American Prairie Conservation Act

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1539 To amend the Federal Crop Insurance Act and the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 to make the native sod provisions applicable to the United States and to modify those provisions, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 10, 2023 Mr. THUNE (for himself and Ms. KLOBUCHAR) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nu- trition, and Forestry A BILL To amend the Federal Crop Insurance Act and the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 to make the native sod provisions applicable to the United States and to modify those provisions, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Prairie Con- 4 servation Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:57 May 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1539.IS S1539 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1539 IS SEC. 2. CROP PRODUCTION ON NATIVE SOD. 1 (a) FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE.—Section 508(o) of 2 the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1508(o)) is 3 amended by striking paragraph (3) and inserting the fol- 4 lowing: 5 ‘‘(3) NATIVE SOD CONVERSION CERTIFI- 6 CATION.— 7 ‘‘(A) CERTIFICATION.—As a condition on 8 the receipt of benefits under this subtitle, a pro- 9 ducer that has tilled native sod acreage for the 10 production of an insurable crop as described in 11 paragraph (2)(A) shall certify to the Secretary 12 that acreage using— 13 ‘‘(i) an acreage report form of the 14 Farm Service Agency (FSA–578 or any 15 successor form); and 16 ‘‘(ii) 1 or more maps. 17 ‘‘(B) CORRECTIONS.—Beginning on the 18 date on which a producer submits a certifi- 19 cation under subparagraph (A), as soon as 20 practicable after the producer discovers a 21 change in tilled native sod acreage described in 22 that subparagraph, the producer shall submit to 23 the Secretary any appropriate corrections to a 24 form or map described in clause (i) or (ii) of 25 that subparagraph. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:57 May 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1539.IS S1539 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1539 IS ‘‘(C) ANNUAL REPORTS.—Not later than 1 January 1, 2024, and each January 1 there- 2 after through January 1, 2028, the Secretary 3 shall submit to the Committee on Agriculture of 4 the House of Representatives and the Com- 5 mittee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 6 of the Senate a report that describes the tilled 7 native sod acreage that has been certified under 8 subparagraph (A) in each county and State as 9 of the date of submission of the report.’’. 10 (b) NONINSURED CROP DISASTER ASSISTANCE.— 11 Section 196(a)(4) of the Federal Agriculture Improvement 12 and Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 7333(a)(4)) is amend- 13 ed by striking subparagraph (C) and inserting the fol- 14 lowing: 15 ‘‘(C) NATIVE SOD CONVERSION CERTIFI- 16 CATION.— 17 ‘‘(i) CERTIFICATION.—As a condition 18 on the receipt of benefits under this sec- 19 tion, a producer that has tilled native sod 20 acreage for the production of an insurable 21 crop as described in subparagraph (B)(i) 22 shall certify to the Secretary that acreage 23 using— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:57 May 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1539.IS S1539 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1539 IS ‘‘(I) an acreage report form of 1 the Farm Service Agency (FSA–578 2 or any successor form); and 3 ‘‘(II) 1 or more maps. 4 ‘‘(ii) CORRECTIONS.—Beginning on 5 the date on which a producer submits a 6 certification under clause (i), as soon as 7 practicable after the producer discovers a 8 change in tilled native sod acreage de- 9 scribed in that clause, the producer shall 10 submit to the Secretary any appropriate 11 corrections to a form or map described in 12 subclause (I) or (II) of that clause. 13 ‘‘(iii) ANNUAL REPORTS.—Not later 14 than January 1, 2024, and each January 15 1 thereafter through January 1, 2028, the 16 Secretary shall submit to the Committee 17 on Agriculture of the House of Representa- 18 tives and the Committee on Agriculture, 19 Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate a re- 20 port that describes the tilled native sod 21 acreage that has been certified under 22 clause (i) in each county and State as of 23 the date of submission of the report.’’. 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:57 May 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1539.IS S1539 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS