II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 228
To amend the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996
to ensure that producers who rely on acequia systems have access to
drought protections, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY23, 2025
Mr. L
UJA´N(for himself and Mr. CORNYN) introduced the following bill; which
was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition,
and Forestry
A BILL
To amend the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform
Act of 1996 to ensure that producers who rely on acequia
systems have access to drought protections, 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 ‘‘Acequia Communities 4
Empowered by Qualifying Upgrades for Infrastructure 5
Act’’. 6
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 7
Congress finds the following: 8
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(1) Water delivery systems known as acequias, 1
or community ditches, are a centuries-old system 2
used for water distribution. 3
(2) A combination of Spanish and Indigenous 4
irrigation methods, acequias were expanded in New 5
Mexico during the 16th century to allow for farming 6
to sustain the needs of the community. 7
(3) Acequias are a vital component of the econ-8
omy of the State of New Mexico (referred to in this 9
section as the ‘‘State’’). 10
(4) Acequias are a centuries-old form of water 11
governance and are recognized as political subdivi-12
sions of the State. 13
(5) Acequias consist of water rights holders, 14
often called parciantes, who are responsible for the 15
upkeep and maintenance of the acequias and who in-16
ternally elect a board to monitor and administer sur-17
face water rights. 18
(6) In the State, acequias have created a cul-19
tural landscape and way of life centered around local 20
agriculture, water governance, and a custom of shar-21
ing scarce water. 22
(7) Acequias— 23
(A) play an integral role in maintaining 24
forest and watershed health; 25
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(B) serve as examples of responsible land 1
and water stewardship by providing benefits 2
such as groundwater recharge, flood attenu-3
ation, and groundwater contaminants filtration; 4
and 5
(C) support native vegetation and provide 6
habitat for wildlife species. 7
(8) Despite their contribution to local food pro-8
duction and watershed stewardship, acequias are 9
managing already limited water resources under con-10
ditions of aridification, changing irrigation and 11
growing seasons, and encroachment of invasive spe-12
cies. 13
(9) To address crop loss, planting challenges, 14
and yield reductions, parciantes rely on direct finan-15
cial assistance from Department of Agriculture pro-16
grams, including the noninsured crop disaster assist-17
ance program established by section 196 of the Fed-18
eral Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 19
1996 (7 U.S.C. 7333). 20
SEC. 3. ENSURING FARMERS AND RANCHERS HAVE ACCESS 21
TO DROUGHT AND DISASTER PROTECTIONS. 22
Section 196(c)(2) of the Federal Agriculture Im-23
provement and Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 7333(c)(2)) 24
is amended by adding at the end the following: 25
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‘‘(C) ACEQUIA SYSTEMS.—On making a 1
determination described in subsection (a)(3) for 2
producers who rely on acequia systems, the Sec-3
retary shall provide assistance under this sec-4
tion to those producers from all losses suffered 5
as a result of the cause described in subsection 6
(a)(3).’’. 7
SEC. 4. SPECIAL USE PERMITS NOT REQUIRED FOR ROU-8
TINE MAINTENANCE AND MINOR IMPROVE-9
MENTS OF ACEQUIAS. 10
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 11
(1) A
CEQUIA.—The term ‘‘acequia’’ has the 12
meaning of the term ‘‘community ditch’’ as that 13
term is construed under New Mexico Stat. 73–2–27. 14
(2) C
OMMUNITY USER.—The term ‘‘community 15
user’’ means an employee, contractor, delegate, rep-16
resentative, volunteer, or other authorized personnel 17
of the governing body of an acequia. 18
(3) S
ECRETARY CONCERNED .—The term ‘‘Sec-19
retary concerned’’ means— 20
(A) the Secretary of Agriculture, with re-21
spect to land under the jurisdiction of the Sec-22
retary of Agriculture; and 23
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(B) the Secretary of the Interior, with re-1
spect to land under the jurisdiction of the Sec-2
retary of the Interior. 3
(b) P
ROHIBITION.—A special use permit shall not be 4
required for— 5
(1) the presence or use of an acequia on Fed-6
eral land or the use of the water therein; or 7
(2) routine maintenance and minor improve-8
ments described in subsection (c) conducted by a 9
community user or governing body of an acequia on 10
an acequia on Federal land. 11
(c) R
OUTINEMAINTENANCE AND MINORIMPROVE-12
MENTSDESCRIBED.—Routine maintenance and minor im-13
provements referred to in subsection (b)(2) are— 14
(1) cleaning, maintenance, repair, or replace-15
ment-in-kind of infrastructure; 16
(2) annual ditch cleaning, including removal of 17
silt; and 18
(3) any other traditional activity that preserves 19
the state of the acequia, as agreed to in writing by 20
the Secretary concerned and the governing body of 21
the acequia. 22
SEC. 5. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE REPORTING. 23
Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 24
of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall submit to 25
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the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of 1
the Senate and the Committee on Agriculture of the 2
House of Representatives a report that includes the fol-3
lowing information: 4
(1) The number of agricultural producers in the 5
most recent calendar year who rely on acequia sys-6
tems or other traditional infrastructure that is vul-7
nerable to drought conditions. 8
(2) The amount of assistance provided under 9
the noninsured crop disaster assistance program es-10
tablished by section 196 of the Federal Agriculture 11
Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 12
7333) to producers described in subsection (c)(2)(C) 13
of that section, in each county, during the most re-14
cent calendar year. 15
(3) An analysis of the ability of agricultural 16
producers who rely on acequia systems or other tra-17
ditional infrastructure that is vulnerable to drought 18
conditions to access all programs administered by 19
the Farm Service Agency and the Natural Resources 20
Conservation Service. 21
(4) A summary of any Department of Agri-22
culture programs or initiatives in the most recent 23
calendar year that provide technical or financial as-24
sistance targeted to agricultural producers who rely 25
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on acequia systems or other traditional infrastruc-1
ture that is vulnerable to drought conditions. 2
Æ
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