U.S. Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX) this week cheered passage by the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee of a bipartisan bill he cosponsored to spur the much-needed maintenance of America’s national parks and historic sites.
“I thank my friends on the Natural Resources Committee for recognizing the importance of reducing the National Park Service’s deferred maintenance backlog and I look forward to seeing this bill soon on the House floor,” Sen. Hurd said on Wednesday.
The committee on June 26 voted 36-2 to advance the Restore Our Parks and Public Lands Act, H.R. 1225, which would establish and fund a National Park Service and Public Lands Legacy Restoration Fund to address the maintenance backlog of the National Park Service (NPS), United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Bureau of Indian Education, according to the bill’s text.
Rep. Hurd is an original cosponsor of H.R. 1225, which was introduced on Feb. 14 by bill sponsor U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT) and lead Democrat U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer of Washington. The bill would reduce the almost $12 billion backlog now facing the NPS.
Rep. Hurd’s office noted that the congressman’s home state of Texas in 2018 had more than $154 million in backlogged maintenance NPS projects with roughly 75 percent of them in the congressman’s 23rd District.
“We must ensure that our national parks and historic sites, including the eight I represent, continue to provide immeasurable cultural, environmental and economic benefits across local communities for generations to come,” said Rep. Hurd, co-chairman of the bipartisan National Parks Caucus. “I am proud of the hard work my colleagues and I have put into this bipartisan bill that does exactly that.”
H.R. 1225 still requires action by the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee before heading to the House floor for a vote.