II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 971
To provide for the conservation of the Chesapeake Bay, and for other
purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH11, 2025
Mr. V
ANHOLLEN(for himself, Ms. ALSOBROOKS, Mr. FETTERMAN, Mr.
K
AINE, and Mr. WARNER) introduced the following bill; which was read
twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and For-
estry
A BILL
To provide for the conservation of the Chesapeake Bay,
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 ‘‘Chesapeake Bay Con-4
servation Acceleration Act of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. CHESAPEAKE BAY STATES PARTNERSHIP INITIA-1
TIVE. 2
Chapter 5 of subtitle D of title XII of the Food Secu-3
rity Act of 1985 is amended by inserting after section 4
1240M (16 U.S.C. 3839bb) the following: 5
‘‘SEC. 1240N. CHESAPEAKE BAY STATES PARTNERSHIP INI-6
TIATIVE. 7
‘‘(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 8
‘‘(1) C
HESAPEAKE BAY WATERSHED .—The 9
term ‘Chesapeake Bay watershed’ means— 10
‘‘(A) the Chesapeake Bay; 11
‘‘(B) the portions of the States of Dela-12
ware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Vir-13
ginia, and West Virginia that contain the tribu-14
taries, backwaters, and side channels (including 15
their watersheds) that drain into the Chesa-16
peake Bay; and 17
‘‘(C) the District of Columbia. 18
‘‘(2) I
NITIATIVE.—The term ‘Initiative’ means 19
the Chesapeake Bay States Partnership Initiative es-20
tablished under subsection (b). 21
‘‘(b) E
STABLISHMENT AND PURPOSE.—The Sec-22
retary shall establish and carry out an initiative, to be 23
known as the ‘Chesapeake Bay States Partnership Initia-24
tive’, to assist producers in implementing conservation ac-25
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tivities on agricultural land in the Chesapeake Bay water-1
shed for the purposes of— 2
‘‘(1) improving water quality and quantity; 3
‘‘(2) restoring, enhancing, and preserving soil, 4
air, and related resources; and 5
‘‘(3) increasing the resilience of agricultural 6
production to withstand the impacts of climate 7
change. 8
‘‘(c) C
ONSERVATION ACTIVITIES.—The Secretary 9
shall provide funds made available to carry out the Initia-10
tive through applicable programs under this subtitle, in-11
cluding by providing enrollment opportunities that are tar-12
geted to the Chesapeake Bay watershed, to assist pro-13
ducers in the Chesapeake Bay watershed in enhancing 14
land and water resources by— 15
‘‘(1) controlling erosion and reducing sediment 16
and nutrient levels in groundwater and surface 17
water; and 18
‘‘(2) planning, designing, implementing, and 19
evaluating habitat conservation, restoration, and en-20
hancement measures in cases in which there is sig-21
nificant ecological value if the applicable land is— 22
‘‘(A) retained in the current use of the 23
land; or 24
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‘‘(B) restored to the natural condition of 1
the land. 2
‘‘(d) C
ONSIDERATIONS.—In providing funds under 3
the Initiative, the Secretary shall give special consider-4
ation to applications— 5
‘‘(1) submitted by producers in the Chesapeake 6
Bay watershed river basins in which nutrient reduc-7
tion efforts would be most effective; or 8
‘‘(2) to carry out conservation activities that re-9
duce nitrogen and sediment, improve management of 10
livestock and waste, or conserve wetlands in the 11
Chesapeake Bay watershed. 12
‘‘(e) D
UTIES OFSECRETARY.—In carrying out the 13
Initiative, the Secretary shall— 14
‘‘(1) as available, use existing plans, models, 15
and assessments to assist producers in implementing 16
conservation activities; and 17
‘‘(2) proceed expeditiously to provide funding to 18
producers to implement conservation activities that 19
are consistent with State strategies for the restora-20
tion of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. 21
‘‘(f) C
ONSULTATION AND COORDINATION.—The Sec-22
retary shall— 23
‘‘(1) in consultation with appropriate Federal 24
agencies, ensure that conservation activities carried 25
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out under the Initiative complement Federal, State, 1
and local programs, including programs that address 2
water quality, in the Chesapeake Bay watershed; 3
and 4
‘‘(2) in carrying out this section, coordinate 5
with the Farm Service Agency to identify needs and 6
opportunities for buffer management on land subject 7
