.
▶ 0:28:28Sen. Heinrich: And all these ways are in just one state. There is no way for the courts to figure out which of these 36 thousand miles of potential roads qualify for the grandfathering provision passed by congress in 1976 in a timely manner. So supporting this bill would effectively halt any agency actions indefinitely. I want to talk about why it matters where roots are and where they are, as someone who used to be a guide in southern utah.
▶ 0:28:56Sen. Heinrich: There is a reason congress decided in 1976 that it would no longer be legal for any person to decide to put a road anywhere on our public lands. Public land roads serve important purposes. They get people to trailheads and fishing holds. They provide access to neighboring private land. They facilitate energy production and transmission lines but also have consequences and downsides. Roads fragment habitat, wash sediment into streams, allow invasive species to spread.
▶ 0:29:28Sen. Heinrich: 80% of wildfires are started by human activity and 90 5% of human caused fires begin within a half-mile of a road. So like everything else on public lands that means that roads need to be a matter of balance. We need enough roads to get people where they need to go but not so many that we lose habitat and streams. We need access but not at the cost of more human caused wildfires.
▶ 0:29:52Sen. Heinrich: Which means we need to actually plan what roads should stay open and which ones cause more harm than good. The good news is that there is a way for us to do this. The blm is directed to produce resource management plans to balance all the uses on public lands, including transportation. To do this, develops travel management plans which help resolve these road claims in utah, incorporating input from everyone who uses public lands.
▶ 0:30:23Sen. Heinrich: This bill would put all of that work on hold while we wait for federal judges to sort out 36,000 miles of claims on roads that may or may not have existed 50 years ago. I would love to resolve issues once and for all. I have dealt with them for my entire adult life. But the solution is not to tie the hands of land managers using the one tool that might get us there.
▶ 0:30:50Sen. Heinrich: While we wait another 50 years for federal judges to get us out of this. So with that, I am going to turn it back to you.
▶ 0:30:59Chair Lee: Thank you. We will begin with nine amendments to the bills on the agenda. I'm offering five of them. They are amendment two to agenda item one, amendment three is modified to agenda item number two, amendment four to item six and minute five to item six and amendment seven to item number 13.
▶ 0:31:29Chair Lee: The four remaining mms are being offered jointly by me and ranking member heinrich. They are amendment six to number 7, 8 and 15, nine to item 18, and 10 to item number 23. Those amendments will be by voice vote. If there is no objection, we will vote on all nine together.
▶ 0:31:51Sen. Heinrich: On amendment number five, senators would like to be recorded as a no. >> no vote on the same amendment.
▶ 0:32:02Chair Lee: Senator padilla will be recorded as a no. >> amendment number five as a no.
▶ 0:32:09Chair Lee: Also a note from senator cantwell on amendment number five. Hearing no objection to voice putting these, all those in favor, saying aye. Those opposed, saying nay. The ayes have it. The amendments are adopted. We will turn to the bills for which road call -- roll call has been requested.
▶ 0:32:33Chair Lee: If no member objects, I would also request that my colleagues hold statements that they may have concerning the bills until after the vote is concluded. Hearing no objections to that plan, we will begin with agenda item number one, the s. 90, historic roadways protection act. The clerk will call the role. >> Mr. lee. Mr. barrasso. Mr. risch. Mr. daines. Mr. cotton. Mr. mccormick. Mr. justice. Mr. cassidy. Ms. hyde-smith.
▶ 0:33:08Chair Lee: Aye by proxy. >> Ms. murkowski. Mr. hoeven. Mr. heinrich.
▶ 0:33:15Sen. Heinrich: Now. >> Mr. wyden.
▶ 0:33:18Sen. Heinrich: No by proxy. >> Ms. cantwell. Ms. hirono.
▶ 0:33:23Sen. Heinrich: No by proxy. >> Mr. king.
▶ 0:33:26Sen. Heinrich: No by proxy. >> Ms. cortez masto. Mr. hickenlooper.
▶ 0:33:31Sen. Heinrich: >> Mr. padilla. No by proxy. Mr. gallego.
▶ 0:33:35Sen. Heinrich: No by proxy. >> on this boat, the yeas are 11 and the nays are nine.
▶ 0:33:48Chair Lee: The bill is reported to the senate. We'll turn to agenda item number six, a bill to prohibit big cypress national preserve from being designated as wilderness or as a component of the national wilderness preservation system, and for other purposes. The clerk will call the role. >> Mr. lee.
