Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB6877 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. 6877
5	5	To amend section 1242 of the Food Security Act of 1985 to enhance and
6	6	update conservation practice standards, and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	DECEMBER19, 2023
9	9	Ms. S
10	10	PANBERGER(for herself and Mr. NUNNof Iowa) introduced the
11	11	following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
12	12	A BILL
13	13	To amend section 1242 of the Food Security Act of 1985
14	14	to enhance and update conservation practice standards,
15	15	and for other purposes.
16	16	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
17	17	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
18	18	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
19	19	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Streamlining Con-4
20	20	servation Practice Standards Act’’. 5
21	21	SEC. 2. DELIVERY OF TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE. 6
22	22	Section 1242(h) of the Food Security Act of 1985 7
23	23	(16 U.S.C. 3842(h)) is amended— 8
24	24	VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jan 09, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6877.IH H6877 2
25	25	•HR 6877 IH
26	26	(1) in the subsection heading, by striking ‘‘RE-1
27	27	VIEW’’ and inserting ‘‘ESTABLISHMENT AND RE-2
28	28	VIEW’’; 3
29	29	(2) in paragraph (1)— 4
30	30	(A) by amending subparagraph (A) to read 5
31	31	as follows: 6
32	32	‘‘(A) not later than 1 year after the date 7
33	33	of enactment of the Streamlining Conservation 8
34	34	Practice Standards Act, and at least every 5 9
35	35	years thereafter on a rolling basis, complete a 10
36	36	review of each conservation practice standard, 11
37	37	including engineering design specifications;’’; 12
38	38	(B) in subparagraph (C), by striking 13
39	39	‘‘and’’ at the end; 14
40	40	(C) in subparagraph (D), by striking the 15
41	41	period at the end and inserting a semicolon; 16
42	42	and 17
43	43	(D) by adding at the end the following: 18
44	44	‘‘(E) provide a process for public input on 19
45	45	each conservation practice standard under such 20
46	46	review, including a process for consideration of 21
47	47	State and local input; 22
48	48	‘‘(F) publicly post a summary of any input 23
49	49	received under subparagraph (E) and any deci-24
50	50	sions made relating to such input; and 25
51	51	VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jan 09, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6877.IH H6877 3
52	52	•HR 6877 IH
53	53	‘‘(G) revise any conservation practice 1
54	54	standard based on the results of such review, as 2
55	55	determined appropriate by the Secretary, and 3
56	56	publish any such revised standard.’’; 4
57	57	(3) by amending paragraph (3) to read as fol-5
58	58	lows: 6
59	59	‘‘(3) P
60	60	ROCESS FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF IN -7
61	61	TERIM AND NEW CONSERVATION PRACTICE STAND -8
62	62	ARDS.— 9
63	63	‘‘(A) I
64	64	N GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 10
65	65	after the date of enactment of the Streamlining 11
66	66	Conservation Practice Standards Act, the Sec-12
67	67	retary shall develop a streamlined process under 13
68	68	which the Secretary shall establish interim con-14
69	69	servation practice standards and new conserva-15
70	70	tion practice standards. 16
71	71	‘‘(B) D
72	72	EVELOPMENT.—In developing the 17
73	73	streamlined process under subparagraph (A), 18
74	74	the Secretary shall— 19
75	75	‘‘(i) ensure that the public can engage 20
76	76	with the Department of Agriculture, in-21
77	77	cluding by recommending interim conserva-22
78	78	tion practice standards; and 23
79	79	‘‘(ii) establish— 24
80	80	VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jan 09, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6877.IH H6877 4
81	81	•HR 6877 IH
82	82	‘‘(I) the types of data, metrics, 1
83	83	and other relevant information that 2
84	84	are necessary for the establishment of 3
85	85	interim conservation practice stand-4
86	86	ards and new conservation practice 5
87	87	standards; 6
88	88	‘‘(II) the process by which an in-7
89	89	terim conservation practice standard 8
90	90	may become a new conservation prac-9
91	91	tice standard; and 10
92	92	‘‘(III) specific requirements for 11
93	93	an expedited review of a new con-12
94	94	servation practice for the purpose of 13
95	95	establishing a new conservation prac-14
96	96	tice standard for such practice. 15
97	97	‘‘(C) C
98	98	ONSIDERATIONS.—In establishing 16
99	99	an interim conservation practice standard or a 17
100	100	new conservation practice standard under this 18
101	101	subsection, the Secretary shall consider— 19
102	102	‘‘(i) input from State technical com-20
103	103	mittees on recommendations that identify 21
104	104	innovations or advancements in conserva-22
105	105	tion practices; 23
106	106	VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jan 09, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6877.IH H6877 5
107	107	•HR 6877 IH
108	108	‘‘(ii) technological advancements, in-1
