I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 389
To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to authorize payments under
the environmental quality incentives program to assist producers in im-
plementing certain conservation practices along the southern border of
Texas, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY14, 2025
Ms. D
ELACRUZ(for herself and Mr. TONYGONZALESof Texas) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to authorize pay-
ments under the environmental quality incentives pro-
gram to assist producers in implementing certain con-
servation practices along the southern border of Texas,
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 ‘‘Southern Border 4
Farmers and Ranchers Protection Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. SOUTHERN BORDER INITIATIVE. 1
Section 1240B of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 2
U.S.C. 3839aa–2) is amended by adding at the end the 3
following: 4
‘‘(k) S
OUTHERNBORDERINITIATIVE.— 5
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide 6
payments to producers under the program to imple-7
ment conservation practices to address and repair 8
damage, to agricultural land and farming infrastruc-9
ture on covered land of such producers, that contrib-10
utes to natural resource concerns or problems. 11
‘‘(2) C
ONTRACT TERM.—A contract to provide 12
payments under paragraph (1) shall have a term of 13
1 year. 14
‘‘(3) C
OVERED LAND DEFINED .—In this sub-15
section, the term ‘covered land’ means land in a 16
county at or near the southern border of Texas, in-17
cluding the following counties: 18
‘‘(A) Brewster. 19
‘‘(B) Brooks. 20
‘‘(C) Cameron. 21
‘‘(D) Crockett. 22
‘‘(E) Culberson. 23
‘‘(F) Dimmit. 24
‘‘(G) Duval. 25
‘‘(H) Edwards. 26
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‘‘(I) El Paso. 1
‘‘(J) Frio. 2
‘‘(K) Hidalgo. 3
‘‘(L) Hudspeth. 4
‘‘(M) Jeff Davis. 5
‘‘(N) Jim Hogg. 6
‘‘(O) Jim Wells. 7
‘‘(P) Karnes. 8
‘‘(Q) Kenedy. 9
‘‘(R) Kinney. 10
‘‘(S) Kleberg. 11
‘‘(T) La Salle. 12
‘‘(U) Live Oak. 13
‘‘(V) Maverick. 14
‘‘(W) McMullen. 15
‘‘(X) Pecos. 16
‘‘(Y) Presidio. 17
‘‘(Z) Reeves. 18
‘‘(AA) Starr. 19
‘‘(BB) Sutton. 20
‘‘(CC) Terrell. 21
‘‘(DD) Uvalde. 22
‘‘(EE) Val Verde. 23
‘‘(FF) Webb. 24
‘‘(GG) Willacy. 25
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‘‘(HH) Zapata. 1
‘‘(II) Zavala.’’. 2
Æ
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