I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1011
To amend the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 to remove barriers to agricul-
tural producers in accessing funds to carry out emergency measures
under the emergency conservation program, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY5, 2025
Ms. L
ETLOWintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To amend the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 to remove
barriers to agricultural producers in accessing funds to
carry out emergency measures under the emergency con-
servation program, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Emergency Conserva-4
tion Program Improvement Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. EMERGENCY CONSERVATION PROGRAM. 6
Section 401 of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 7
(16 U.S.C. 2201) is amended— 8
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(1) in subsection (b)— 1
(A) in the subsection heading, by inserting 2
‘‘
ANDOTHEREMERGENCY CONSERVATION 3
M
EASURES’’ after ‘‘FENCING’’; and 4
(B) by amending paragraph (1) to read as 5
follows: 6
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—With respect to a payment 7
to an agricultural producer under subsection (a) for 8
the repair or replacement of fencing, or for other 9
emergency measures to rehabilitate farmland or to 10
repair or replace a farmland or conservation struc-11
ture, the Secretary shall give the agricultural pro-12
ducer the option of receiving— 13
‘‘(A) before carrying out such replacement 14
or rehabilitation, not more than 75 percent of 15
the payment for such replacement or rehabilita-16
tion, which shall be based on the fair market 17
value of the replacement or rehabilitation, as 18
determined by the Secretary; and 19
‘‘(B) before carrying out such repair, not 20
more than 50 percent of the payment for such 21
repair, which shall be based on the fair market 22
value of the repair, as determined by the Sec-23
retary.’’; and 24
(2) by adding at the end the following: 25
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‘‘(c) WILDFIRES.—A wildfire that causes damage 1
with respect to which a payment may be made under sub-2
section (a) includes any wildfire that is not caused natu-3
rally, including a wildfire that is caused by the Federal 4
Government, if the damage is caused by the spread of the 5
fire due to natural causes.’’. 6
SEC. 3. IMPROVING THE EMERGENCY FOREST RESTORA-7
TION PROGRAM. 8
Section 407 of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 9
(16 U.S.C. 2206) is amended— 10
(1) by redesignating subsection (e) as sub-11
section (f); and 12
(2) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol-13
lowing: 14
‘‘(e) A
DVANCEPAYMENTS.— 15
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall give an 16
owner of nonindustrial private forest land the option 17
of receiving, before the owner carries out emergency 18
measures under this section, not more than 75 per-19
cent of the cost of the emergency measures, as de-20
termined by the Secretary based on the fair market 21
value of the cost of the emergency measures using 22
the estimated cost of the applicable practice pub-23
lished in the Field Office Technical Guide of each 24
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State by the Natural Resources Conservation Serv-1
ice. 2
‘‘(2) R
ETURN OF FUNDS .—If the funds pro-3
vided under paragraph (1) are not expended by the 4
end of the 180-day period beginning on the date on 5
which the owner of nonindustrial private forest land 6
receives those funds, the funds shall be returned 7
within a reasonable timeframe, as determined by the 8
Secretary.’’. 9
Æ
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