to a contract under the conservation reserve pro-8
gram under subchapter B of chapter 1 that may be 9
expiring soon. 10
‘‘(g) T
ASKFORCE ONCREDITINGCHESAPEAKEBAY 11
C
ONSERVATIONINVESTMENTS.— 12
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary and the Ad-13
ministrator of the Environmental Protection Agency 14
shall jointly establish a Federal task force, to be 15
known as the ‘Task Force on Crediting Chesapeake 16
Bay Conservation Investments’ (referred to in this 17
subsection as the ‘Task Force’). 18
‘‘(2) A
CTION PLAN.—The Task Force shall de-19
velop an action plan that— 20
‘‘(A) identifies improvements to the proc-21
esses of analyzing, reporting, and quantifying 22
nutrient reductions from conservation activities 23
in the Chesapeake Bay watershed; 24
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‘‘(B) is responsive to the needs of States in 1
the Chesapeake Bay watershed (including the 2
District of Columbia) and the agricultural com-3
munity; 4
‘‘(C) maintains the scientific integrity of 5
the decisionmaking process and accounting 6
tools under the Chesapeake Bay Program (as 7
defined in section 117(a) of the Federal Water 8
Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1267(a))); 9
and 10
‘‘(D) ensures producer privacy is protected. 11
‘‘(3) I
DENTIFICATION OF OPPORTUNITIES .— 12
The Task Force shall leverage findings from suc-13
cessful data-sharing pilot projects to identify oppor-14
tunities to integrate time-saving technologies for the 15
implementation of conservation activities in the 16
Chesapeake Bay watershed.’’. 17
SEC. 3. CONSERVATION RESERVE ENHANCEMENT PRO-18
GRAM PARTICIPATION. 19
(a) C
ONSERVATIONRESERVE.— 20
(1) R
EAUTHORIZATION.—Section 1231(a) of 21
the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3831(a)) 22
is amended by striking ‘‘the 2023 fiscal year’’ and 23
inserting ‘‘fiscal year 2028’’. 24
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(2) ELIGIBLE LAND.—Section 1231(b) of the 1
Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3831(b)) is 2
amended— 3
(A) in paragraph (6)(B)(ii), by striking 4
‘‘or’’ at the end; 5
(B) in paragraph (7)(C), by striking the 6
period at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 7
(C) by adding at the end the following: 8
‘‘(8) cropland, marginal pastureland, grass-9
lands, and other rural land that will— 10
‘‘(A) have a positive impact on water qual-11
ity in furtherance of the goals of the conserva-12
tion reserve enhancement program under sec-13
tion 1231A; and 14
‘‘(B) be devoted to a riparian buffer.’’. 15
(3) C
ONSERVATION RESERVE ENHANCEMENT 16
PROGRAM.—Section 1231A(b) of the Food Security 17
Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3831a(b)) is amended— 18
(A) in paragraph (3), by adding at the end 19
the following: 20
‘‘(C) U
PDATES.— 21
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary 22
shall provide to each signatory to an agree-23
ment under this subsection an option to 24
update the agreement, without renegoti-25
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ating other provisions of the agreement, to 1
include new incentives made available 2
under this subchapter beginning on Janu-3
ary 1, 2018, such as riparian forest buffer 4
management payments. 5
‘‘(ii) M
ATCHING FUNDS .—Require-6
ments for matching funds described in 7
paragraph (2)(B) shall not apply to an up-8
date to an agreement under clause (i).’’; 9
and 10
(B) by adding at the end the following: 11
‘‘(4) A
MENDMENTS.— 12
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—In the case of an 13
amendment to an agreement under this sub-14
section, including an addendum to such an 15
agreement, the Secretary shall— 16
‘‘(i) streamline the amendment proc-17
ess relating to time-sensitive national pri-18
orities, including the Chesapeake Bay total 19
maximum daily load; and 20
‘‘(ii) give priority to simple amend-21
ments to update existing agreements in ac-22
cordance with paragraph (3)(C). 23
‘‘(B) S
IMPLE AMENDMENTS .—A simple 24
amendment to an agreement described in sub-25
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paragraph (A)(ii) shall not constitute a renego-1
tiation of the agreement.’’. 2
(4) P
AYMENTS.—Section 1234 of the Food Se-3
curity Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3834) is amended— 4
(A) in subsection (b)(4)— 5
(i) by striking ‘‘In addition’’ and in-6
serting the following: 7
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—In addition’’; and 8
