Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB517 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 517
5	5	To amend the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Research Act
6	6	of 1978 to modify the forest inventory and analysis program.
7	7	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
8	8	FEBRUARY11, 2025
9	9	Mr. O
10	10	SSOFF(for himself and Mr. CASSIDY) introduced the following bill;
11	11	which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nu-
12	12	trition, and Forestry
13	13	A BILL
14	14	To amend the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources
15	15	Research Act of 1978 to modify the forest inventory
16	16	and analysis program.
17	17	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
18	18	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
19	19	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
20	20	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Forest Data Mod-4
21	21	ernization Act of 2025’’. 5
22	22	SEC. 2. FOREST INVENTORY AND ANALYSIS. 6
23	23	(a) I
24	24	NGENERAL.—Section 3(e) of the Forest and 7
25	25	Rangeland Renewable Resources Research Act of 1978 8
26	26	(16 U.S.C. 1642(e)) is amended— 9
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29	29	•S 517 IS
30	30	(1) in paragraph (1)— 1
31	31	(A) by striking ‘‘their resources’’ and in-2
32	32	serting ‘‘the resources of those forests, includ-3
33	33	ing forest carbon,’’; 4
34	34	(B) by striking ‘‘In compliance’’ and in-5
35	35	serting the following: 6
36	36	‘‘(A) I
37	37	N GENERAL.—In compliance’’; and 7
38	38	(C) by adding at the end the following: 8
39	39	‘‘(B) A
40	40	DDITIONAL METHODS .—Under the 9
41	41	program under this subsection, the Secretary 10
42	42	shall carry out, as a data collection method— 11
43	43	‘‘(i) a timber products output study; 12
44	44	and 13
45	45	‘‘(ii) a national woodland owner sur-14
46	46	vey.’’; 15
47	47	(2) in paragraph (3)(C), by inserting ‘‘including 16
48	48	with respect to available forest carbon data,’’ after 17
49	49	‘‘2 decades,’’; 18
50	50	(3) in paragraph (4)— 19
51	51	(A) in the second sentence, by striking 20
52	52	‘‘The standards’’ and inserting the following: 21
53	53	‘‘(B) I
54	54	NCLUSIONS.—The standards de-22
55	55	scribed in subparagraph (A)’’; 23
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58	58	•S 517 IS
59	59	(B) by striking ‘‘(4) NATIONAL STAND-1
60	60	ARDS AND DEFINITIONS .—To ensure’’ and in-2
61	61	serting the following: 3
62	62	‘‘(4) N
63	63	ATIONAL CONSISTENCY.— 4
64	64	‘‘(A) S
65	65	TANDARDS AND DEFINITIONS .—To 5
66	66	ensure’’; and 6
67	67	(C) by adding at the end the following: 7
68	68	‘‘(C) T
69	69	ERMINOLOGY.—The Secretary shall 8
70	70	include a clear description of the definition of 9
71	71	‘forest’ used for purposes of reporting data 10
72	72	from inventories and analyses of forests and the 11
73	73	resources of forests under this subsection 12
74	74	with— 13
75	75	‘‘(i) any data or report provided under 14
76	76	the program under this subsection; 15
77	77	‘‘(ii) Renewable Resource Assessments 16
78	78	prepared under section 3(a) of the Forest 17
79	79	and Rangeland Renewable Resources Plan-18
80	80	ning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1601(a)); and 19
81	81	‘‘(iii) any data or report provided to 20
82	82	an entity outside the United States.’’; 21
83	83	(4) in paragraph (6)— 22
84	84	(A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 23
85	85	(A), by striking ‘‘Not later than 180 days after 24
86	86	the date of enactment of this subsection,’’ and 25
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89	89	•S 517 IS
90	90	inserting ‘‘In accordance with paragraph (7),’’; 1
91	91	and 2
92	92	(B) by striking subparagraphs (D) and (E) 3
93	93	and inserting the following: 4
94	94	‘‘(D) the organization and procedures nec-5
95	95	essary to understand and report on changes in 6
96	96	land cover and use; 7
97	97	‘‘(E) the organization and procedures nec-8
98	98	essary to evaluate carbon-related data variables, 9
99	99	including soil carbon, collected from forest in-10
100	100	ventory and analysis plots, timber products out-11
101	101	put studies, and national woodland owner sur-12
102	102	veys to ensure that carbon accounting informa-13
103	103	tion needs can be met; and’’; and 14
104	104	(5) by adding at the end the following: 15
105	105	‘‘(7) U
106	106	PDATES TO STRATEGIC PLAN .— 16
107	107	‘‘(A) I
108	108	N GENERAL.—Not later than 180 17
109	109	days after the date of enactment of this para-18
110	110	graph, the Secretary shall prepare an update to 19
111	111	the strategic plan under paragraph (6) to in-20
112	112	clude— 21
113	113	‘‘(i) a plan to implement nationally 22
114	114	consistent data collection protocols and 23
115	115	procedures to improve the statistical preci-24
116	116	sion of base program estimates; 25
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119	119	•S 517 IS
120	120	‘‘(ii) pathways to integrate and report 1
121	121	on changes in forest carbon, including 2
122	122	below-ground carbon; 3
123	123	‘‘(iii) plans, including the identifica-4
