Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB575 Compare Versions

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11 I
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION H. R. 575
55 To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to modify the delivery of technical
66 assistance, and for other purposes.
77 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
88 JANUARY21, 2025
99 Mr. B
1010 AIRD(for himself, Mr. SORENSEN, Mr. VASQUEZ, Mr. BOST, Mr. STEIL,
1111 Ms. P
1212 ETTERSEN, Ms. TOKUDA, Mr. FINSTAD, Mr. LAHOOD, Mr. FLOOD,
1313 Mr. J
1414 OHNSONof South Dakota, Mr. YAKYM, Mr. DAVISof North Caro-
1515 lina, Ms. L
1616 EEof Nevada, Mr. SCOTTFRANKLINof Florida, Ms. HOYLE
1717 of Oregon, Mr. F
1818 EENSTRA, Ms. BUDZINSKI, Mr. BACON, Ms. SALINAS,
1919 Ms. S
2020 CHRIER, and Mr. POCAN) introduced the following bill; which was
2121 referred to the Committee on Agriculture A BILL
2222 To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to modify the
2323 delivery of technical assistance, and for other purposes.
2424 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
2525 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
2626 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
2727 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Increased TSP Access 4
2828 Act of 2025’’. 5
2929 SEC. 2. DELIVERY OF TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE. 6
3030 Section 1242 of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 7
3131 U.S.C. 3842) is amended— 8
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3535 (1) in subsection (a)— 1
3636 (A) by redesignating paragraph (2) as 2
3737 paragraph (3); and 3
3838 (B) by inserting after paragraph (1) the 4
3939 following: 5
4040 ‘‘(2) N
4141 ON-FEDERAL CERTIFYING ENTITY .—The 6
4242 term ‘non-Federal certifying entity’ means a non- 7
4343 Federal entity or State agency described in subpara-8
4444 graph (A) or (B), respectively, of subsection (e)(4).’’; 9
4545 (2) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘science- 10
4646 based, site-specific practices designed’’ and inserting 11
4747 ‘‘timely, science-based, and site-specific practice de-12
4848 sign and implementation assistance’’; 13
4949 (3) in subsection (d), by inserting ‘‘(including 14
5050 private sector entities)’’ after ‘‘non-Federal entities’’; 15
5151 (4) in subsection (e)— 16
5252 (A) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘Food, 17
5353 Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008’’ and in-18
5454 serting ‘‘Increased TSP Access Act of 2025’’; 19
5555 (B) in paragraph (3)— 20
5656 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 21
5757 ‘‘ensure’’ and all that follows through ‘‘en-22
5858 gineering,’’ and inserting ‘‘ensure that 23
5959 third-party providers with expertise in the 24
6060 technical aspects of conservation planning, 25
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6464 watershed planning, environmental engi-1
6565 neering, conservation practice design, im-2
6666 plementation, and evaluation, or other 3
6767 technical skills, as determined by the Sec-4
6868 retary,’’; and 5
6969 (ii) in subparagraph (C), by inserting 6
7070 ‘‘by the Secretary’’ after ‘‘established’’; 7
7171 and 8
7272 (C) by striking paragraphs (4) and (5) and 9
7373 inserting the following: 10
7474 ‘‘(4) C
7575 ERTIFICATION.—The Secretary shall cer-11
7676 tify a third-party provider through— 12
7777 ‘‘(A) a certification process administered 13
7878 by the Secretary, acting through the Chief of 14
7979 the Natural Resources Conservation Service; 15
8080 ‘‘(B) a non-Federal entity (other than a 16
8181 State agency) approved by the Secretary to per-17
8282 form the certification; or 18
8383 ‘‘(C) a State agency with statutory author-19
8484 ity to certify, administer, or license profes-20
8585 sionals in one or more fields of natural re-21
8686 sources, agriculture, or engineering approved by 22
8787 the Secretary to perform the certification. 23
8888 ‘‘(5) T
8989 IMELY DECISIONS.—Not later than 10 24
9090 business days after the date on which the Secretary 25
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9494 receives a notification submitted by a non-Federal 1
9595 certifying entity that the non-Federal certifying enti-2
9696 ty has certified a third-party provider, the Secretary 3
9797 shall— 4