(ii) by adding at the end the fol-9
lowing: 10
‘‘(B) M
INIMUM PAYMENT FOR CERTAIN 11
CONTRACTS.—In the case of a contract updated 12
under section 1231A(b)(3)(C), the incentive 13
payment under subparagraph (A) shall be in an 14
amount that is not less than 40 percent of the 15
actual costs described in that subparagraph.’’; 16
and 17
(B) in subsection (g)(1), by striking 18
‘‘$50,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$100,000’’. 19
(b) E
NVIRONMENTAL QUALITYINCENTIVESPRO-20
GRAM.— 21
(1) C
ONSERVATION INCENTIVE CONTRACTS .— 22
Section 1240B(j)(2)(C) of the Food Security Act of 23
1985 (16 U.S.C. 3839aa–2(j)(2)(C)) is amended— 24
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(A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 1
end; 2
(B) in clause (ii), by striking the period at 3
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 4
(C) by adding at the end the following: 5
‘‘(iii) consider participation in the 6
conservation reserve program and the con-7
servation reserve enhancement program 8
under subchapter B of chapter 1, and 9
practices under those programs (such as 10
riparian buffers), in prioritizing grazing 11
practices under the program established by 12
this subchapter with respect to the effi-13
cient implementation of grazing systems to 14
holistically address resource concerns.’’. 15
(2) E
VALUATION OF APPLICATIONS .—Section 16
1240C(b) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 17
U.S.C. 3839aa–3(b)) is amended— 18
(A) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 19
the end; 20
(B) in paragraph (4), by striking the pe-21
riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 22
(C) by adding at the end the following: 23
‘‘(5) that would include grazing practices under 24
the program established by this subchapter, in con-25
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sideration of participation in the conservation re-1
serve program and the conservation reserve enhance-2
ment program under subchapter B of chapter 1, and 3
practices under those programs (such as riparian 4
buffers), with respect to the efficient implementation 5
of grazing systems to holistically address resource 6
concerns.’’. 7
SEC. 4. CHESAPEAKE BAY WATERSHED TURNKEY PILOT 8
PROGRAM. 9
Section 1231C of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 10
U.S.C. 3831c) is amended by adding at the end the fol-11
lowing: 12
‘‘(c) C
HESAPEAKE BAYWATERSHED TURNKEY 13
P
ILOTPROGRAM.— 14
‘‘(1) D
EFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 15
‘‘(A) C
HESAPEAKE BAY WATERSHED .— 16
The term ‘Chesapeake Bay watershed’ has the 17
meaning given the term in section 1240N(a). 18
‘‘(B) CREP
DEFINITIONS.—The terms 19
‘CREP’, ‘eligible land’, and ‘management’ have 20
the meanings given those terms in section 21
1231A(a). 22
‘‘(C) E
LIGIBLE PRACTICE.—The term ‘eli-23
gible practice’ means a forested riparian buffer 24
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practice under a CREP and any associated ac-1
tivities, including— 2
‘‘(i) a stream crossing; 3
‘‘(ii) fencing and alternate water sys-4
tems; 5
‘‘(iii) herbicide applications; and 6
‘‘(iv) any other activity that is appro-7
priate to establish the practice. 8
‘‘(D) P
ILOT PROGRAM.—The term ‘pilot 9
program’ means the pilot program established 10
under paragraph (2). 11
‘‘(E) T
ECHNICAL SERVICE PROVIDER .— 12
The term ‘technical service provider’ means a 13
third-party provider with which the Secretary 14
enters into an agreement under paragraph 15
(5)(A). 16
‘‘(2) E
STABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall es-17
tablish a pilot program under which the Secretary 18
shall provide, for voluntary owners and operators, 19
establishment and management of eligible practices 20
on eligible land located in the Chesapeake Bay wa-21
tershed that is enrolled through a CREP. 22
‘‘(3) D
UTIES OF SECRETARY .—With respect to 23
eligible land enrolled through the pilot program, the 24
Secretary— 25
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‘‘(A) may provide, for the owner or oper-1
ator, establishment and management of an eli-2
gible practice on the eligible land using a tech-3
nical service provider pursuant to an agreement 4
under paragraph (5); and 5
‘‘(B) shall not require the owner or oper-6
ator— 7
‘‘(i) to pay any costs of the establish-8
ment or management of an eligible prac-9
tice, including any compensation provided 10
under paragraph (5)(C); or 11
‘‘(ii) to submit to the Secretary any 12
