Emergency Conservation Program Improvement Act of 2025
Officially: “Emergency Conservation Program Improvement Act of 2025” Read the full text
What it does
Read it in plain language
1Short title
This section would let the Act be cited as the "Emergency Conservation Program Improvement Act of 2025."
Show official text
1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Emergency Conservation Program Improvement Act of 2025 .
2Emergency conservation program
This section would amend section 401 of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2201). It would relabel subsection (b) to cover "fencing and other emergency conservation measures" and would rewrite the payment rule in that subsection. Under the new rule, for a payment to an agricultural producer under subsection (a) for repairing or replacing fencing, or for other emergency measures to rehabilitate farmland or to repair or replace a farmland or conservation structure, the Secretary would have to give the producer the option of receiving an advance payment before the work is done: up to 75 percent of the payment for a replacement or rehabilitation job, based on the fair market value of that job as determined by the Secretary, or up to 50 percent of the payment for a repair job, based on the fair market value of that repair as determined by the Secretary. This section would also add a new subsection (c) to section 401 stating that a wildfire causing damage eligible for a payment under subsection (a) includes a wildfire that is not caused naturally, including one caused by the Federal Government, as long as the damage is caused by the fire spreading due to natural causes.
Show official text
2. 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 ; and (B) by amending paragraph (1) to read as follows: (1) In general With respect to a payment to an agricultural producer under subsection (a) for the repair or replacement of fencing, or for other emergency measures to rehabilitate farmland or to repair or replace a farmland or conservation structure, the Secretary shall give the agricultural producer the option of receiving— (A) before carrying out such replacement or rehabilitation, not more than 75 percent of the payment for such replacement or rehabilitation, which shall be based on the fair market value of the replacement or rehabilitation, as determined by the Secretary; and (B) before carrying out such repair, not more than 50 percent of the payment for such repair, which shall be based on the fair market value of the repair, as determined by the Secretary. ; and (2) by adding at the end the following: (c) Wildfires A wildfire that causes damage with respect to which a payment may be made under subsection (a) includes any wildfire that is not caused naturally, including a wildfire that is caused by the Federal Government, if the damage is caused by the spread of the fire due to natural causes. .
3Improving the emergency forest restoration program
This section would amend section 407 of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2206). It would renumber the existing subsection (e) as subsection (f), with no change to its content, and would insert a new subsection (e) on advance payments. Under the new subsection (e), the Secretary would have to give an owner of nonindustrial private forest land the option of receiving an advance payment, before the owner carries out emergency measures under section 407, of up to 75 percent of the cost of those measures. That amount would be based on the fair market value of the cost of the measures, determined by the Secretary using the estimated cost of the applicable practice as published in the Field Office Technical Guide of each state by the Natural Resources Conservation Service. If the funds provided under this advance-payment option are not spent by the end of the 180-day period beginning on the date the owner receives them, the funds would have to be returned within a reasonable timeframe as determined by the Secretary.
Show official text
3. Improving the emergency forest restoration program Section 407 of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 ( 16 U.S.C. 2206 ) is amended— (1) by redesignating subsection (e) as subsection (f); and (2) 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 based on the fair market value of the cost of the emergency measures using the estimated cost of the applicable practice published in the Field Office Technical Guide of each State by the Natural Resources Conservation Service. (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. .
Where it is
In the House.