Emergency Conservation Program Improvement Act of 2025

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 629 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 629

  To amend the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 to remove barriers to
   agricultural producers in accessing funds to carry out emergency
   measures under the emergency conservation program, and for other
                               purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 19, 2025

 Mrs. Fischer (for herself, Mr. Lujan, and Mr. Schiff) introduced the
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
                  Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

  To amend the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 to remove barriers to
   agricultural producers in accessing funds to carry out emergency
   measures under the emergency conservation 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 ``Emergency Conservation Program
Improvement Act of 2025''.

SEC. 2. IMPROVING THE EMERGENCY CONSERVATION PROGRAM.

    Section 401 of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2201)
is amended--
            (1) in subsection (b)--
                    (A) in the subsection heading, by inserting ``and
                Other Emergency Conservation Measures'' after
                ``Fencing'';
                    (B) in paragraph (1)--
                            (i) by inserting ``or for other emergency
                        measures to replace or restore farmland or
                        conservation structures requiring an immediate
                        response (as determined by the Secretary),''
                        after ``replacement of fencing,''; and
                            (ii) by striking ``option of receiving''
                        and all that follows through the period at the
                        end and inserting the following: ``option of
                        receiving, before the agricultural producer
                        carries out the repair, replacement, or
                        restoration--
                    ``(A) with respect to a payment to the agricultural
                producer for a replacement, 75 percent of the cost of
                the replacement, as determined by the Secretary; and
                    ``(B) with respect to a payment to the agricultural
                producer for a repair or restoration, 50 percent of the
                cost of the repair or restoration, as determined by the
                Secretary.''; and
                    (C) in paragraph (2), by striking ``60-day'' and
                inserting ``180-day''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(c) Wildfire Determination.--A wildfire that causes damage
eligible for a payment under subsection (a) includes--
            ``(1) a wildfire that is not caused naturally, if the
        damage is caused by the spread of the wildfire due to natural
        causes; and
            ``(2) a wildfire that is caused by the Federal
        Government.''.

SEC. 3. IMPROVING THE EMERGENCY FOREST RESTORATION PROGRAM.

    Section 407 of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2206)
is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(2), by striking ``wildfires,'' and
        inserting ``wildfires (including a wildfire that is not caused
        naturally, if the damage is caused by the spread of the
        wildfire due to natural causes, and a wildfire that is caused
        by the Federal Government),'';
            (2) by redesignating subsection (e) as subsection (f); and
            (3) by inserting after subsection (d) the following:
    ``(e) Advance Payments.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall give an owner of
        nonindustrial private forest land the option of receiving,
        before the owner carries out emergency measures under this
        section, not more than 75 percent of the cost of the emergency
        measures, as determined by the Secretary.
            ``(2) Return of funds.--If the funds provided under
        paragraph (1) are not expended by the end of the 180-day period
        beginning on the date on which the owner of nonindustrial
        private forest land receives those funds, the funds shall be
        returned within a reasonable timeframe, as determined by the
        Secretary.''.
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