additional paperwork with respect to the 13
pilot program. 14
‘‘(4) D
UTIES OF OWNERS AND OPERATORS .— 15
Each owner or operator of eligible land enrolled 16
through the pilot program— 17
‘‘(A) shall provide to the Secretary and 18
any technical service providers, as applicable, 19
access to the eligible land for purposes of the 20
establishment or management of an eligible 21
practice under the pilot program; and 22
‘‘(B) may not receive any cost-share pay-23
ment, practice incentive payment, or manage-24
ment payment under this subchapter with re-25
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spect to an eligible practice under the pilot pro-1
gram. 2
‘‘(5) A
GREEMENTS WITH TECHNICAL SERVICE 3
PROVIDERS.— 4
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary may 5
enter into an agreement under section 1242 6
with 1 or more third-party providers certified 7
under that section, including a third-party pro-8
vider certified through a streamlined certifi-9
cation process under subsection (e)(5) of that 10
section, that provide technical assistance under 11
this title in the Chesapeake Bay watershed to 12
conduct the establishment and management of 13
an eligible practice on eligible land under the 14
pilot program. 15
‘‘(B) A
CTIVITIES.—In addition to any ac-16
tivity that a technical service provider may con-17
duct pursuant to section 1242 relating to the 18
establishment of an eligible practice, a technical 19
service provider may carry out such activities as 20
are necessary to conduct the establishment and 21
management of an eligible practice under the 22
pilot program. 23
‘‘(C) C
OMPENSATION.—Under an agree-24
ment entered into under subparagraph (A), the 25
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Secretary shall provide to a technical service 1
provider reasonable compensation for services 2
provided under the agreement, including admin-3
istrative assistance, technical assistance, design 4
assistance, and installation costs. 5
‘‘(6) R
EPORT TO CONGRESS .—Not later than 1 6
year after the date of enactment of this subsection, 7
the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Ag-8
riculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate and 9
the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Rep-10
resentatives a report describing the status of, and 11
any activities carried out under, the pilot program.’’. 12
SEC. 5. WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT. 13
(a) G
RANTS ANDFELLOWSHIPS FOR FOOD ANDAG-14
RICULTURALSCIENCESEDUCATION.— 15
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 1417 of the Na-16
tional Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teach-17
ing Policy Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3152) is amend-18
ed— 19
(A) in subsection (b)— 20
(i) in the matter preceding paragraph 21
(1), by inserting ‘‘, junior or community 22
colleges, and postsecondary vocational in-23
stitutions’’ after ‘‘other colleges and uni-24
versities’’; and 25
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(ii) in paragraph (3), by striking 1
‘‘food and agricultural sciences teaching 2
programs, or teaching programs empha-3
sizing’’ and inserting ‘‘teaching programs, 4
including paid work-based learning, for 5
food and agricultural sciences or’’; 6
(B) in subsection (c)— 7
(i) in paragraph (1), by striking 8
‘‘and’’ at the end; 9
(ii) in paragraph (2), by striking the 10
period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; 11
and 12
(iii) by adding at the end the fol-13
lowing: 14
‘‘(3) applications for teaching enhancement 15
projects, including paid work-based learning, that 16
address a need for additional trained professionals in 17
food and agricultural sciences or rural economic de-18
velopment, community development, or business de-19
velopment.’’; 20
(C) in subsection (j)— 21
(i) by striking paragraph (1); and 22
(ii) by redesignating paragraphs (2) 23
and (3) as paragraphs (1) and (2), respec-24
tively; 25
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(D) in subsection (l), by striking ‘‘sub-1
section (j)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (k)’’; 2
(E) in subsection (m)— 3
(i) in paragraph (1), by striking 4
‘‘and’’ at the end; 5
(ii) in paragraph (2), by striking the 6
period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; 7
and 8
(iii) by adding at the end the fol-9
lowing: 10
‘‘(3) $60,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 11
