Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB795 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. 795
5	5	To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to exclude prior converted
6	6	cropland from the definition of ‘‘navigable waters’’, and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
8	8	FEBRUARY27, 2025
9	9	Mr. R
10	10	OUNDS(for himself, Mr. BARRASSO, Mr. THUNE, Mr. HOEVEN, and Mr.
11	11	M
12	12	ARSHALL) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and re-
13	13	ferred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to ex-
16	16	clude prior converted cropland from the definition of
17	17	‘‘navigable waters’’, and for other purposes.
18	18	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
19	19	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
20	20	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
21	21	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Farmers Freedom Act 4
22	22	of 2025’’. 5
23	23	SEC. 2. PRIOR CONVERTED CROPLAND. 6
24	24	(a) I
25	25	NGENERAL.—Section 502 of the Federal Water 7
26	26	Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1362) is amended by 8
27	27	striking paragraph (7) and inserting the following: 9
28	28	VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:12 Mar 14, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S795.IS S795
29	29	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2
30	30	•S 795 IS
31	31	‘‘(7) NAVIGABLE WATERS.— 1
32	32	‘‘(A) I
33	33	N GENERAL.—The term ‘navigable 2
34	34	waters’ means the waters of the United States, 3
35	35	including the territorial seas. 4
36	36	‘‘(B) E
37	37	XCLUSION.—The term ‘navigable 5
38	38	waters’ does not include prior converted crop-6
39	39	land. 7
40	40	‘‘(C) A
41	41	SSOCIATED DEFINITIONS.—For pur-8
42	42	poses of this paragraph: 9
43	43	‘‘(i) A
44	44	BANDONED.—The term ‘aban-10
45	45	doned’, with respect to an area that was 11
46	46	prior converted cropland, means that the 12
47	47	area was not used for, or in support of, ag-13
48	48	ricultural purposes at least once in the im-14
49	49	mediately preceding 5-year period, as de-15
50	50	termined by the Administrator. 16
51	51	‘‘(ii) A
52	52	GRICULTURAL PURPOSE .—The 17
53	53	term ‘agricultural purpose’ includes land 18
54	54	use that makes the production of an agri-19
55	55	cultural product possible, including— 20
56	56	‘‘(I) grazing and haying; 21
57	57	‘‘(II) idling land for conservation 22
58	58	use, such as habitat management, pol-23
59	59	linator and wildlife management, 24
60	60	VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:12 Mar 14, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S795.IS S795
61	61	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3
62	62	•S 795 IS
63	63	water storage and supply manage-1
64	64	ment, and flood management; 2
65	65	‘‘(III) irrigation tailwater stor-3
66	66	age; 4
67	67	‘‘(IV) farm-raised fish produc-5
68	68	tion; 6
69	69	‘‘(V) cranberry bogs; 7
70	70	‘‘(VI) nutrient retention; and 8
71	71	‘‘(VII) idling land for soil recov-9
72	72	ery after natural disasters such as 10
73	73	hurricanes and drought. 11
74	74	‘‘(iii) P
75	75	RIOR CONVERTED CROP -12
76	76	LAND.— 13
77	77	‘‘(I) I
78	78	N GENERAL.—The term 14
79	79	‘prior converted cropland’ means any 15
80	80	area that, prior to December 23, 16
81	81	1985, was drained or otherwise ma-17
82	82	nipulated for the purpose, or having 18
83	83	the effect, of making production of an 19
84	84	agricultural product possible, includ-20
85	85	ing such areas that are designated as 21
86	86	prior converted cropland by the Sec-22
87	87	retary of Agriculture. 23
88	88	‘‘(II) E
89	89	XCLUSION.—The term 24
90	90	‘prior converted cropland’ does not in-25
91	91	VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:12 Mar 14, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S795.IS S795
92	92	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4
93	93	•S 795 IS
94	94	clude an area that is abandoned and 1
95	95	has reverted to wetlands. 2
96	96	‘‘(iv) W
97	97	ETLANDS.—The term ‘wet-3
98	98	lands’ means an area that is inundated or 4
99	99	saturated by surface or ground water at a 5
100	100	frequency and duration sufficient to sup-6
101	101	port, and that under normal circumstances 7
102	102	do support, a prevalence of vegetation typi-8
103	103	cally adapted for life in saturated soil con-9
104	104	ditions, including swamps, marshes, bogs, 10
105	105	and similar areas.’’. 11
106	106	(b) P
107	107	ROHIBITION ONCHANGE INUSEPOLICY.—In 12
108	108	carrying out the amendments made by this section, the 13
109	109	Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency 14
110	110	and the Secretary of the Army, acting through the Chief 15
111	111	of Engineers, may not, with respect to prior converted 16
112	112	cropland, carry out the change in use policy described in 17
113	113	the final rule of the Environmental Protection Agency and 18
114	114	the Corps of Engineers entitled ‘‘Revised Definition of 19
115	115	‘Waters of the United States’’’ (88 Fed. Reg. 3004 (Janu-20
116	116	ary 18, 2023)) or a substantially similar policy. 21
117	117	Æ
118	118	VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:12 Mar 14, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S795.IS S795
119	119	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB