• Colorado (HB 21-1318) creates an Outdoor Equity Grant Program intended to increase access to the outdoors for underserved youth and their families.
• California Equity Fund and California State Park Adventure Pass (AB 148 and SB 129) offers fourth graders free admission to 16 California state parks.
• Oregon (SB 289) bars those convicted of bias crimes on state waters or publically owned outdoor recreation land from reentering those spaces for up to five years.
• Illinois (HR 0011) maintains that every child should have the right and opportunity to take part in outdoor recreation.

• New Mexico established the first Outdoor Equity Fund alongside their Division of Outdoor Recreation in 2019 with SB 462.
• Multiple states have No Child Left Inside grant programs for underserved youth. This began with a program in Washington (SB 5843) and has since been adopted in Minnesota (HB 133 and in omnibus) and Nevada (AB 331) as well.

• Georgia (SR 203) establishes an Outdoor Learning Committee to look at issues and needs associated with outdoor learning. Final recommendations are available here.
• Maine (LD 1474) creates pathways for public and private schools to responsibly conduct overnight camping trips.
• New Hampshire (SB 148) includes provisions to add environmental education skills, environmental science, and outdoor recreation to the state’s education criteria.
• New Mexico (SM 1) convenes a task force to expand the use of outdoor classrooms for the state’s schools.
• Oklahoma (SCR 5) encourages the incorporation of hunter education courses into middle or high school curriculums as approved by the Department of Wildlife Conservation.
• Washington (SB 5151) authorizes the state to license outdoor, nature-based childcare programs that enroll preschool or school-age children, teach a nature-based curriculum, and provide daily nature-based learning experiences for at least half of the day.

• Oregon established an Outdoor School program for every fifth and sixth grade student through SB 439 in 2015 and Ballot Measure 99 in 2016.
• Maryland passed a Green Schools Act (SB 662) in 2019 that provides grants to support outdoor learning opportunities.
• Minnesota established an Outdoor Based Credit Recovery program that allows students to participate in outdoor programming as part of summer school. Funding was appropriated through SF No. 550.

• Alaska: The state budget includes funding for development of the Fairbanks to Seward Multi-Use Recreation Trail.
• Indiana: $60 million included for trails in the state budget.
• Texas: The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department appropriation includes a study to determine the potential for historic, scenic, and/or recreational trails to be created in Texas and to identify potential partners to promote local and regional preservation efforts related to the trails studied.
• New Mexico: Roughly $900,000 appropriated for the Outdoor Equity Fund grant program.
• Washington:
  • A tripling of the investment in the “No Child Left Inside” program, to $4.5 million, to fund grants connecting underserved youth to nature.
  • Funding and provisions for the “Parks Rx” program at $200,000, which will enable the Department of Health, parks and recreation providers, public and community health representatives, healthcare insurers, and others to design preventative health and wellness pilot programs that can take advantage of the no-cost and low-cost offered by public parks and through parks facilities.
  • $375,000 for the Recreation and Conservation Office to conduct an equity review for all grants programs.
  • An additional $4 million in Capital Budget funding for outdoor recreation equity grants, much of which is to be distributed in combination with the above equity review process.
  • A record-matching $100 million in funding for the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program (WWRP).

In California, Assembly Bill 30 would have established a policy that “all Californians have safe and affordable access to nature and access to the benefits of nature.” Such a policy would then direct how state agencies execute planning, grant-making, and other key decisions.

In New Hampshire, a provision originally included in Senate Bill 148 would have created a “youth environmental education and conservation council.” Several states are considering ways of elevating youth voices, particularly around nature access.

In Texas, House Bill 2159 would have required a “study on state land use to facilitate health and wellness for veterans.” The bill would require coordination between several state departments, and a similar process was recently completed in New York.