This bill amends the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act to permit units of the National Park System to charge an additional surcharge on entrance fees and National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Passes when those fees are paid by certain international visitors. It defines the covered international visitors narrowly (B nonimmigrant visa holders and Visa Waiver Program entrants) and gives superintendents authority to set surcharge amounts by regulation, with the Secretary of the Interior responsible for collection and oversight.
The bill matters because it creates a new, recurring revenue stream for park maintenance and visitor services while insulating that revenue from general Treasury receipts: entrance-surcharge proceeds stay at the collecting unit, and pass-surcharge proceeds flow to the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund. The amendment also builds in mechanics for per-vehicle collection, third-party vendor collection, temporary suspension or tiered pricing, and a small set of exceptions (including the Washington Monument).
At a Glance
What It Does
The bill adds a new subsection authorizing superintendents to set a surcharge, by regulation, on entrance fees charged to defined international visitors and requires the Secretary to collect that surcharge. It also requires a surcharge on passes sold to the same class of international visitors and directs pass surcharges into the Legacy Restoration Fund.
Who It Affects
Primary targets are international visitors admitted on B-category visas and Visa Waiver Program entrants; national park superintendents and the Department of the Interior will gain new pricing and collection responsibilities; third-party travel vendors may be engaged to collect fees.
Why It Matters
This creates a targeted user-charge mechanism that keeps entrance-surcharge revenue at the park level while routing pass surcharges to the legacy fund, shifting funding architecture for park maintenance and potentially changing how international tourism contributes to park budgets.
More articles like this one.
A weekly email with all the latest developments on this topic.
What This Bill Actually Does
The bill amends the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act to add an express mechanism for charging a surcharge to a narrowly defined group: nonimmigrant individuals admitted on B-class visas and visitors entering under the Visa Waiver Program. It gives each park superintendent the authority — exercised by regulation — to set the surcharge amount for international visitors who pay an entrance fee, with the Secretary of the Interior responsible for collection and regulatory oversight.
Superintendents must balance revenue objectives against the goal of retaining international visitation when setting rates.
Operationally, the bill addresses common collection scenarios: it requires the Department to create a process for proportionately collecting a surcharge when an entrance fee is a per-vehicle charge; it allows the Secretary to enter into agreements with third-party travel vendors to collect the surcharge; and it allows the Secretary or a superintendent to suspend or modify collection, including introducing tiered pricing tied to visitation levels. The Secretary may also set a minimum percentage increase that applies to superintendent-established surcharges within a timeframe the Secretary deems reasonable.Financially, the statute separates the two surcharge streams.
Proceeds from entrance-fee surcharges are retained at the park unit where collected and may be distributed by the Secretary for maintenance, visitor services, staffing, and related on-site needs. In contrast, any surcharge added to the sale of National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Passes to covered international visitors is deposited into the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund.
The bill also clarifies that these surcharges are additional to any visa fees and will not be administered by State or Homeland Security.The text includes a limited set of carve-outs: it bars applying the entrance surcharge to the Washington Monument and exempts nationals of a foreign country from surcharges on an International Peace Park if covered by a management Memorandum of Understanding with that foreign government. Taken together, the changes require rulemaking, new collection systems, potential vendor contracts, and superintendent-level pricing decisions that will reshape how international visitors are counted and charged at many park locations.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill limits the term “international visitor” to nonimmigrant entrants admitted under section 101(a)(15)(B) (B visas) or section 217 (the Visa Waiver Program) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Superintendents must set surcharge amounts by regulation and are instructed to balance maximizing revenue with retaining international visitation at the park.
Proceeds from entrance-fee surcharges are retained at the collecting park unit and may be used for that unit’s maintenance, visitor services, staffing, and related needs.
Surcharges collected on the sale of National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Passes to covered international visitors must be deposited into the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund.
The bill exempts the Washington Monument from entrance surcharges and exempts foreign nationals from surcharges at sites designated as International Peace Parks when covered by a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
Every bill we cover gets an analysis of its key sections.
Short title
Names the bill the “Protecting America’s Treasures by Raising Inflow from Overseas Tourists (PATRIOT) Parks Act.” This is a conventional short-title clause with no operational effect, but it signals the author’s framing and legislative intent to target international tourism revenue.