▶ 0:34:08Chair Lee: I. >> Mr. barrasso. Mr. risch. Mr. daines. >> Mr. cotton. >> aye. >> Ms. hyde-smith.
▶ 0:34:20Chair Lee: Aye by proxy. >> Ms. murkowski. Mr. hoeven. Mr. heinrich.
▶ 0:34:28Sen. Heinrich: No. >> Mr. wyden. >> no by proxy. >> Ms. cantwell. >> no. >> Mr. king.
▶ 0:34:41Sen. Heinrich: No by proxy. >> Ms. cortez masto. Mr. hickenlooper.
▶ 0:34:46Sen. Heinrich: No by proxy. >> Mr. padilla. Mr. gallego.
▶ 0:34:51Sen. Heinrich: No by proxy. >> on this boat, the -- vote, the amendments -- the yeas are 11.
▶ 0:35:08Chair Lee: We will turn to the remaining agenda items, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 18, 19, and 23. Let me just go through the bill numbers, lest there be any confusion. That is aye -- s. 91, s. 1516, s. 1518, and s. 2181.
▶ 0:35:42Chair Lee: The committee will voice vote these bills. Those in favor, saying aye. Opposed, nay. The ayes have it. The bill is -- bills just listed will be reported favorably to the senate. I would like to ask unanimous consent that the committee staff be able to make necessary and conforming changes to legislative text that will be reported to the senate. Hearing no objection, it is so ordered.
▶ 0:36:12Chair Lee: I will recognize any senator who would like to make a statement on the bills ordered reported.
▶ 0:36:16Sen. Barrasso: Thank you for including my bill, the making parks safer act. Thanks to senator hickenlooper and king for cosponsoring this bill. It directs the department of interior to develop a plan to upgrade national park service 911 call centers with next-generation 911 technology. Folks traveled from across the world to enjoy our national parks in wyoming especially.
▶ 0:36:44Sen. Barrasso: Yellowstone national park -- it is vital for visitors to these great national parks to have access to up-to-date emergency service technology. This much needed update will improve our national parks and protect the safety of our visitors so I think those cosponsors and all the fellow committee members for continued support.
▶ 0:37:05Chair Lee: Thank you, senator barrasso. Senator hyde-smith?
▶ 0:37:11Sen. Hyde-Smith: I would like to be recorded as voting no. Sorry, voting yes.
▶ 0:37:21Chair Lee: Without objection. You can change your vote, too. Senator padilla.
▶ 0:37:30Sen. Padilla: I want to start by thanking you for organizing this business meeting. Appreciate you and her colleagues for advancing two of my bills out of committee today. I especially want to thank senator cortez masto for her leadership on the western wildfire support act of 2025 and for working with my office to ensure that local governments and local fire department's are not settled with unnecessary costs.
▶ 0:37:56Sen. Padilla: She was willing to accept an event -- amendment to that effect prior to our vote. My first bill, the lower colorado river multi-species conservation program amendment act, would -- to the existing conservation programs. It will not just enhance the program success but say of the federal government money by reducing the amount needed in federal appropriations.
▶ 0:38:25Sen. Padilla: My second bill, the land act, would authorize inlet exchange between the national park service and U.S. forest service to help manage respective land areas more efficiently. I want to recognize that there were three other bills important to my state that were included on the mark up agenda but did not receive a vote today.
▶ 0:38:50Sen. Padilla: This includes my bill to authorize additional funding for the san joaquin river restoration settlement act, my joshua tree national park expansion act, and the core door preservation act. I remain engaged and hopeful that these bills will move during the next business meeting. Lastly, I want to take a moment to discuss the frustrating process by which we are seeing public land bills move through congress.
▶ 0:39:15Sen. Padilla: I have spoken about it previously to this committee and on the floor and many of us on both sides of the aisle have had conversations about this privately. I'm pleased to see that this committee can work in a bipartisan matter to advance bills as we did today. We still have no assurances that the house will advance senate democratic bills or that the president would actually sign them into law.
▶ 0:39:44Sen. Padilla: We recently saw the president veto two land bills, both led by house republicans. The house was unwilling to override this veto's attempt even to override those vetoes on their priority bills. This should be a wake-up call to every member of this committee. I have spoken before in committee and on the senate floor and I want to reiterate what I have said.
