House Passes Veterans in Parks (VIP) Act
Article from FRA Today, October 2021
Submitted by the Editor to honor the adventurous spirit of AGCM Moon Mullen, USN (Ret)
The House unanimously passed the Alexander Lofgren Veterans in Parks (VIP) Act (H.R.4300) sponsored by Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (Iowa). The bill would give veterans and gold star families free lifetime access to national parks and public federal lands, and would also continue to provide active-duty military free annual passes.
The America the Beautiful Pass provides access to more than 2,000 federal recreation areas, including national parks, national forests and wildlife refuges. This includes some of the country’s most iconic natural treasures, ranging from Acadia National Park to the Redwood National and State Parks. The VIP Act would allow all veterans, active-duty service members and gold star families to visit all national parks and public lands free of charge. In 2020, the America the Beautiful annual pass became free for veterans and gold star families. However, this change for veterans has never been put into law and could be undone in future years.
The bill would protect these passes by codifying them into law and making them lifetime passes instead of annual passes. Passage of the bill would also mean that current service members could convert their annual passes into lifetime passes once they leave the military.
The bill now goes to the Senate for further consideration. Members can go to the FRA Action Center (VotervoiceFullInfo (fra.org)) to weigh in on this issue.
