I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 441
To improve drought related disaster assistance programs of the Department
of Agriculture, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY15, 2025
Ms. L
ETLOWintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To improve drought related disaster assistance programs of
the Department of Agriculture, 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 ‘‘Drought Assistance 4
Improvement Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. LIVESTOCK FORAGE DISASTER PROGRAM. 6
Section 1501(c)(3)(D)(ii)(I) of the Agricultural Act 7
of 2014 (7 U.S.C. 9081(c)(3)(D)(ii)(I)) is amended— 8
(1) by striking ‘‘at least 8 consecutive’’ and in-9
serting the following: ‘‘not less than— 10
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•HR 441 IH
‘‘(aa) 4 consecutive weeks 1
during the normal grazing period 2
for the county, as determined by 3
the Secretary, shall be eligible to 4
receive assistance under this 5
paragraph in an amount equal to 6
1 monthly payment using the 7
monthly payment rate deter-8
mined under subparagraph (B); 9
or 10
‘‘(bb) 8 consecutive’’; and 11
(2) in item (bb) (as so designated), by striking 12
‘‘1 monthly payment’’ and inserting ‘‘2 monthly pay-13
ments’’. 14
SEC. 3. EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE FOR LIVESTOCK, HONEY 15
BEES, AND FARM-RAISED FISH PROGRAM. 16
(a) D
OCUMENTATION STANDARDS.—Section 1501(d) 17
of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (7 U.S.C. 9081(d)) is 18
amended— 19
(1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘drought,’’ 20
after ‘‘adverse weather,’’; 21
(2) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘adverse 22
weather or drought,’’ after ‘‘disease,’’; and 23
(3) by adding at the end the following: 24
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‘‘(5) DOCUMENTATION STANDARDS .—For pur-1
poses of this subsection, the Secretary, in consulta-2
tion with eligible producers of farm-raised fish, shall 3
establish a documentation standard for each of the 4
following: 5
‘‘(A) Collecting data. 6
‘‘(B) Production of crawfish, as related to 7
reductions in harvest. 8
‘‘(C) Defining loss conditions due to 9
drought.’’. 10
(b) R
EDUCEDCRAWFISHHARVESTELIGIBILITY.— 11
Subsection 1501(d)(2) of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (7 12
U.S.C. 9081(d)(2)) is further amended by inserting ‘‘and 13
loss of crawfish harvest due to adverse weather or 14
drought’’ after ‘‘cattle tick fever’’. 15
Æ
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