Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB228 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 228
5	5	To amend the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996
6	6	to ensure that producers who rely on acequia systems have access to
7	7	drought protections, and for other purposes.
8	8	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
9	9	JANUARY23, 2025
10	10	Mr. L
11	11	UJA´N(for himself and Mr. CORNYN) 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 Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform
16	16	Act of 1996 to ensure that producers who rely on acequia
17	17	systems have access to drought protections, and for other
18	18	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 ‘‘Acequia Communities 4
23	23	Empowered by Qualifying Upgrades for Infrastructure 5
24	24	Act’’. 6
25	25	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 7
26	26	Congress finds the following: 8
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30	30	(1) Water delivery systems known as acequias, 1
31	31	or community ditches, are a centuries-old system 2
32	32	used for water distribution. 3
33	33	(2) A combination of Spanish and Indigenous 4
34	34	irrigation methods, acequias were expanded in New 5
35	35	Mexico during the 16th century to allow for farming 6
36	36	to sustain the needs of the community. 7
37	37	(3) Acequias are a vital component of the econ-8
38	38	omy of the State of New Mexico (referred to in this 9
39	39	section as the ‘‘State’’). 10
40	40	(4) Acequias are a centuries-old form of water 11
41	41	governance and are recognized as political subdivi-12
42	42	sions of the State. 13
43	43	(5) Acequias consist of water rights holders, 14
44	44	often called parciantes, who are responsible for the 15
45	45	upkeep and maintenance of the acequias and who in-16
46	46	ternally elect a board to monitor and administer sur-17
47	47	face water rights. 18
48	48	(6) In the State, acequias have created a cul-19
49	49	tural landscape and way of life centered around local 20
50	50	agriculture, water governance, and a custom of shar-21
51	51	ing scarce water. 22
52	52	(7) Acequias— 23
53	53	(A) play an integral role in maintaining 24
54	54	forest and watershed health; 25
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57	57	•S 228 IS
58	58	(B) serve as examples of responsible land 1
59	59	and water stewardship by providing benefits 2
60	60	such as groundwater recharge, flood attenu-3
61	61	ation, and groundwater contaminants filtration; 4
62	62	and 5
63	63	(C) support native vegetation and provide 6
64	64	habitat for wildlife species. 7
65	65	(8) Despite their contribution to local food pro-8
66	66	duction and watershed stewardship, acequias are 9
67	67	managing already limited water resources under con-10
68	68	ditions of aridification, changing irrigation and 11
69	69	growing seasons, and encroachment of invasive spe-12
70	70	cies. 13
71	71	(9) To address crop loss, planting challenges, 14
72	72	and yield reductions, parciantes rely on direct finan-15
73	73	cial assistance from Department of Agriculture pro-16
74	74	grams, including the noninsured crop disaster assist-17
75	75	ance program established by section 196 of the Fed-18
76	76	eral Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 19
77	77	1996 (7 U.S.C. 7333). 20
78	78	SEC. 3. ENSURING FARMERS AND RANCHERS HAVE ACCESS 21
79	79	TO DROUGHT AND DISASTER PROTECTIONS. 22
80	80	Section 196(c)(2) of the Federal Agriculture Im-23
81	81	provement and Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 7333(c)(2)) 24
82	82	is amended by adding at the end the following: 25
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86	86	‘‘(C) ACEQUIA SYSTEMS.—On making a 1
87	87	determination described in subsection (a)(3) for 2
88	88	producers who rely on acequia systems, the Sec-3
89	89	retary shall provide assistance under this sec-4
90	90	tion to those producers from all losses suffered 5
91	91	as a result of the cause described in subsection 6
92	92	(a)(3).’’. 7
93	93	SEC. 4. SPECIAL USE PERMITS NOT REQUIRED FOR ROU-8
94	94	TINE MAINTENANCE AND MINOR IMPROVE-9
95	95	MENTS OF ACEQUIAS. 10
96	96	(a) D
97	97	EFINITIONS.—In this section: 11
98	98	(1) A
99	99	CEQUIA.—The term ‘‘acequia’’ has the 12
100	100	meaning of the term ‘‘community ditch’’ as that 13
101	101	term is construed under New Mexico Stat. 73–2–27. 14
102	102	(2) C
103	103	OMMUNITY USER.—The term ‘‘community 15
104	104	user’’ means an employee, contractor, delegate, rep-16
105	105	resentative, volunteer, or other authorized personnel 17
106	106	of the governing body of an acequia. 18
107	107	(3) S
108	108	ECRETARY CONCERNED .—The term ‘‘Sec-19
109	109	retary concerned’’ means— 20
110	110	(A) the Secretary of Agriculture, with re-21
111	111	spect to land under the jurisdiction of the Sec-22
112	112	retary of Agriculture; and 23
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116	116	(B) the Secretary of the Interior, with re-1
117	117	spect to land under the jurisdiction of the Sec-2
118	118	retary of the Interior. 3
119	119	(b) P
120	120	ROHIBITION.—A special use permit shall not be 4
121	121	required for— 5
122	122	(1) the presence or use of an acequia on Fed-6
123	123	eral land or the use of the water therein; or 7
124	124	(2) routine maintenance and minor improve-8
125	125	ments described in subsection (c) conducted by a 9
126	126	community user or governing body of an acequia on 10
127	127	an acequia on Federal land. 11
128	128	(c) R
129	129	OUTINEMAINTENANCE AND MINORIMPROVE-12
130	130	MENTSDESCRIBED.—Routine maintenance and minor im-13
131	131	provements referred to in subsection (b)(2) are— 14
132	132	(1) cleaning, maintenance, repair, or replace-15
133	133	ment-in-kind of infrastructure; 16
134	134	(2) annual ditch cleaning, including removal of 17
135	135	silt; and 18
136	136	(3) any other traditional activity that preserves 19
137	137	the state of the acequia, as agreed to in writing by 20
138	138	the Secretary concerned and the governing body of 21
139	139	the acequia. 22
140	140	SEC. 5. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE REPORTING. 23
141	141	Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 24
142	142	of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall submit to 25
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146	146	the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of 1
147	147	the Senate and the Committee on Agriculture of the 2
148	148	House of Representatives a report that includes the fol-3
149	149	lowing information: 4
150	150	(1) The number of agricultural producers in the 5
151	151	most recent calendar year who rely on acequia sys-6
152	152	tems or other traditional infrastructure that is vul-7
153	153	nerable to drought conditions. 8
154	154	(2) The amount of assistance provided under 9
155	155	the noninsured crop disaster assistance program es-10
156	156	tablished by section 196 of the Federal Agriculture 11
157	157	Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 12
158	158	7333) to producers described in subsection (c)(2)(C) 13
159	159	of that section, in each county, during the most re-14
160	160	cent calendar year. 15
161	161	(3) An analysis of the ability of agricultural 16
162	162	producers who rely on acequia systems or other tra-17
163	163	ditional infrastructure that is vulnerable to drought 18
164	164	conditions to access all programs administered by 19
165	165	the Farm Service Agency and the Natural Resources 20
166	166	Conservation Service. 21
167	167	(4) A summary of any Department of Agri-22
168	168	culture programs or initiatives in the most recent 23
169	169	calendar year that provide technical or financial as-24
170	170	sistance targeted to agricultural producers who rely 25
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173	173	•S 228 IS
174	174	on acequia systems or other traditional infrastruc-1
175	175	ture that is vulnerable to drought conditions. 2
176	176	Æ
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