Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and James Risch (R-ID) introduced S. 811, the Recreational Trails Program (RTP) Full Funding Act. This legislation aims to correct inadequate annual funding for this program, increasing it from $84 million to $281 million. 

The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) helped create the Recreation Trails Program in the early 1990s. This program uses federal gasoline tax revenue attributed to motorized off-highway recreational vehicles to fund, develop, and maintain trail infrastructure across the United States.  As of 2023, the program has awarded over $1.6 billion to over 25,000 trail projects across the United States during the three decades of the program. This, despite the fact that off-highway vehicle enthusiasts have paid nearly $9 billion in gas tax during the same period.

“The Recreation Trails Program is incredibly important for the growth and development of off-highway motorized recreation in our country, and it is vital that all of the motor-fuel user tax imposed on off-highway vehicle enthusiasts be returned to those users who pay the tax in the form of trail maintenance and development dollars,” said AMA President and CEO Rob Dingman. “S. 811 ensures that RTP will continue to flourish for years to come, and equitably return the full amount of user tax revenue generated by off-highway vehicle enthusiasts to support the nation’s trails infrastructure upon which they rely.”

Funding for the Recreation Trails Program follows the “user-pay, user-benefit” principle upon which the Highway Trust Fund was originally based. RTP has only been funded at $84 million annually since Fiscal Year 2009 despite a much greater amount of tax revenue being attributable to off-highway vehicles. In 2020, Congress required the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to provide a report, which found taxes on off-highway use of recreational vehicles are on average $281 million per year. The RTP Full Funding Act seeks to ensure federal taxes collected from off-highway recreation are appropriately returned to the states for the Recreational Trails Program. 

The American Motorcyclist Association with the Coalition for Recreational Trails (CRT) endorses S. 811, the RTP Full Funding Act. The AMA will continue to support RTP funding and trail projects that promote the motorcycle lifestyle and motorcyclist interests. This legislation is an important step in the right direction to ensure future generations of motorcyclists have access to off-highway recreation.