{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.daines.senate.gov/2024/12/20/three-daines-outdoors-bills-pass-u-s-senate-head-to-presidents-desk/", "Three Daines Outdoors Bills Pass U.S. Senate, Head to President\u2019s Desk", "2024-12-20", "2024", "2024-12", "Republican", "Senate", "MT", "Steve Daines", "D000618", "www.daines.senate.gov", "daines", "https://www.daines.senate.gov/news/press-releases/", "scraper", "U.S. Senator Steve Daines today announced that the U.S. Senate unanimously passed several of his bipartisan outdoors bills, which will now head to the President\u2019s desk. The bills support gateway communities, address challenges facing national parks and public lands, streamline the process for issuing special recreation permits for accessing public lands, and address housing needs in rural communities.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m proud to see my bipartisan bills pass the U.S. Senate and head to the president\u2019s desk to be signed into law. This package includes major wins for Montana\u2019s beautiful public lands and I\u2019ll always keep fighting for more ways to protect our outdoor way of life,\u201d said Daines.\n\nThe following Daines bills were included in the larger \u201cEXPLORE Act\u201d:\n\n\u201cGateway Community and Recreation Enhancement Act\u201d\n\nDaines\u2019 bipartisan \u201cGateway Community and Recreation Enhancement Act\u201d supports gateway communities and addresses challenges facing national parks and public lands like increased visitation and housing shortages, boosting visitation at lesser-known parks and recreation areas and requires a digital version of the America the Beautiful annual pass.\n\nThe bill was cosponsored by Senator Angus King in the Senate and led by Representatives Ryan Zinke and Mary Peltola in the House. Read the press release from its introduction in February 2023 HERE.\n\nWhen the bill passed the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in May 2023,Daines said, \u201cMontanans know how important our gateway communities are, and supporting the areas around our beautiful national parks and public lands is critical to Montana\u2019s economy. I\u2019ll keep working to get this bill across the finish line.\u201d\n\n\u201cSOAR Act\u201d\n\nDaines\u2019 bipartisan \u201cSimplifying Outdoor Access for Recreation Act\u201d streamlines the process for issuing special recreation permits for accessing public lands. Because Montana has a checkerboard land ownership pattern, and each federal land agency has a separet permitting process, guides and outfitters often have to go through multiple departments and permitting processes all for one trip. The \u201cSOAR Act\u201d helps increase access to public lands and support small businesses.\n\n\u201cForest Flexible Housing Partnerships Act\u201d\n\nDaines\u2019 bipartisan \u201cForest Flexible Housing Partnerships Act\u201d reauthorizes a program that allows the Forest Service to lease existing underutilized administrative sites to address housing needs of rural communities.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:07:19Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.daines.senate.gov/2024/12/20/three-daines-outdoors-bills-pass-u-s-senate-head-to-presidents-desk/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.2490460649132729, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}