Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB1114 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 1114
5	5	To amend the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 to authorize the Secretary
6	6	of Agriculture to carry out emergency watershed protection measures
7	7	on National Forest System land, and for other purposes.
8	8	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
9	9	MARCH25, 2025
10	10	Mr. B
11	11	ENNET(for himself and Mr. CURTIS) introduced the following bill; which
12	12	was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition,
13	13	and Forestry
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To amend the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 to authorize
16	16	the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out emergency wa-
17	17	tershed protection measures on National Forest System
18	18	land, and for other purposes.
19	19	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
20	20	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
21	21	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
22	22	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Watershed Protection 4
23	23	and Forest Recovery Act of 2025’’. 5
24	24	SEC. 2. EMERGENCY FOREST WATERSHED PROGRAM. 6
25	25	(a) F
26	26	UNDING AND ADMINISTRATION.—Section 7
27	27	404(b) of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 8
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30	30	•S 1114 IS
31	31	2204(b)) is amended by inserting ‘‘to carry out section 1
32	32	401’’ after ‘‘for a fiscal year’’. 2
33	33	(b) E
34	34	MERGENCYFORESTWATERSHEDPROGRAM.— 3
35	35	Title IV of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 4
36	36	2201 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol-5
37	37	lowing: 6
38	38	‘‘SEC. 408. EMERGENCY FOREST WATERSHED PROGRAM. 7
39	39	‘‘(a) D
40	40	EFINITIONS.—In this section: 8
41	41	‘‘(1) E
42	42	MERGENCY WATERSHED PROTECTION 9
43	43	MEASURES.—The term ‘emergency watershed pro-10
44	44	tection measures’ means measures that— 11
45	45	‘‘(A) are necessary to address runoff retar-12
46	46	dation, soil-erosion prevention, and flood miti-13
47	47	gation caused by a natural disaster or any other 14
48	48	natural occurrence that has caused a sudden 15
49	49	impairment to natural resources on National 16
50	50	Forest System land, and the damage, if not 17
51	51	treated— 18
52	52	‘‘(i) would significantly impair or en-19
53	53	danger the natural resources on the Na-20
54	54	tional Forest System land; and 21
55	55	‘‘(ii) would pose an immediate risk to 22
56	56	water resources or loss of life or property 23
57	57	downstream of the National Forest System 24
58	58	land; and 25
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62	62	‘‘(B) would maintain or restore forest 1
63	63	health and forest-related resources on the Na-2
64	64	tional Forest System land. 3
65	65	‘‘(2) N
66	66	ATURAL DISASTER.—The term ‘natural 4
67	67	disaster’ has the meaning given the term in section 5
68	68	407(a). 6
69	69	‘‘(3) S
70	70	ECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 7
71	71	the Secretary, acting through the Chief of the For-8
72	72	est Service. 9
73	73	‘‘(4) S
74	74	PONSOR.—The term ‘sponsor’ means— 10
75	75	‘‘(A) a State or local government; 11
76	76	‘‘(B) an Indian Tribe (as defined in section 12
77	77	4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu-13
78	78	cation Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304)); and 14
79	79	‘‘(C) a water district, water conservation 15
80	80	district, water utility, or special district. 16
81	81	‘‘(b) A
82	82	UTHORIZATION.—The Secretary, acting 17
83	83	through a sponsor, is authorized to undertake emergency 18
84	84	watershed protection measures on National Forest System 19
85	85	land. 20
86	86	‘‘(c) A
87	87	GREEMENTS; PAYMENTS.— 21
88	88	‘‘(1) I
89	89	N GENERAL.—The Secretary may enter 22
90	90	into an agreement with a sponsor and make pay-23
91	91	ments to the sponsor, on request of the sponsor, to 24
92	92	carry out emergency watershed protection measures. 25
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96	96	‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.— 1
97	97	‘‘(A) P
98	98	ROJECT TIMELINES.— 2
99	99	‘‘(i) I
100	100	N GENERAL.—Following a nat-3
101	101	ural disaster or natural occurrence that ne-4
102	102	cessitates the carrying out of emergency 5
103	103	watershed protection measures, the Sec-6
104	104	retary shall execute agreements under 7
105	105	paragraph (1) as expeditiously as possible. 8
106	106	‘‘(ii) T
107	107	IMELINE.—A sponsor that has 9
108	108	entered into an agreement under para-10
109	109	graph (1) shall complete all emergency wa-11
110	110	tershed protection measures not later than 12
111	111	2 years after the conclusion of the applica-13
112	112	ble natural disaster or natural occurrence, 14
113	113	as determined by the Secretary, that neces-15
114	114	sitated the carrying out of those measures. 16
115	115	‘‘(iii) C
116	116	ONTINUED MONITORING .—A 17
117	117	sponsor that has entered into an agree-18
118	118	ment under paragraph (1) may monitor, 19
119	119	maintain, repair, or replace emergency wa-20
120	120	tershed protection measures for a period of 21
121	121	not more than 3 years following the con-22
122	122	clusion of the natural disaster or natural 23
123	123	occurrence, as determined by the Sec-24
124	124	retary, that necessitated the carrying out 25
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128	128	of those measures when failure to do so 1
129	129	would result in unacceptable risk to Na-2
130	130	tional Forest System land or downstream 3
131	131	water users. 4
132	132	‘‘(B) P
133	133	AYMENTS.—The Secretary, in ac-5
134	134	cordance with an agreement entered into under 6
135	135	paragraph (1)— 7
136	136	‘‘(i) may make partial payments prior 8