through 2031.’’; 12
(F) by striking ‘‘subsection (b)’’ each place 13
it appears and inserting ‘‘subsection (c)’’; 14
(G) by redesignating subsections (a) 15
through (m) as subsections (b) through (n), re-16
spectively; and 17
(H) by inserting before subsection (b) (as 18
so redesignated) the following: 19
‘‘(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 20
‘‘(1) I
NSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION .— 21
The term ‘institution of higher education’ has the 22
meaning given the term in section 101 of the Higher 23
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 24
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‘‘(2) JUNIOR OR COMMUNITY COLLEGE .—The 1
term ‘junior or community college’ has the meaning 2
given the term in section 312 of the Higher Edu-3
cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1058). 4
‘‘(3) P
OSTSECONDARY VOCATIONAL INSTITU -5
TION.—The term ‘postsecondary vocational institu-6
tion’ has the meaning given the term in section 7
102(c) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 8
U.S.C. 1002(c)). 9
‘‘(4) S
ECONDARY SCHOOL .—The term ‘sec-10
ondary school’ has the meaning given the term in 11
section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu-12
cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 13
‘‘(5) W
ORK-BASED LEARNING .—The term 14
‘work-based learning’ has the meaning given the 15
term in section 3 of the Carl D. Perkins Career and 16
Technical Education Act of 2006 (20 U.S.C. 17
2302).’’. 18
(2) C
ONFORMING AMENDMENTS .— 19
(A) Section 708 of the Agriculture, Rural 20
Development, Food and Drug Administration, 21
and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1992 22
(7 U.S.C. 2209b), is amended by striking ‘‘sec-23
tion 1417(b)(6) of the National Agricultural 24
Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act 25
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of 1977, as amended (7 U.S.C. 3152(b)(6))’’ 1
and inserting ‘‘subsection (c)(6) of section 1417 2
of the National Agricultural Research, Exten-3
sion, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (7 4
U.S.C. 3152)’’. 5
(B) Section 251(f)(1) of the Department 6
of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 (7 7
U.S.C. 6971(f)(1)) is amended— 8
(i) in subparagraph (C)(v), by striking 9
‘‘section 1417(b) of the National Agricul-10
tural Research, Extension, and Teaching 11
Policy Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3152(b))’’ 12
and inserting ‘‘subsection (c) of section 13
1417 of the National Agricultural Re-14
search, Extension, and Teaching Policy 15
Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3152)’’; and 16
(ii) in subparagraph (D)(v), by strik-17
ing ‘‘section 1417(j) of the National Agri-18
cultural Research, Extension, and Teach-19
ing Policy Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3152(j))’’ 20
and inserting ‘‘subsection (k) of section 21
1417 of the National Agricultural Re-22
search, Extension, and Teaching Policy 23
Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3152)’’. 24
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(b) EXPERIENCED SERVICESPROGRAM.—Section 1
1252(a)(2) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 2
3851(a)(2)) is amended— 3
(1) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 4
the end; 5
(2) in subparagraph (E), by striking the period 6
at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 7
(3) by adding at the end the following: 8
‘‘(F) assisting cooperative initiatives under 9
subsection (c)(3) of section 1417 of the Na-10
tional Agricultural Research, Extension, and 11
Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3152) 12
to improve higher education teaching programs, 13
including paid work-based learning, at— 14
‘‘(i) land-grant colleges and univer-15
sities (including the University of the Dis-16
trict of Columbia); 17
‘‘(ii) colleges and universities having 18
significant minority enrollments and a de-19
monstrable capacity to carry out the teach-20
ing of food and agricultural sciences; and 21
‘‘(iii) other colleges and universities, 22
junior or community colleges (as defined in 23
section 312 of the Higher Education Act 24
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1058)), and postsec-25
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•S 971 IS
ondary vocational institutions (as defined 1
in section 102(c) of the Higher Education 2
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002(c))) having a 3
