[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3293 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3293
To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to increase payments for
drought-resilient or water-saving practices and to provide additional
payments for perennial production systems, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 8, 2025
Ms. Leger Fernandez (for herself, Mr. Valadao, and Ms. Pingree)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Agriculture
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to increase payments for
drought-resilient or water-saving practices and to provide additional
payments for perennial production systems, 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 ``Support Water-Efficient Strategies
and Technologies Act of 2025''.
SEC. 2. SUPPORT FOR DROUGHT-RESILIENT AND WATER-SAVING PRACTICES.
(a) Increased Payments for Drought-Resilient or Water-Saving
Practices.--Section 1240B(d) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16
U.S.C. 3839aa-2(d)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(8) Increased payments for drought-resilient or water-
saving practices.--
``(A) In general.--Notwithstanding paragraph (2),
in the case of a practice described in subparagraph
(B), the Secretary may increase the amount that would
otherwise be provided for a practice under this
subsection to not more than 85 percent of the costs
associated with planning, design, materials, equipment,
installation, labor, management, maintenance, or
training.
``(B) Practices.--The practices eligible for
increased payment amounts under subparagraph (A) are
the following:
``(i) Drought-resilient practices that have
the capacity to develop and produce on water-
deficient environments on eligible lands, as
determined by the Secretary.
``(ii) Conservation practices that--
``(I) conserve surface water or
groundwater that result in a reduction
of water use in the agricultural
operation of an eligible land;
``(II) offer support to reduce
runoff and increase the absorption of
rain on eligible land; or
``(III) work in concert to
transition an operation from irrigated
production to a non-irrigated, dry land
farming system.''.
SEC. 3. SUPPLEMENTAL PAYMENTS FOR RESOURCE-CONSERVING MANAGEMENT.
(a) Conservation Stewardship Payments.--Section 1240L(c) of the
Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3839aa-24(c)) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1)--
(A) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ``on 1 or
more land uses covered by the contract'' after
``activities''; and
(B) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``improving,
maintaining, and managing'' and inserting
``maintaining, actively managing, and improving''; and
(2) in paragraph (2)--
(A) by amending subparagraph (B) to read as
follows:
``(B) Income forgone by the producer, including
amounts that reflect--
``(i) increased economic risk; and
``(ii) loss in revenue due to--
``(I) production changes;
``(II) anticipated reductions in
yield;
``(III) transitions to a resource-
conserving cropping or grazing, or
perennial production systems; or
``(IV) acreage converted to
conserving uses.''; and
(B) in subparagraph (E), by inserting ``, actively
managed, and, where applicable, improved'' after
``maintained''.
(b) Supplemental Payments for Resource-Conserving Crop Rotations
and Advanced Grazing Management.--Section 1240L(d) of the Food Security
Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3839aa-24(d)) is amended--
(1) in the subsection heading, by inserting ``, Perennial
Production Systems,'' after ``Rotations'';
(2) in paragraph (1)--
(A) by redesignating subparagraph (C) as
subparagraph (D); and
(B) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the
following:
``(C) Perennial production system.--The term
`perennial production system' means--
``(i) the use of cropland for agroforestry,
including alley cropping, silvopasture, and
related perennial production systems, as
determined by the Secretary;
``(ii) the use of woodland acres for
agroforestry, including forest farming, multi-
story cropping, and related perennial
production systems, as determined by the
Secretary; and
``(iii) the use of cropland for perennial
forages or perennial grain crops.'';
(3) in paragraph (2)--
(A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``or'' at the
end;
(B) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as
subparagraph (C); and
(C) by inserting after subparagraph (A) the
following:
``(B) perennial production systems; or''; and
(4) in paragraph (3), by inserting ``, perennial production
systems,'' after ``rotations''.
(c) Payment Limitations.--Section 1240L(f) of the Food Security Act
of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3839aa-24(f)) is amended to read as follows:
``(f) Payment Limitations.--A person or legal entity (including a
joint venture and general partnership) may not receive, directly or
indirectly, payments under the program that, in the aggregate, exceed
$200,000 under all contracts entered into during any consecutive 5-year
period, excluding funding arrangements with Indian tribes, regardless
of the number of contracts entered into under the program by the person
or legal entity.''.
(d) Soil Health.--Section 1240L(k) of the Food Security Act of 1985
(16 U.S.C. 3839aa-24(k)) is amended to read as follows:
``(k) Soil Health.--To the maximum extent feasible, the Secretary
shall manage the program to enhance soil health, including by--
``(1) conducting outreach to encourage the use of contracts
to improve soil health and sequester carbon in the soil; and
``(2) offering payments for soil health testing to provide
participants and the Secretary with information on the soil
health and carbon sequestration impacts of conservation
activities.''.
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