119-hr3293

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3293 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

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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