▶ 0:40:08Sen. Padilla: I will not consent to any additional house republican bills passing the senate until the house begins to pass in the white house begins to sign into law senate democratic bills. A house republican sponsored bill lead on the senate side by a democrat in my opinion is still a house republican bill. So the status quo is not working.
▶ 0:40:34Sen. Padilla: I remain committed to working with you and our colleagues on this issue and hope we all sit down soon with our house counterparts as necessary and develop a process that provides assurances for these noncontroversial bills.
▶ 0:40:47Chair Lee: Thank you, senator padilla. We had six republican bills and six democrat bills on the agenda today. We are doing our best to move things forward. It does make it hard, though, when we have got a lot of democrat objections to passing bills by unanimous consent, even those that are not controversial and that have been passed through committee with bipartisan consensus.
▶ 0:41:18Chair Lee: The way that they like to do this in the house of representatives is -- they like to pass it on suspension of the rules over there. Suspension of the rules requires bipartisan super majority at 290, so it is literally impossible for them to pass them the way that they tend to pass these bills over there without democrats and republicans supporting it, so I think that
▶ 0:41:49Chair Lee: Would help lift the lock in, but I'm happy to work with you and other members of this committee and the senate to try to get these past. Senator heinrich. >> thank you to my calling from california because I have the same concerns. I want to say a few words about the s., 44 six.
▶ 0:42:19Chair Lee: The establishment of big cypress national preserve was an important moment in the history of our nation's national park system. It created the national preserve model, a model that is different than parks but has been so successful that it has been used across states, including new mexico, colorado, and it big cypress conservationists and tribal nations came together to establish the first national preserve, which protected the land and waters while allowing
▶ 0:42:49Chair Lee: For a diverse set of uses. This includes hunting, fishing, and other activities that you often do not see in national park units as well as traditional uses for tribal nations. It is an important model and one we used and modified when establishing the national preserve in new mexico a few years ago. That said, I oppose this bill, not because I believe we should designate a wilderness in big cypress without the support of tribes with connection to the area. We should not do that.
▶ 0:43:23Chair Lee: I respect the tribes as it relates to a wilderness in big cypress. It is important that we recognize traditional use and access for tribal nations and members when discussing new land designations and rights guaranteed to tribal nations should always be protected and respected.
▶ 0:43:45Chair Lee: The national park service decided not to recommend any new acres of wilderness in the final plan for a big cypress because it would not be appropriate given the tribal concerns. I posed this bill because of the precedent it sets and the inconsistencies it would cause in land management planning. Identifying land suitable for wilderness is a long-standing practice carried out by land managers when trying to develop management plans for their areas.
▶ 0:44:13Chair Lee: It is required by the wilderness act and has been the standard for 50 years. Placing an outright ban on wilderness is not the appropriate method for concerns about proposed wilderness. We have other ways to do so, including through public comment. This bill is unnecessary and unworkable. It is unnecessary because no president can designate wilderness on their own. Wilderness can only be designated by an act of congress.
▶ 0:44:43Chair Lee: It is unworkable because this congress cannot bind a future congress that chooses to designate wilderness and congress cannot forbid a future president from recommending that a future congress designate wilderness. This action and the proposed amendment would degrade the national park service authorities and land use planning and complicate future efforts for wilderness identification and designation in appropriate places not related to big cypress.
▶ 0:45:13Chair Lee: For those reasons, that is why I and others in my conference opposed to this bill.
▶ 0:45:17Chair Lee: Thank you for your remarks on that. The cypress national preserve is an important natural resource that should be maintained for public use and enjoyment.
▶ 0:45:36Chair Lee: The bills introduced by senator scott of florida at the request of a tribe and it had been managed as wilderness by the biden administration. It has not been designated as wilderness by congress.
▶ 0:45:56Chair Lee: But the tribe made this request because the preserve has been used to preserve historic uses that they have had, including hunting cattle raising, and traditional uses by the tribe.
▶ 0:46:12Chair Lee: So the legislation introduced by senator scott of florida ensures the traditional uses can continue and prevents this administration or subsequent ones from locking them out of the traditional uses. I commend him for introducing that. Any other senator seeking recognition? If not, the committee stands adjourned. Thank you.
▶ 0:46:55Chair Lee: [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap.org]