9898 ‘‘(A) review the certification; and 5
9999 ‘‘(B) if the certification is satisfactory to 6
100100 the Secretary, include the name of the third- 7
101101 party provider on the registry of certified third- 8
102102 party providers maintained by the Secretary. 9
103103 ‘‘(6) N
104104 ON-FEDERAL CERTIFYING ENTITY PROC -10
105105 ESS.— 11
106106 ‘‘(A) E
107107 STABLISHMENT.—Not later than 12
108108 180 days after the date of enactment of the In-13
109109 creased TSP Access Act of 2025, the Secretary 14
110110 shall establish a process for the certification of 15
111111 third-party providers by non-Federal certifying 16
112112 entities, with the goal of increasing third-party 17
113113 provider capacity, including the certification of 18
114114 qualified agricultural retailers, cooperatives, 19
115115 professional societies, service providers, and or-20
116116 ganizations described in section 1265A(3)(B)(i). 21
117117 ‘‘(B) E
118118 LIGIBILITY OF NON-FEDERAL CER-22
119119 TIFYING ENTITIES.—In determining the eligi-23
120120 bility of a non-Federal certifying entity under 24
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124124 subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall con-1
125125 sider— 2
126126 ‘‘(i) the ability of the non-Federal cer-3
127127 tifying entity to assess qualifications of a 4
128128 third-party provider and certify third-party 5
129129 providers at scale; 6
130130 ‘‘(ii) the experience of the non-Federal 7
131131 certifying entity in working with third- 8
132132 party providers and eligible participants; 9
133133 ‘‘(iii) the expertise of the non-Federal 10
134134 certifying entity in the technical and 11
135135 science-based aspects of conservation deliv-12
136136 ery described in paragraph (3)(A); 13
137137 ‘‘(iv) the history of the non-Federal 14
138138 certifying entity in working with agricul-15
139139 tural producers; and 16
140140 ‘‘(v) such other qualifications as the 17
141141 Secretary determines to be appropriate. 18
142142 ‘‘(C) A
143143 PPROVAL.—Not later than 40 busi-19
144144 ness days after the date on which the Secretary 20
145145 receives an application submitted by a non-Fed-21
146146 eral certifying entity to certify third-party pro-22
147147 viders under this section, the Secretary shall 23
148148 make a decision on whether to approve the non- 24
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152152 Federal certifying entity to certify third-party 1
153153 providers. 2
154154 ‘‘(D) D
155155 UTIES OF NON -FEDERAL CERTI-3
156156 FYING ENTITIES.—A non-Federal certifying en-4
157157 tity approved by the Secretary to certify third- 5
158158 party providers shall— 6
159159 ‘‘(i) assess the ability of a third-party 7
160160 provider to appropriately provide technical 8
161161 assistance to eligible participants; 9
162162 ‘‘(ii) provide training to ensure that a 10
163163 third-party provider certified by the non- 11
164164 Federal certifying entity is qualified to 12
165165 provide that technical assistance; 13
166166 ‘‘(iii) submit to the Secretary a timely 14
167167 notice of— 15
168168 ‘‘(I) each third-party provider 16
169169 certified by the non-Federal certifying 17
170170 entity, for inclusion on the registry of 18
171171 certified third-party providers main-19
172172 tained by the Secretary; and 20
173173 ‘‘(II) each third-party provider 21
174174 the certification of which is withdrawn 22
175175 by the non-Federal certifying entity. 23
176176 ‘‘(7) S
177177 TREAMLINED CERTIFICATION .—Not later 24
178178 than 180 days after the date of enactment of the In-25
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182182 creased TSP Access Act of 2025, the Secretary shall 1
183183 provide a streamlined certification process for a 2
184184 third-party provider that has an appropriate spe-3
185185 cialty certification, including a certified crop advisor 4
186186 certified by the American Society of Agronomy, a 5
187187 professional engineer, or a holder of a technical cer-6
188188 tification approved by the Secretary.’’; and 7
189189 (5) in subsection (f)— 8
190190 (A) in paragraph (2), in the matter pre-9
191191 ceding subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘or a 10
192192 non-Federal certifying entity’’ after ‘‘third- 11
193193 party provider’’; 12
194194 (B) by striking paragraph (3) and insert-13
195195 ing the following: 14
196196 ‘‘(3) R
