PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight, Nutrition and Forestry.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Nov 14, 2002
Public Lands Forever Wild Act - Prohibits, without exception, certain actions on Federal public lands, including: (1) tree cutting; (2) road building; (3) logging; (4) mining; and (5) drilling. Forbids the leasing, sale, or exchange of such lands or the sale, removal, or destruction of any resource from such lands, including timber and minerals.Requires that all roads on Federal public lands be inventoried, with unnecessary ones to be obliterated and revegetated. Directs the Federal agencies having jurisdiction over Federal public lands to inventory them by acre, roads, rivers, and streams by mile. States that such inventory shall include a recommendation of what can be done to restore natural conditions on the lands.Declares fires, insects, disease, and other natural destructive forces on Federal public lands to be considered acts of nature, with no further attempts to correct for them permitted.Allows any citizen harmed by a violation of this Act to bring suit in any district court of the United States. Permits the court to impose damages for findings of violation.Sets forth that the United States (including its agents and employees) waives its sovereign immunity in all respects in all actions with regard to court proceedings under this Act.
People & committees
Rep. McKinney, Cynthia A. [D-GA-4] · D–GA
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight, Nutrition and Forestry.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife and Oceans.
Referred to the Subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation and Public Lands.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources.
Referred to the Committee on Resources, and in addition to the Committees on Agriculture, and Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on Resources, and in addition to the Committees on Agriculture, and Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on Resources, and in addition to the Committees on Agriculture, and Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on Resources, and in addition to the Committees on Agriculture, and Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Aug 19, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze H.R.5748 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine H.R.5748 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine H.R.5748 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine H.R.5748 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.