Defines 'international visitor' for surcharge purposes
Creates a narrow legal definition tied to two INA provisions — section 101(a)(15)(B) (B visas) and section 217 (Visa Waiver Program). Practically, this excludes permanent residents, other nonimmigrant classes (e.g., H, L, F), and dual-status visitors unless they hold one of the two specified admissions. That definitional choice shapes who will actually pay and raises administrative questions for point-of-sale systems and identity verification.
Grants superintendents authority to set and collect entrance surcharges and provides collection mechanics
Authorizes a park superintendent, with Secretary approval or at the Secretary’s election, to establish an entrance surcharge for covered international visitors by regulation. The text requires a revenue-versus-visitation balancing test, mandates a regulation-driven process for per-vehicle fees, and permits the Secretary to use existing entrance-fee collection methods or contract with third-party travel vendors. For practitioners, this means new rulemaking, potential contract procurement, and pavement-level operational changes (tickets, kiosks, online sales, and vendor agreements).
Delegates modification authority, separates visa fees, and prescribes disposition of entrance-surcharge proceeds
Empowers the Secretary (or at superintendent request) to suspend or modify surcharges and to implement tiered pricing tied to visitation; gives the Secretary authority to require minimum percentage increases within a reasonable timeframe; and specifies that these surcharges are in addition to visa fees and are not administered by State or DHS. Crucially, entrance-surcharge receipts are retained by the park unit that collected them and distributed by the Secretary for local needs — a statutory earmark that changes the flow of funds and creates new intra-agency budgeting implications.
Adds a pass surcharge and sends pass surcharge revenue to the Legacy Restoration Fund
Requires the Secretary to establish a surcharge by regulation on the sale of National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Passes to the same defined class of international visitors, with authority to increase the surcharge proportionally. Unlike entrance surcharges, amounts collected from pass surcharges must be deposited in the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund — centralizing pass surcharge revenue for broader restoration purposes rather than leaving it at individual units.
This bill is one of many.
Codify tracks hundreds of bills on Environment across all five countries.
Explore Environment in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- National Park units with heavy international visitation — they receive retained entrance-surcharge receipts that can be directed to maintenance, visitor services, and staffing at the collecting unit, improving local budget flexibility.
- Park superintendents — the bill gives them formal pricing authority to tailor surcharge levels by regulation, enabling a local revenue tool to address immediate operational needs.
- National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund projects — pass-surcharge revenue flows into the Legacy Fund, increasing available dollars for larger restoration and capital projects across the system.
Who Bears the Cost
- Covered international visitors (B-visa holders and Visa Waiver entrants) — they face higher out-of-pocket costs for park entry and passes because the surcharge applies directly to their purchases.
- Third-party travel vendors and park fee-collection systems — they may need to modify sales platforms, implement visa-status checks or data collection, and manage remittance processes under new vendor agreements.
- Department of the Interior/park administration — DOI must conduct rulemaking, implement proportionate per-vehicle collection rules, manage contracts with vendors, and oversee allocation of retained funds, creating administrative burdens and potential budgetary needs for implementation.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central dilemma is straightforward: the bill uses price signals to generate badly needed park funding by charging a subset of foreign visitors, but higher prices risk reducing visitation and harming local tourism economies, and the targeted surcharge regime raises fairness and practical-administration questions about singling out visitors by immigration admission class.
The bill creates operational complexity around who is an “international visitor.” Limiting the definition to B-class visas and Visa Waiver entrants simplifies policy targeting but excludes many other noncitizen categories (students, temporary workers, permanent residents) and raises practical verification issues at the point of sale. Park staff and vendor systems will need to determine when a purchaser qualifies as a covered international visitor without creating intrusive checks or slowing transaction flow.
That raises compliance and privacy implications if visitor identity or immigration status is checked or recorded.
The statutory split in fund disposition — entrance surcharges retained at the unit, pass surcharges routed to the Legacy Fund — presents an allocation tension. High-profile parks with large international visitation will capture immediate operational gains, while pass surcharge proceeds will support systemwide capital projects.
That creates incentives for local revenue-maximizing behavior by superintendents and could exacerbate funding imbalances between popular and less-visited parks. Moreover, setting surcharges to “maximize revenue while retaining visitation” is a blunt statutory standard; it requires sensitive demand elasticity analysis at each site, but the bill does not provide data collection, evaluation standards, or transition funding for parks that must invest in new collection systems before realizing revenue.
Try it yourself.
Ask a question in plain English, or pick a topic below. Results in seconds.