# The ROAM Act: A Combined Pass for Parks and Outdoor Areas

The ROAM Act (Recreation and Outdoor Access Membership Act) creates a pilot program that would let you buy a single pass to visit both federal and state parks and outdoor recreation areas in the southeastern United States. Right now, if you want to visit a national park and a state park in the same region, you typically need to buy separate passes or pay separate entrance fees. This bill would test whether combining those into one pass makes things easier and more affordable for visitors.

The pilot program would start in the National Park Service's Southeastern Region, which includes states like Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, and others. Before rolling out any combined pass, the federal government would need to work out partnership agreements with each state involved. These agreements would cover important details like how much the pass costs, how the money gets split between federal and state agencies, what parks and areas the pass covers, and whether certain groups like veterans or volunteers get free or discounted passes. The key requirement is that neither the federal government nor the states can lose money from this arrangement—the combined pass has to bring in at least as much revenue as selling separate passes would.

The pilot program would run for about three years, with the authority to issue new passes ending after that point. The government would then study how well it worked and report back to Congress within five years with a recommendation on whether to expand this combined pass program nationwide. This is essentially a test run to see if combining federal and state passes makes outdoor recreation more convenient and accessible without hurting the funding that parks depend on for maintenance and operations.