American Voices in Federal Lands Act

What it does

• •Amends the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 to define 'citizen of the United States' for purposes of public involvement in federal land rulemaking to include only U.S.-born or naturalized individuals and U.S.-domiciled legal entities.
• •Requires the Secretary of Interior to consider only comments from defined U.S. citizens when promulgating regulations for Bureau-managed public lands.
• •Mandates the Secretary implement technology-based processes to deter non-citizen participation in public involvement proceedings regarding federal land management.
• •Exempts mail-submitted public comments from the citizenship verification requirements.

Why it matters

• •The bill restricts who can participate in federal land management rulemaking by limiting consideration of public comments to U.S. citizens and certain domestic legal entities, potentially narrowing the range of stakeholders whose input agencies must consider.
• •The citizenship verification requirement may alter how federal agencies conduct public comment periods and could affect participation patterns in environmental and land-use rulemaking processes.

Who is affected

• •The Bureau of Land Management and its rulemaking processes for public lands.
• •U.S. citizens and domestic legal entities seeking to submit comments on federal land regulations.
• •Non-U.S. citizens, foreign entities, and international organizations previously able to submit public comments on federal land policies.

What happens next

This bill was reported out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on November 12, 2026, with an amendment and is awaiting further Senate action.