137	137	to completion of the applicable project; and 9
138	138	‘‘(ii) shall make final payment for the 10
139	139	project not later than 30 days after the 11
140	140	date on which the project is completed. 12
141	141	‘‘(d) W
142	142	AIVEDMATCHINGREQUIREMENTS.—The Sec-13
143	143	retary shall waive any matching requirements for pay-14
144	144	ments made under subsection (c)(1). 15
145	145	‘‘(e) L
146	146	IABILITY.— 16
147	147	‘‘(1) I
148	148	N GENERAL.—A sponsor that carries out 17
149	149	emergency watershed protection measures pursuant 18
150	150	to an agreement under subsection (c)(1) shall not— 19
151	151	‘‘(A) be required to indemnify the United 20
152	152	States for any liability resulting from carrying 21
153	153	out emergency watershed protection measures 22
154	154	pursuant to that agreement; or 23
155	155	‘‘(B) except as provided in paragraph (2), 24
156	156	be liable for injury, loss, or damage resulting 25
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159	159	•S 1114 IS
160	160	from carrying out emergency watershed protec-1
161	161	tion measures pursuant to that agreement. 2
162	162	‘‘(2) S
163	163	AVINGS PROVISION.—Nothing in this sub-3
164	164	section precludes liability for damages or costs relat-4
165	165	ing to the carrying out of emergency watershed pro-5
166	166	tection measures by a sponsor pursuant to an agree-6
167	167	ment entered into under subsection (c)(1) if the 7
168	168	sponsor acted with willful or wanton negligence or 8
169	169	reckless conduct in carrying out those measures. 9
170	170	‘‘(f) A
171	171	SSUMPTION OFRISK.—A sponsor that carries 10
172	172	out emergency watershed protection measures prior to en-11
173	173	tering into an agreement under subsection (c)(1) shall as-12
174	174	sume the risk of incurring any cost or liability resulting 13
175	175	from carrying out those measures. 14
176	176	‘‘(g) C
177	177	OORDINATION.—The Chief of the Natural Re-15
178	178	sources Conservation Service shall coordinate with respect 16
179	179	to the use of funds distributed under this section and sec-17
180	180	tion 406. 18
181	181	‘‘(h) NEPA C
182	182	OMPLIANCE.—Emergency watershed 19
183	183	protection measures carried out pursuant to this section 20
184	184	shall be deemed to be emergency response actions for pur-21
185	185	poses of section 220.4(b)(1) of title 36, Code of Federal 22
186	186	Regulations (or a successor regulation).’’. 23
187	187	(c) C
188	188	LERICAL ANDCONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.— 24
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192	192	(1) Section 402 of the Agricultural Credit Act 1
193	193	of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2202) is amended— 2
194	194	(A) by striking the section designation and 3
195	195	all that follows through ‘‘authorized’’ and in-4
196	196	serting the following: 5
197	197	‘‘SEC. 402. WATER CONSERVATION AND WATER ENHANCING 6
198	198	MEASURES DURING SEVERE DROUGHT. 7
199	199	‘‘The Secretary is authorized’’; and 8
200	200	(B) by striking ‘‘during’’ and all that fol-9
201	201	lows through ‘‘of’’ and inserting ‘‘during a pe-10
202	202	riod of’’. 11
203	203	(2) Section 405 of the Agricultural Credit Act 12
204	204	of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2205) is amended by striking 13
205	205	the section designation and all that follows through 14
206	206	‘‘authorized’’ and inserting the following: 15
207	207	‘‘SEC. 405. REGULATIONS. 16
208	208	‘‘The Secretary is authorized’’. 17
209	209	(3) Section 406 of the Agricultural Credit Act 18
210	210	of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2201 note; Public Law 95–334) 19
211	211	is repealed. 20
212	212	(4) Section 403 of the Agricultural Credit Act 21
213	213	of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2203) is amended— 22
214	214	(A) by moving the section so as to appear 23
215	215	after section 405 (16 U.S.C. 2205) (as amend-24
216	216	ed by paragraph (2)); and 25
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220	220	(B) by striking the section designation and 1
221	221	all that follows through ‘‘authorized’’ in sub-2
222	222	section (a) and inserting the following: 3
223	223	‘‘SEC. 406. EMERGENCY WATERSHED PROGRAM. 4
224	224	‘‘(a) I
225	225	NGENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized’’. 5
226	226	(5) Title IV of the Agricultural Credit Act of 6
227	227	1978 is amended— 7
228	228	(A) in section 402B (16 U.S.C. 2202b), by 8
229	229	striking the section designation and heading 9
230	230	and all that follows through ‘‘maximum’’ and 10
231	231	inserting the following: 11
232	232	‘‘(d) M
233	233	AXIMUMPAYMENT.—The maximum’’; and 12
234	234	(B) by moving that subsection (as so re-13
235	235	designated) so as to appear after subsection (c) 14
236	236	of section 402A (16 U.S.C. 2202a). 15
237	237	(6) Section 402A of the Agricultural Credit Act 16
238	238	of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2202a) (as amended by para-17
239	239	graph (5)(B)) is amended— 18
240	240	(A) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘2279)’’ 19
241	241	and inserting ‘‘2279))’’; 20
242	242	(B) in subsection (c), in the subsection 21
243	243	heading, by striking ‘‘L
244	244	IMITATION’’ and insert-22
245	245	ing ‘‘T
246	246	OTALPAYMENT FOR SINGLEEVENT’’; 23
247	247	and 24
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251	251	(C) by striking the section designation and 1
252	252	heading and inserting the following: 2
253	253	‘‘SEC. 403. COST-SHARE REQUIREMENT; MAXIMUM PAY-3
254	254	MENT.’’. 4
255	255	(7) Section 1241(f)(9)(B) of the Food Security 5
256	256	Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3841(f)(9)(B)) is amended 6
257	257	by striking ‘‘403’’ and inserting ‘‘406’’. 7
258	258	Æ
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