To amend the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area Improvement Act to provide access to certain vehicles serving residents of municipalities adjacent to the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, and for other purposes.
Public Law 115-101 · H.R. 560 · 115th Congress · began in the House
Signed by Donald Trump (R) on Jan 8, 2018 · Public Lands and Natural Resources
Sponsor: Rep. Tom Marino (R-PA-10)
Cosponsors (1): Rep. Matt Cartwright
Passage votes
- HouseVoice vote
- SenateVoice vote
Data notes
The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.
Summary
The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.
(Sec. 1) This bill amends the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area Improvement Act with respect to the prohibition against the use of Highway 209, a federally owned road within the boundaries of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in Pennsylvania, by certain commercial vehicles except as they serve businesses located within or in the vicinity of the recreation area.
The local business use exception to the prohibition is revised to permit, until September 30, 2021, the use of commercial vehicles with four or fewer axles that are: (1) owned and operated by a business located in the recreation area or one or more adjacent municipalities, or (2) necessary to provide services to businesses or persons located in the recreation area or one or more such municipalities.
The adjacent municipalities referred to are Delaware Township, Dingman Township, Lehman Township, Matamoras Borough, Middle Smithfield Township, Milford Borough, Milford Township, Smithfield Township, and Westfall Township in Pennsylvania.
The Department of the Interior shall establish a fee and permit program for the use of Highway 209 by commercial vehicles, including an annual fee of up to $200 per vehicle. All fees received shall be set aside in a special account and be available for the administration and enforcement of the program, including registering vehicles, issuing permits and vehicle identification stickers, and personnel costs.
The following vehicles may use Highway 209 without a fee or permit requirement:
• local school buses;
• fire, ambulance, and other safety and emergency vehicles; and
• commercial vehicles along specified segments of the highway.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
Data notes
A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.
Related bills
The record lists no related bills.
Data notes
Related bills are identified by the Congressional Research Service, the House and the Senate: companion and identical bills, bills with similar text, bills that were folded into this law, and rules that brought it to the floor. A bill that is itself a public law in this site’s data links here; the others link to Congress.gov.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 16 actions.
- Jan 8, 2018Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- Dec 27, 2017FloorFloor · Presented to President.
- Dec 22, 2017FloorFloor · Message on Senate action sent to the House.
- Dec 21, 2017FloorFloor · Passed Senate without amendment by Voice Vote.
- May 9, 2017CalendarCalendar · Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 64.
- CommitteeCommittee · Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Reported by Senator Murkowski without amendment. With written report No. 115-51.
- Mar 30, 2017CommitteeCommittee · Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably.
- Mar 7, 2017CommitteeCommittee · Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
- Jan 31, 2017CommitteeCommittee · Received in the Senate.
- Jan 30, 2017FloorFloor · Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
- FloorFloor · On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote.
- FloorFloor · DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 560.
- FloorFloor · Considered under suspension of the rules.
- FloorFloor · Mr. McClintock moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill.
- Jan 13, 2017CommitteeCommittee · Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in House
Data notes
Every action the Library of Congress lists for the bill, from introduction to signing, plus the dated committee hearings. The source lists many steps twice (the chamber’s own entry and the Library of Congress copy, or a presidential and a became-law entry with the same words); those are shown once. Amendments are listed in their own section.
Amendments
No amendments to this bill are on record.
Data notes
Amendments offered to this bill in either chamber, as the Library of Congress records them: each with a status read from its last recorded step: agreed to, rejected, withdrawn, ruled out of order, fell with another amendment, or offered with no vote recorded (most Senate amendments are only ever offered). The wording of each amendment is the source’s. Amendments to amendments and amendments to other bills are not listed.
Official record
The bill’s full text is on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.