Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Congressional Research Service
Official summary
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Feb 13, 2023
Gateway Community and Recreation Enhancement Act
This bill directs the Department of the Interior and the Forest Service to carry out activities to enhance recreational opportunities for gateway communities and provides for the establishment of a digital National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass.
Gateway community means a community that serves as an entry point or is adjacent to a recreation destination at which there is consistently high seasonal or year-round visitation.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
Read full official summaryShow less
Specifically, Interior and the Forest Service must collaborate with state and local governments, Indian tribes, and other relevant stakeholders to identify needs and economic impacts in gateway communities, including
housing shortages,
demands on existing municipal infrastructure,
accommodation and management of sustainable visitation, and
the expansion and diversification of visitor experiences by bolstering the visitation at certain nearby underutilized locations or lesser-known recreation sites.
The Rural Business-Cooperative Service shall provide to businesses in gateway communities assistance to establish, operate, or expand infrastructure to accommodate and manage sustainable visitation.
Interior and the Forest Service must (1) establish a single visitation data reporting system to report accurate annual visitation data, and (2) carry out a Real-time Data Pilot Program.
The bill provides for the establishment, by January 1, 2024, of a digital version of the National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass that is able to be stored on a mobile device.
Source last updated: Sep 8, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Explore the bill from different angles
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.
Neutral evidence review
Objective
Analyze S.390 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.
View full prompt & sources
Fairness and public impact
Progressive lens
Examine S.390 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.
View full prompt & sources
Institutions and government scope
Conservative lens
Examine S.390 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.
View full prompt & sources
Individual rights and government power
Liberty lens
Examine S.390 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.