197197 EVIEW.—Not later than 1 year after the 15
198198 date of enactment of the Increased TSP Access Act 16
199199 of 2025, and additionally thereafter at the discretion 17
200200 of the Secretary, the Secretary shall— 18
201201 ‘‘(A) review certification requirements for 19
202202 third-party providers; 20
203203 ‘‘(B) make any adjustments considered 21
204204 necessary by the Secretary to improve participa-22
205205 tion and the quality and effectiveness of con-23
206206 servation practices implemented and adopted 24
207207 with support from technical service providers; 25
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211211 ‘‘(C) conduct outreach to and receive input 1
212212 from third-party providers, both that currently 2
213213 participate in the program under this section 3
214214 and those that no longer participate in the pro-4
215215 gram, and entities, organizations, and associa-5
216216 tions providing or supporting consultative serv-6
217217 ices to agriculture, livestock, and forest pro-7
218218 ducers to assess barriers and opportunities for 8
219219 the use of third-party provider assistance for 9
220220 improved conservation program delivery; and 10
221221 ‘‘(D) set a target utilization rate for third- 11
222222 party providers.’’; 12
223223 (C) in paragraph (4)(A)(i), by inserting 13
224224 ‘‘maintenance,’’ after ‘‘outreach,’’; and 14
225225 (D) by striking paragraph (5) and insert-15
226226 ing the following: 16
227227 ‘‘(5) P
228228 AYMENT AMOUNTS .— 17
229229 ‘‘(A) I
230230 N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 18
231231 establish fair and reasonable amounts of pay-19
232232 ments for technical services provided by third- 20
233233 party providers at rates equivalent to, but that 21
234234 do not exceed, technical assistance provided by 22
235235 the Secretary. 23
236236 ‘‘(B) C
237237 ONSIDERATIONS.—In determining 24
238238 fair and reasonable payment amounts under 25
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242242 subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall consider 1
243243 specialized equipment, frequency of site visits, 2
244244 training, travel and transportation, and such 3
245245 other factors as the Secretary determines to be 4
246246 appropriate. 5
247247 ‘‘(C) E
248248 XCLUSION.—A payment provided 6
249249 under another Federal program directly to an 7
250250 eligible participant for technical assistance pro-8
251251 vided by a third-party provider certified under 9
252252 this section shall be— 10
253253 ‘‘(i) excluded from cost-sharing re-11
254254 quirements under the program under 12
255255 which the payment was provided; and 13
256256 ‘‘(ii) equal to not more than 100 per-14
257257 cent of the fair and reasonable payment 15
258258 amount for the applicable technical assist-16
259259 ance determined under subparagraph (B). 17
260260 ‘‘(6) T
261261 RANSPARENCY.—Not later than 1 year 18
262262 after the date of enactment of the Increased TSP 19
263263 Access Act of 2025, the Secretary shall provide ac-20
264264 cessible public information on— 21
265265 ‘‘(A) funds obligated to third-party pro-22
266266 viders through— 23
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270270 ‘‘(i) contracts entered into between el-1
271271 igible participants and individual third- 2
272272 party providers; and 3
273273 ‘‘(ii) agreements with public and pri-4
274274 vate sector entities to secure third-party 5
275275 technical assistance; 6
276276 ‘‘(B) certification results, including— 7
277277 ‘‘(i) the number of third-party pro-8
278278 viders certified by the Secretary; 9
279279 ‘‘(ii) the number of non-Federal certi-10
280280 fying entities approved by the Secretary; 11
281281 ‘‘(iii) the number of third-party pro-12
282282 viders certified by non-Federal certifying 13
283283 entities; and 14
284284 ‘‘(iv) the number of third-party pro-15
285285 viders certified based on State agency or 16
286286 professional association credentialing; 17
287287 ‘‘(C) how third-party providers contribute 18
288288 to the quality and effectiveness of conservation 19
289289 practices implemented and adopted, and what 20
290290 improvements are needed; and 21
291291 ‘‘(D) the target utilization rate set under 22
292292 paragraph (3)(D) and how actual utilization 23
293293 compares to that target rate.’’. 24
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