PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · May 16, 2023
Simplifying Outdoor Access for Recreation Act or the SOAR Act
This bill modifies requirements regarding special recreation permits for outfitting and guiding on federal recreational lands and waters, including by categorizing permits as transitional special recreation permits or as long-term permits.
The bill requires the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to issue two-year transitional special recreation permits to a recreation provider for a new or additional reoccurring recreation service. Interior or USDA must issue a long-term special recreation permit, with a term of 5 or 10 years, to a recreation provider who has held no less than two transitional permits (or similar permits) and meets performance criteria.
The departments may provide the flexibility to a permit holder to engage in another activity similar to the permitted activity under a permit.
The departments must establish a pilot program to offer a single joint special recreation permit or commercial use authorization for a multijurisdictional trip.
The bill requires the departments to evaluate and improve the process for issuing special recreation permits.
People & committees
Sen. Heinrich, Martin [D-NM] · D–NM
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Introduced in Senate
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: Sep 8, 2026. 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 S.1630 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 S.1630 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 S.1630 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 S.1630 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.