Bill Details
HR.1420 - 119th Congress
Status
Latest action
2025-03-28 - Referred to the Subcommittee on Conservation, Research, and Biotechnology.
Introduced Date
2025-02-18
Policy Area
Agriculture and Food
Committees
View committees (1)
Sponsors
Cosponsors
6
0
0
AI Summary This summary was generated by AI from the bill text. AI can get information wrong.
This bill would make it easier to protect wetland habitat on farmland, especially in areas used by birds and other wildlife along the Pacific Flyway. It gives the Agriculture Secretary more flexibility to include certain farm lands in conservation agreements when that land is important for restoring or protecting wetland habitat. It also lets farmers keep using some of that land for seasonal flooding and certain crop-related activities, as long as they follow approved conservation practices. The bill is meant to help balance farming with habitat protection and make payment rates more fair and consistent across regions.
- It changes the conservation reserve enhancement program so that land that is not normally eligible can still be enrolled if it is needed to meet the goals of a habitat protection agreement.
- For working cropland used to support wetland-dependent wildlife, farmers may be allowed to use seasonally flooded agricultural practices if they adopt at least one best management practice.
- The bill says rental payments should be set in a way that is similar to the cost of maintaining other seasonally flooded wetland habitats nearby, and that rates should be consistent within a region.
- It also lets the Secretary waive the matching requirement for these agreements, which could make it easier to take part in the program.
Official Summaries
No summaries available
Current Full Text
[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1420 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1420
To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to allow for additional
agricultural lands to be enrolled under the conservation reserve
enhancement program, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 18, 2025
Mr. LaMalfa (for himself, Mr. Thompson of California, Mr. Valadao, Mr.
Panetta, Mr. Costa, and Ms. Matsui) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to allow for additional
agricultural lands to be enrolled under the conservation reserve
enhancement program, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Pacific Flyway Habitat Enhancement
Act''.
SEC. 2. CONSERVATION RESERVE ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM.
Section 1231A of the Food Security Act of 1985 is amended--
(1) by redesignating subsection (f) as subsection (g); and
(2) by inserting after subsection (e) the following:
``(f) Seasonally Flooded Working Lands Habitat Conservation
Agreements.--
``(1) In general.--In the case of an agreement entered into
under subsection (b)(1) that addresses diminished quantity and
quality of wetland wildlife habitats, the Secretary, in
consultation with the applicable State technical committee
established under section 1261(a), may--
``(A) enroll other agricultural land that is not
eligible land on which the resource concerns identified
in the agreement can be addressed if the enrollment of
such other agricultural land is critical to the
accomplishment of the purposes of the agreement;
``(B) if the agreement involves the maintenance of
habitat for one or more wetland-dependent species on
working cropland, permit seasonally flooded
agricultural uses on such working cropland with the
adoption of at least one best management practice; and
``(C) calculate annual rental payments in a manner
that--
``(i) is comparable with annual costs to
maintain other seasonally-flooded wetland
wildlife habitats in the region; and
``(ii) ensures regional consistency in
those rental payment rates.
``(2) Matching requirement waiver.--In the case of an
agreement described in paragraph (1), the Secretary may waive
the matching requirement described in subsection (c)(1).''.
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