124	124	tion of challenges, to collaborate with other 5
125	125	Federal agencies, non-Federal partners, 6
126	126	and the private sector to integrate existing 7
127	127	nationally available data sets and best 8
128	128	available commercial technologies, such as 9
129	129	remote sensing, spatial analysis techniques, 10
130	130	and other new technologies; 11
131	131	‘‘(iv) a plan to increase transparency 12
132	132	and clarity in reporting in accordance with 13
133	133	paragraph (4)(C); 14
134	134	‘‘(v) a plan to expand current data 15
135	135	collection, further integrate remote sensing 16
136	136	technology, or both, to include procedures 17
137	137	to improve the statistical precision of esti-18
138	138	mates at the sub-State level; 19
139	139	‘‘(vi) a plan to expand current data 20
140	140	collection, further integrate remote sensing 21
141	141	technology, or both, to include information 22
142	142	on renewable biomass supplies and carbon 23
143	143	stocks at the local, State, regional, and na-24
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146	146	•S 517 IS
147	147	tional levels, including by ownership type; 1
148	148	and 2
149	149	‘‘(vii) such other matters as the Sec-3
150	150	retary determines to be appropriate based 4
151	151	on recommendations of the Forest Inven-5
152	152	tory and Analysis National User Group. 6
153	153	‘‘(B) S
154	154	UBMISSION.—Not later than 180 7
155	155	days after the date of enactment of this para-8
156	156	graph, the Secretary shall submit to the Com-9
157	157	mittee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 10
158	158	of the Senate and the Committee on Agri-11
159	159	culture of the House of Representatives the up-12
160	160	date to the strategic plan prepared under sub-13
161	161	paragraph (A). 14
162	162	‘‘(C) F
163	163	URTHER UPDATES .—Not later than 15
164	164	5 years after the date on which the update is 16
165	165	submitted under subparagraph (B), and every 5 17
166	166	years thereafter, the Secretary shall— 18
167	167	‘‘(i) prepare an additional update to 19
168	168	the strategic plan; and 20
169	169	‘‘(ii) submit the additional update to 21
170	170	the committees described in subparagraph 22
171	171	(B). 23
172	172	‘‘(8) A
173	173	CCESSIBILITY.—The Secretary shall en-24
174	174	sure that data collected under this subsection is— 25
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178	178	‘‘(A) easily accessible to all public- and pri-1
179	179	vate-sector entities; and 2
180	180	‘‘(B) collected using means that ensure the 3
181	181	confidentiality, in accordance with section 1770 4
182	182	of the Food Security Act of 1985 (7 U.S.C. 5
183	183	2276), of— 6
184	184	‘‘(i) plot locations; 7
185	185	‘‘(ii) nonaggregated data of woodland 8
186	186	owners; and 9
187	187	‘‘(iii) forest industry information. 10
188	188	‘‘(9) B
189	189	IENNIAL COMPILATIONS.—Biennially, the 11
190	190	Secretary shall prepare and make publicly available 12
191	191	a compilation of national forest inventory and anal-13
192	192	ysis forest statistics, which shall be similar to the ta-14
193	193	bles contained in the Renewable Resource Assess-15
194	194	ments prepared under section 3(a) of the Forest and 16
195	195	Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 17
196	196	1974 (16 U.S.C. 1601(a)). 18
197	197	‘‘(10) E
198	198	XTERNAL COMPLEX DATA REQUESTS .— 19
199	199	‘‘(A) I
200	200	N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 20
201	201	establish an office, a data platform, or both to 21
202	202	process and respond to complex data requests 22
203	203	submitted by external organizations relating to 23
204	204	the program under this subsection. 24
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208	208	‘‘(B) FEES.—To cover the costs of proc-1
209	209	essing of and responding to complex data re-2
210	210	quests described in subparagraph (A), the Sec-3
211	211	retary may impose fees on the external organi-4
212	212	zations submitting the requests. 5
213	213	‘‘(11) R
214	214	EPORTS.—Each year, the Secretary 6
215	215	shall publish as part of the forest inventory and 7
216	216	analysis business report a detailed description of the 8
217	217	progress of the Secretary in implementing the pro-9
218	218	grammatic elements of the strategic plan described 10
219	219	in paragraph (6), including— 11
220	220	‘‘(A) the costs and priorities of the stra-12
221	221	tegic plan; and 13
222	222	‘‘(B) how the program under this sub-14
223	223	section leverages new technology, improves and 15
224	224	standardizes collection protocols, and increases 16
225	225	workforce capacity.’’. 17
226	226	(b) R
227	227	EMOTESENSINGTECHNOLOGIES.—Section 18
228	228	8632(1) of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (16 19
229	229	U.S.C. 1642 note; Public Law 115–334) is amended by 20
230	230	striking ‘‘technologies’’ and inserting ‘‘technologies, such 21
231	231	as microwave, LiDAR, hyperspectral, and high-resolution 22
232	232	remote sensing data for data collection, and machine 23
233	233	learning for improved modeling,’’. 24
234	234	Æ
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