demonstrable capacity to carry out the 4
teaching of food and agricultural 5
sciences.’’. 6
(c) C
OMPETITIVE, SPECIAL, ANDFACILITIESRE-7
SEARCHGRANTS.—Subsection (b) of the Competitive, 8
Special, and Facilities Research Grant Act (7 U.S.C. 9
3157(b)) is amended— 10
(1) in paragraph (6)(A), by striking ‘‘teaching’’ 11
and inserting ‘‘teaching, including paid work-based 12
learning (as defined in section 3 of the Carl D. Per-13
kins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 14
(20 U.S.C. 2302))’’; and 15
(2) in paragraph (7)(B), by inserting ‘‘, junior 16
or community colleges (as defined in section 312 of 17
the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 18
1058)), and postsecondary vocational institutions (as 19
defined in section 102(c) of the Higher Education 20
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002(c)))’’ after ‘‘colleges 21
and universities’’. 22
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SEC. 6. NRCS DIRECT HIRE AUTHORITY. 1
Section 1242 of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 2
U.S.C. 3842) is amended by adding at the end the fol-3
lowing: 4
‘‘(j) NRCS D
IRECTHIREAUTHORITY.— 5
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary may ap-6
point, without regard to the provisions of subchapter 7
I of chapter 33 of title 5, United States Code (other 8
than sections 3303 and 3328 of that title), qualified 9
candidates, as described in paragraph (2), directly to 10
positions within the Natural Resources Conservation 11
Service that provide technical assistance under con-12
servation programs administered by the Natural Re-13
sources Conservation Service. 14
‘‘(2) Q
UALIFICATIONS.—Paragraph (1) applies 15
to any candidate who— 16
‘‘(A) is qualified to provide the technical 17
assistance described in paragraph (1), as deter-18
mined by the Secretary; and 19
‘‘(B) meets qualification standards estab-20
lished by the Office of Personnel Manage-21
ment.’’. 22
SEC. 7. PRIMARY REGULATORY OVERSIGHT FOR DOMES-23
TIC, WILD-CAUGHT, INVASIVE CATFISH. 24
(a) E
XEMPTIONFROMOVERSIGHT.— 25
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(1) FOOD SAFETY AND INSPECTION SERVICE .— 1
Section 1(w)(2) of the Federal Meat Inspection Act 2
(21 U.S.C. 601(w)(2)) is amended by inserting ‘‘, 3
except for domestic, wild-caught blue catfish 4
(Ictalurus furcatus) and flathead catfish (Pylodictis 5
olivaris) invasive to the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem’’ 6
before the semicolon. 7
(2) USDA
GRADING PROGRAM .—Section 8
203(n)(1) of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 9
(7 U.S.C. 1622(n)(1)) is amended by inserting ‘‘, ex-10
cept for domestic, wild-caught blue catfish (Ictalurus 11
furcatus) and flathead catfish (Pylodictis olivaris) 12
invasive to the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem’’ before 13
the semicolon. 14
(b) I
NTERAGENCY COORDINATION.—Not later than 15
90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec-16
retary of Agriculture (referred to in this section as the 17
‘‘Secretary’’) shall execute a memorandum of under-18
standing with the Commissioner of Food and Drugs (re-19
ferred to in this section as the ‘‘Commissioner’’) for the 20
purpose of transferring primary regulatory oversight of 21
the domestic and import inspection of domestic, wild- 22
caught blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus) and flathead cat-23
fish (Pylodictis olivaris) invasive to the Chesapeake Bay 24
ecosystem from the Secretary to the Commissioner, pursu-25
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ant to the authorities of the Commissioner under the Fed-1
eral Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 301 et 2
seq.), the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act (15 U.S.C. 3
1451 et seq.), and the Public Health Service Act (42 4
U.S.C. 201 et seq.). 5
(c) R
EGULATIONS.—Not later than 180 days after 6
the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in con-7
sultation with the Commissioner, shall issue final regula-8
tions to carry out this section and the amendments made 9
by this section in a manner that ensures that there is no 10
duplication in inspection activities relating to domestic, 11
wild-caught blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus) and flathead 12
catfish (Pylodictis olivaris) invasive to the Chesapeake 13
Bay ecosystem. 14
Æ
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