I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1237
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to deny the energy credit
to property located on prime or unique farmland, as defined by the
Secretary of Agriculture in part 657 of title 7, Code of Federal Regula-
tions, if such property is used for generating solar energy.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY12, 2025
Mr. B
OST(for himself and Mr. FINSTAD) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
A BILL
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to deny the
energy credit to property located on prime or unique
farmland, as defined by the Secretary of Agriculture
in part 657 of title 7, Code of Federal Regulations,
if such property is used for generating solar energy.
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 ‘‘Protect Agriculture, 4
Nutrients, and Essential Lands from Solar Act’’ or the 5
‘‘PANELS Act’’. 6
VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:55 Mar 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1237.IH H1237
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2
•HR 1237 IH
SEC. 2. CREDITS AMENDED TO EXCLUDE PROPERTY LO-1
CATED ON PRIME OR UNIQUE FARMLAND. 2
(a) E
NERGYCREDIT.— 3
(1) E
NERGY PROPERTY .—Section 48(a)(3) of 4
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by 5
striking the period at the end and inserting ‘‘, or 6
property which is located on prime farmland or 7
unique farmland if such property is used for gener-8
ating solar energy.’’ 9
(2) Q
UALIFIED PROPERTY .—Section 10
48(a)(5)(D) of such Code is amended— 11
(A) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 12
end, 13
(B) in clause (iv), by striking the period at 14
the end and inserting ‘‘, and’’, and 15
(C) by adding at the end the following new 16
clause: 17
‘‘(v) which, in the case of property 18
used for the purpose of generating solar 19
energy, is not located on prime farmland 20
or unique farmland.’’. 21
(3) D
EFINITIONS ADDED .—Section 48(c) of 22
such Code is amended by adding at the end the fol-23
lowing new paragraph: 24
‘‘(9) P
RIME FARMLAND; UNIQUE FARMLAND .— 25
The terms ‘prime farmland’ and ‘unique farmland’ 26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:55 Mar 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1237.IH H1237
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3
•HR 1237 IH
have the meaning given such terms in part 657 of 1
title 7, Code of Federal Regulations.’’. 2
(4) Q
UALIFIED SOLAR AND WIND FACILITY .— 3
Section 48(e)(2)(A) of such Code is amended— 4
(A) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 5
end, 6
(B) in clause (iii), by striking the period at 7
the end and inserting ‘‘, and’’, and 8
(C) by adding at the end the following new 9
clause: 10
‘‘(iv) which, in the case of a facility 11
used for generating solar energy, is not lo-12
cated on prime farmland or unique farm-13
land.’’. 14
(b) C
LEANELECTRICITYPRODUCTIONCREDIT.— 15
Section 45Y(b)(1) is amended— 16
(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘subpara-17
graphs (B), (C), and (D),’’ and inserting ‘‘subpara-18
graphs (B), (C), (D), and (E)’’, and 19
(2) by adding at the end the following new sub-20
paragraph: 21
‘‘(E) P
RIME FARMLAND AND UNIQUE 22
FARMLAND EXCLUDED .—The term ‘qualified 23
facility’ shall not include any facility used for 24
generating solar energy if such facility is lo-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:55 Mar 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1237.IH H1237
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4
•HR 1237 IH
cated on prime farmland or unique farmland 1
(as such terms are defined in section 2
48(c)(9)).’’. 3
(c) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 4
this section shall apply to property placed in service after 5
the date of the enactment of this Act. 6
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:55 Mar 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1237.IH H1237
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS