1 | 1 | | I |
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2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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3 | 3 | | 1 |
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4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 1011 |
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5 | 5 | | To amend the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 to remove barriers to agricul- |
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6 | 6 | | tural producers in accessing funds to carry out emergency measures |
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7 | 7 | | under the emergency conservation program, and for other purposes. |
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8 | 8 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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9 | 9 | | FEBRUARY5, 2025 |
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10 | 10 | | Ms. L |
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11 | 11 | | ETLOWintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the |
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12 | 12 | | Committee on Agriculture |
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13 | 13 | | A BILL |
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14 | 14 | | To amend the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 to remove |
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15 | 15 | | barriers to agricultural producers in accessing funds to |
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16 | 16 | | carry out emergency measures under the emergency con- |
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17 | 17 | | servation program, and for other purposes. |
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18 | 18 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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19 | 19 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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20 | 20 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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21 | 21 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Emergency Conserva-4 |
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22 | 22 | | tion Program Improvement Act of 2025’’. 5 |
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23 | 23 | | SEC. 2. EMERGENCY CONSERVATION PROGRAM. 6 |
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24 | 24 | | Section 401 of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 7 |
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25 | 25 | | (16 U.S.C. 2201) is amended— 8 |
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27 | 27 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 |
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28 | 28 | | •HR 1011 IH |
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29 | 29 | | (1) in subsection (b)— 1 |
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30 | 30 | | (A) in the subsection heading, by inserting 2 |
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31 | 31 | | ‘‘ |
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32 | 32 | | ANDOTHEREMERGENCY CONSERVATION 3 |
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33 | 33 | | M |
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34 | 34 | | EASURES’’ after ‘‘FENCING’’; and 4 |
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35 | 35 | | (B) by amending paragraph (1) to read as 5 |
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36 | 36 | | follows: 6 |
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37 | 37 | | ‘‘(1) I |
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38 | 38 | | N GENERAL.—With respect to a payment 7 |
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39 | 39 | | to an agricultural producer under subsection (a) for 8 |
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40 | 40 | | the repair or replacement of fencing, or for other 9 |
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41 | 41 | | emergency measures to rehabilitate farmland or to 10 |
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42 | 42 | | repair or replace a farmland or conservation struc-11 |
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43 | 43 | | ture, the Secretary shall give the agricultural pro-12 |
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44 | 44 | | ducer the option of receiving— 13 |
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45 | 45 | | ‘‘(A) before carrying out such replacement 14 |
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46 | 46 | | or rehabilitation, not more than 75 percent of 15 |
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47 | 47 | | the payment for such replacement or rehabilita-16 |
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48 | 48 | | tion, which shall be based on the fair market 17 |
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49 | 49 | | value of the replacement or rehabilitation, as 18 |
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50 | 50 | | determined by the Secretary; and 19 |
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51 | 51 | | ‘‘(B) before carrying out such repair, not 20 |
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52 | 52 | | more than 50 percent of the payment for such 21 |
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53 | 53 | | repair, which shall be based on the fair market 22 |
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54 | 54 | | value of the repair, as determined by the Sec-23 |
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55 | 55 | | retary.’’; and 24 |
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56 | 56 | | (2) by adding at the end the following: 25 |
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59 | 59 | | •HR 1011 IH |
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60 | 60 | | ‘‘(c) WILDFIRES.—A wildfire that causes damage 1 |
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61 | 61 | | with respect to which a payment may be made under sub-2 |
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62 | 62 | | section (a) includes any wildfire that is not caused natu-3 |
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63 | 63 | | rally, including a wildfire that is caused by the Federal 4 |
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64 | 64 | | Government, if the damage is caused by the spread of the 5 |
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65 | 65 | | fire due to natural causes.’’. 6 |
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66 | 66 | | SEC. 3. IMPROVING THE EMERGENCY FOREST RESTORA-7 |
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67 | 67 | | TION PROGRAM. 8 |
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68 | 68 | | Section 407 of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 9 |
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69 | 69 | | (16 U.S.C. 2206) is amended— 10 |
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70 | 70 | | (1) by redesignating subsection (e) as sub-11 |
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71 | 71 | | section (f); and 12 |
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72 | 72 | | (2) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol-13 |
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73 | 73 | | lowing: 14 |
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74 | 74 | | ‘‘(e) A |
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75 | 75 | | DVANCEPAYMENTS.— 15 |
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76 | 76 | | ‘‘(1) I |
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77 | 77 | | N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall give an 16 |
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78 | 78 | | owner of nonindustrial private forest land the option 17 |
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79 | 79 | | of receiving, before the owner carries out emergency 18 |
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80 | 80 | | measures under this section, not more than 75 per-19 |
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81 | 81 | | cent of the cost of the emergency measures, as de-20 |
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82 | 82 | | termined by the Secretary based on the fair market 21 |
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83 | 83 | | value of the cost of the emergency measures using 22 |
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84 | 84 | | the estimated cost of the applicable practice pub-23 |
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85 | 85 | | lished in the Field Office Technical Guide of each 24 |
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87 | 87 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4 |
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88 | 88 | | •HR 1011 IH |
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89 | 89 | | State by the Natural Resources Conservation Serv-1 |
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90 | 90 | | ice. 2 |
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91 | 91 | | ‘‘(2) R |
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92 | 92 | | ETURN OF FUNDS .—If the funds pro-3 |
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93 | 93 | | vided under paragraph (1) are not expended by the 4 |
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94 | 94 | | end of the 180-day period beginning on the date on 5 |
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95 | 95 | | which the owner of nonindustrial private forest land 6 |
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96 | 96 | | receives those funds, the funds shall be returned 7 |
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97 | 97 | | within a reasonable timeframe, as determined by the 8 |
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98 | 98 | | Secretary.’’. 9 |
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99 | 99 | | Æ |
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