Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB6867 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	118THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 6867
5	5	To create an Office of Conservation Innovation within the Natural Resources
6	6	Conservation Service.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	DECEMBER19, 2023
9	9	Mr. N
10	10	UNNof Iowa (for himself and Ms. SPANBERGER) introduced the
11	11	following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
12	12	A BILL
13	13	To create an Office of Conservation Innovation within the
14	14	Natural Resources Conservation Service.
15	15	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
16	16	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
17	17	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
18	18	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Conservation Innova-4
19	19	tion Act of 2023’’. 5
20	20	SEC. 2. OFFICE OF CONSERVATION INNOVATION. 6
21	21	Section 1242(h) of the Food Security Act of 1985 7
22	22	(16 U.S.C. 3842(h)) is amended by adding at the end the 8
23	23	following: 9
24	24	‘‘(5) O
25	25	FFICE OF CONSERVATION INNOVATION .— 10
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28	28	•HR 6867 IH
29	29	‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 1
30	30	establish within the Office of the Chief of the 2
31	31	Natural Resources Conservation Service an Of-3
32	32	fice of Conservation Innovation (referred to in 4
33	33	this paragraph as the ‘Office’) which shall be 5
34	34	under the direct supervision of the Chief. 6
35	35	‘‘(B) D
36	36	UTIES.—The Office shall— 7
37	37	‘‘(i) provide support to the Chief in 8
38	38	meeting the requirements of this sub-9
39	39	section; and 10
40	40	‘‘(ii) encourage innovation in con-11
41	41	servation practices through— 12
42	42	‘‘(I) revisions of existing con-13
43	43	servation practice standards; 14
44	44	‘‘(II) recommendations of interim 15
45	45	conservation practice standards; and 16
46	46	‘‘(III) recommendations of new 17
47	47	conservation practice standards. 18
48	48	‘‘(C) S
49	49	TAFF.—The Chief shall detail to the 19
50	50	Office not more than 6 employees of the De-20
51	51	partment of Agriculture who are technical spe-21
52	52	cialists that possess an understanding of con-22
53	53	ventional, organic, and other production tech-23
54	54	niques representing— 24
55	55	‘‘(i) agronomy and agroecology; 25
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58	58	•HR 6867 IH
59	59	‘‘(ii) grazing lands ecology (including 1
60	60	rangeland, pastureland, and grazed forest 2
61	61	land); 3
62	62	‘‘(iii) animal husbandry (including 4
63	63	animal nutrition and feed management); 5
64	64	‘‘(iv) water conservation, drainage 6
65	65	water management, and irrigation engi-7
66	66	neering technology; 8
67	67	‘‘(v) agricultural engineering (includ-9
68	68	ing animal waste management, energy, and 10
69	69	structural measures); and 11
70	70	‘‘(vi) forest ecology. 12
71	71	‘‘(6) F
72	72	UNDING.—The Secretary shall use fund-13
73	73	ing from the annual appropriations for conservation 14
74	74	operations of the Natural Resources Conservation 15
75	75	Service to carry out this subsection.’’. 16
76	76	Æ
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