S. 4455 · Where this bill is now
In committee
Introduced in the Senate, Apr 30, 2026
What this bill does
In plain words · AI-written from the official summaryProtects federal lands from reconciliation sales
Here's the gist: Congress has a fast-track process called reconciliation to change spending and tax laws, but it has limits. This bill adds another limit by saying that selling or transferring federal lands can't be done through that fast-track process. Instead, those kinds of land decisions would have to go through the normal, slower legislative route.
How it affects you
This doesn't create an immediate change for most people, but it affects how decisions about federal lands get made. If you care about public lands and how they're managed, this means any sale or transfer of those lands would need to follow regular congressional procedures rather than expedited ones. The practical effect depends on whether future proposals to sell or transfer federal lands come up.
Read the official summary (Introduced in Senate, Apr 30, 2026)
Public Lands Integrity Act
This bill generally prohibits provisions that result in the sale, disposal, or transfer of federal lands from being included in reconciliation legislation by requiring the provisions to be considered extraneous under the Senate's Byrd Rule.
The Senate's Byrd Rule (named after it's principal author, Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia) prohibits the inclusion of matter in reconciliation legislation that is extraneous to a congressional committee's reconciliation directives in the associated congressional budget resolution. Reconciliation is an expedited method by which Congress may adopt changes in spending and revenue laws to achieve the budgetary goals reflected in a congressional budget resolution. Reconciliation bills are considered by Congress using expedited legislative procedures that prevent a filibuster and restrict amendments in the Senate.
For additional information, see CRS Report R48640, The Senate’s Byrd Rule: Frequently Asked Questions.
Written by AI (Claude) using only the official summary by the Congressional Research Service, the Library of Congress’s nonpartisan research staff. It can miss nuance, so check the official summary and the bill text for details.
2nd SessionS. 4455
A BILL
Public Lands Integrity Act
Sponsor: Sen. Michael F. Bennet (D-CO) · Introduced Apr 30, 2026 · Economics and Public Finance · 1 version of the text
Sources: Congress.gov actions and votes · bill text from GovInfo · latest official action Apr 30, 2026: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Budget.”