109	109	cluding advancements from projects devel-2
110	110	oped under section 1240H; and 3
111	111	‘‘(iii) State and local input in the 4
112	112	form of— 5
113	113	‘‘(I) recommendations for interim 6
114	114	conservation practice standards; and 7
115	115	‘‘(II) partnership-led proposals 8
116	116	for new and innovative techniques to 9
117	117	facilitate implementing agreements 10
118	118	and grants under this title. 11
119	119	‘‘(D) T
120	120	RANSPARENCY.—The Secretary 12
121	121	shall make available on a public website a de-13
122	122	tailed description of the process for recom-14
123	123	mending, reviewing, and establishing interim 15
124	124	conservation practice standards and new con-16
125	125	servation practice standards under this para-17
126	126	graph.’’; 18
127	127	(4) in paragraph (4)— 19
128	128	(A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 20
129	129	(A)— 21
130	130	(i) by striking ‘‘Agriculture Improve-22
131	131	ment Act of 2018’’ and inserting ‘‘Stream-23
132	132	lining Conservation Practice Standards 24
133	133	Act’’; and 25
134	134	VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jan 09, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6877.IH H6877 6
135	135	•HR 6877 IH
136	136	(ii) by striking ‘‘a report on’’ and in-1
137	137	serting ‘‘a report detailing’’; 2
138	138	(B) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘ad-3
139	139	ministrative’’ and inserting ‘‘streamlined’’; 4
140	140	(C) in subparagraph (B), by striking 5
141	141	‘‘and’’ at the end; 6
142	142	(D) in subparagraph (C), by striking the 7
143	143	period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 8
144	144	(E) by adding at the end the following: 9
145	145	‘‘(D) any other information the Secretary 10
146	146	determines useful to improve such streamlined 11
147	147	process for reviewing and establishing conserva-12
148	148	tion practice standards.’’; and 13
149	149	(5) by adding at the end the following: 14
150	150	‘‘(5) F
151	151	UNDING.—The Secretary shall use fund-15
152	152	ing from the annual appropriations for conservation 16
153	153	operations of the Natural Resources Conservation 17
154	154	Service to carry out this subsection.’’. 18
155	155	SEC. 3. COMMODITY CREDIT CORPORATION. 19
156	156	Section 1241(j)(1)(A) of the Food Security Act of 20
157	157	1985 (16 U.S.C. 3841(j)(1)(A)) is amended by inserting 21
158	158	‘‘, including schedules for revising existing conservation 22
159	159	practice standards and establishing interim conservation 23
160	160	practice standards or new conservation practice standards 24
161	161	under section 1242(h)’’ before the semicolon at the end. 25
162	162	VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jan 09, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6877.IH H6877 7
163	163	•HR 6877 IH
164	164	SEC. 4. CONSERVATION INNOVATION GRANTS AND PAY-1
165	165	MENTS. 2
166	166	(a) C
167	167	OMPETITIVEGRANTS FORINNOVATIVECON-3
168	168	SERVATIONAPPROACHES.—Section 1240H(a)(1) of the 4
169	169	Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3839aa–8(a)(1)) 5
170	170	is amended to read as follows: 6
171	171	‘‘(1) G
172	172	RANTS.—Out of the funds made available 7
173	173	to carry out this subchapter, the Secretary may 8
174	174	award competitive grants that are intended to stimu-9
175	175	late development and evaluation of new and innova-10
176	176	tive approaches to leveraging the Federal investment 11
177	177	in environmental enhancement and protection, in 12
178	178	conjunction with agricultural production or forest re-13
179	179	source management, through the program, including 14
180	180	grants for the development and evaluation of new 15
181	181	and innovative technologies that may be incor-16
182	182	porated into conservation practice standards.’’. 17
183	183	(b) R
184	184	EPORTING AND DATABASE.—Section 18
185	185	1240H(d)(2)(A) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 19
186	186	U.S.C. 3839aa–8(d)(2)(A)) is amended— 20
187	187	(1) in clause (i)— 21
188	188	(A) by inserting ‘‘, including both manage-22
189	189	ment and structural conservation practices,’’ 23
190	190	after ‘‘conservation practices’’; and 24
191	191	(B) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 25
192	192	(2) by redesignating clause (ii) as clause (iii); 26
193	193	VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jan 09, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6877.IH H6877 8
194	194	•HR 6877 IH
195	195	(3) by inserting after clause (i) the following: 1
196	196	‘‘(ii) data that may be used to evalu-2
197	197	ate new and emerging technologies and 3
198	198	recommendations for State and regional 4
199	199	applications of such new and emerging 5
200	200	technologies; and’’; and 6
201	201	(4) in clause (iii), as so redesignated, by insert-7
202	202	ing ‘‘for consideration under the streamlined process 8
203	203	developed under section 1242(h)(3)’’ before the pe-9
204	204	riod at the end. 10
205	205	Æ
206	206	VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jan 09, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6877.IH H6877