II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 704
To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to reauthorize the voluntary public
access and habitat incentive program.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY25, 2025
Mr. D
AINES(for himself, Mr. BENNET, and Mr. MARSHALL) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Ag-
riculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
A BILL
To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to reauthorize
the voluntary public access and habitat incentive program.
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 ‘‘Voluntary Public Ac-4
cess Improvement Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. VOLUNTARY PUBLIC ACCESS AND HABITAT INCEN-6
TIVE PROGRAM. 7
Section 1240R of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 8
U.S.C. 3839bb–5) is amended by striking subsection (f) 9
and inserting the following: 10
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•S 704 IS
‘‘(f) FUNDING.— 1
‘‘(1) M
ANDATORY FUNDING .—Of the funds of 2
the Commodity Credit Corporation, the Secretary 3
shall use to carry out this section $150,000,000 for 4
the period of fiscal years 2025 through 2029. 5
‘‘(2) E
NHANCED PUBLIC ACCESS TO WETLAND 6
RESERVE EASEMENTS .—To the maximum extent 7
practicable, of the funds made available under para-8
graph (1), the Secretary shall use $3,000,000 for 9
the period of fiscal years 2025 through 2029 to en-10
courage public access to land covered by wetland re-11
serve easements under section 1265C through agree-12
ments with States and tribal governments under this 13
section.’’. 14
Æ
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