I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 774
To limit the ability of the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of
the Interior to penalize an owner of livestock for grazing by such livestock
on certain Federal lands on which grazing is permitted on or after
the date of enactment of this Act and subsequently prohibited, and
for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY28, 2025
Ms. H
AGEMANintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agri-
culture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned
A BILL
To limit the ability of the Secretary of Agriculture and
the Secretary of the Interior to penalize an owner of
livestock for grazing by such livestock on certain Federal
lands on which grazing is permitted on or after the
date of enactment of this Act and subsequently prohib-
ited, 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
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Agricultural 2
Spaces Through Effective Ranching Strategies Act’’ or the 3
‘‘PASTURES Act’’. 4
SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON PENALTIES FOR GRAZING LIVE-5
STOCK ON CERTAIN COVERED LANDS. 6
(a) L
IMITATION.—The Secretary concerned may not 7
impose a penalty on an owner of livestock for grazing by 8
such livestock on covered lands on which a fence for the 9
prevention of such grazing does not exist. 10
(b) F
ENCEEXPENSES.—The Secretary concerned 11
shall be responsible for any expense related to the con-12
struction or maintenance of any fence constructed or 13
maintained on covered lands for the prevention of grazing 14
by livestock on such covered lands. 15
(c) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 16
(1) C
OVERED LANDS .—The term ‘‘covered 17
lands’’ means National Forest System lands, lands 18
administered by the United States Fish and Wildlife 19
Service, or public lands— 20
(A) on which grazing is permitted by graz-21
ing permit or lease on or after the date of en-22
actment of this Act and subsequently prohib-23
ited; and 24
(B) that borders private property. 25
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(2) GRAZING PERMIT OR LEASE .—The term 1
‘‘grazing permit or lease’’ means— 2
(A) a grazing permit as such term is de-3
fined in section 222.1 of title 36, Code of Fed-4
eral Regulations (or successor regulations); 5
(B) a cooperative agreement referred to in 6
section 29.2 of title 50, Code of Federal Regu-7
lations (or successor regulations) that permits 8
grazing; or 9
(C) a grazing permit or lease described in 10
section 4130.2 of title 43, Code of Federal Reg-11
ulations (or successor regulations). 12
(3) L
IVESTOCK.—The term ‘‘livestock’’ includes 13
cattle, bison, horses, sheep, and goats. 14
(4) N
ATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM .—The term 15
‘‘National Forest System’’ has the meaning given 16
the term in section 11(a) of the Forest and Range-17
land Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 18
U.S.C. 1609). 19
(5) P
UBLIC LANDS.—The term ‘‘public lands’’ 20
has the meaning given that term in section 103 of 21
the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 22
1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702). 23
(6) S
ECRETARY CONCERNED .—The term ‘‘Sec-24
retary concerned’’ means— 25
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(A) the Secretary of Agriculture, with re-1
spect to National Forest System lands; and 2
(B) the Secretary of the Interior, with re-3
spect to public lands and lands administered by 4
the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. 5
Æ
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