I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1858
To amend the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 with respect to the emergency
watershed program, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH5, 2025
Mr. D
AVISof North Carolina (for himself, Mr. FEENSTRA, Ms. TOKUDA, Mr.
N
UNNof Iowa, Mr. ROUZER, and Mr. FITZPATRICK) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To amend the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 with respect
to the emergency watershed 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 ‘‘Flooding Prevention, 4
Assessment, and Restoration Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. EMERGENCY WATERSHED PROGRAM. 6
Section 403 of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 7
(16 U.S.C. 2203) is amended by adding at the end the 8
following: 9
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‘‘(c) LEVEL OFRESTORATION.—In carrying out this 1
section, the Secretary may undertake measures that in-2
crease the level of protection above that which would be 3
necessary to address the immediate impairment of the wa-4
tershed if the Secretary determines that such restoration 5
is— 6
‘‘(1) in the best interest of the long-term health 7
and the protection of the watershed from repetitive 8
impairments; and 9
‘‘(2) cost-effective and appropriate, given risks 10
to the environment.’’. 11
SEC. 3. NATIONAL AGRICULTURE FLOOD VULNERABILITY 12
STUDY. 13
Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 14
of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall submit to 15
the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representa-16
tives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and 17
Forestry of the Senate a national agriculture flood vulner-18
ability report containing the results of a conservation ef-19
fects assessment project studying flood risk on agricul-20
tural lands, including— 21
(1) an analysis of economic losses of crops and 22
livestock resulting from flooding under different re-23
currence scenarios; 24
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(2) an analysis of the downstream effects of 1
mitigation activities carried out as part of a water-2
shed management approach; 3
(3) an analysis of available Federal and State 4
data relating to flood risk, as applicable to agricul-5
tural land, including data relating to riverine flood-6
ing, coastal flooding, storm surge, extreme precipita-7
tion, and flash flooding; and 8
(4) a description of ongoing producer-level con-9
servation practices and broader government initia-10
tives to manage flooding impact and flood risk with-11
in and across watersheds, and recommendations for 12
additional practices and initiatives to further address 13
such impact and risk. 14
SEC. 4. REHABILITATION OF STRUCTURAL MEASURES 15
NEAR, AT, OR PAST THEIR EVALUATED LIFE 16
EXPECTANCY. 17
The Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act 18
is amended— 19
(1) in section 2 (16 U.S.C. 1002), by striking 20
‘‘respectively.’’ and all that follows through ‘‘must 21
contain’’ and inserting ‘‘respectively. Each project, 22
other than a rehabilitation project under section 14, 23
must contain’’; and 24
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(2) in section 14(b)(2) (16 U.S.C. 1012(b)(2)), 1
by striking ‘‘65 percent’’ and inserting ‘‘90 per-2
cent’’. 3
Æ
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