By SEMA Washington, D.C., Staff
The U.S. Senate voted to take up the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA), a bill that is critically important to revitalizing America’s outdoor recreation industry. The GAOA would dedicate $9.5 billion over the next five years to address the maintenance backlog on federally owned lands by creating a national parks and public land legacy restoration fund. The bill would also appropriate $900 million annually to the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), which allocates funding to protect natural areas, water resources, cultural heritage sites and to provide recreation opportunities. The SEMA-supported legislation is critical to addressing the infrastructure needs facing our public lands and waters, such as improving trails, roads, docks, campgrounds and more. The GAOA will receive a final vote in the Senate in the next few days.
Passage of the GAOA would benefit many SEMA members in the off-road market (four-wheel, ATVs and UTVs) in addition to companies producing and selling wheels/tires, suspension, power and other equipment to help tow RVs and boats to the nation’s parks and recreation areas. More than 90 outdoor recreation related companies, including several SEMA members, sent a letter calling on the U.S. Congress to pass the GAOA. Addressing the infrastructure needs of our public lands will create jobs and provide Americans with access to open spaces.
For more information, contact Eric Snyder at erics@sema.org.