Conservation Reserve Program Reform Act of 2023

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1509 To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to extend and reform the conservation reserve program, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 10, 2023 Mr. BOOKER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry A BILL To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to extend and reform the conservation reserve program, 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 ‘‘Conservation Reserve 4 Program Reform Act of 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. CONSERVATION RESERVE. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1231(a) of the Food Se- 7 curity Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3831(a)) is amended by 8 striking ‘‘2023’’ and inserting ‘‘2028’’. 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:06 May 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1509.IS S1509 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1509 IS (b) ELIGIBLE LAND.—Section 1231(b)(1)(B) of the 1 Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3831(b)(1)(B)) is 2 amended by striking ‘‘the Agriculture Improvement Act 3 of 2018’’ and inserting ‘‘the Conservation Reserve Pro- 4 gram Reform Act of 2023’’. 5 (c) ENROLLMENT.—Section 1231(d) of the Food Se- 6 curity Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3831(d)) is amended— 7 (1) in paragraph (1)— 8 (A) in subparagraph (D), by striking 9 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 10 (B) in subparagraph (E), by striking the 11 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 12 (C) by adding at the end the following: 13 ‘‘(F) fiscal years 2024 through 2028, not 14 more than 24,000,000 acres.’’; 15 (2) in paragraph (2)(A)— 16 (A) in clause (i)— 17 (i) by striking ‘‘2,000,000’’ and in- 18 serting ‘‘8,000,000’’; and 19 (ii) by striking ‘‘2023’’ and inserting 20 ‘‘2028’’; and 21 (B) in clause (ii), by striking subclauses 22 (I) through (III) and inserting the following: 23 ‘‘(I) fiscal year 2024, 4,000,000 24 acres; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:06 May 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1509.IS S1509 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1509 IS ‘‘(II) fiscal year 2025, 6,000,000 1 acres; and 2 ‘‘(III) fiscal years 2025 through 3 2028, 8,000,000 acres.’’; and 4 (3) in paragraph (6)— 5 (A) in subparagraph (A)— 6 (i) in clause (i)(III), by striking 7 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 8 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking the pe- 9 riod at the end and inserting a semicolon; 10 and 11 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 12 lowing: 13 ‘‘(iii) the farmable wetland program 14 under section 1231B; and 15 ‘‘(iv) the CLEAR 30 and soil health 16 and income protection programs under 17 subsections (a) and (b), respectively, of 18 section 1231C.’’; and 19 (B) in subparagraph (B)— 20 (i) in clause (i)— 21 (I) by striking ‘‘8,600,000’’ and 22 inserting ‘‘11,000,000’’; and 23 (II) by striking ‘‘2023’’ and in- 24 serting ‘‘2028’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:06 May 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1509.IS S1509 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1509 IS (ii) in clause (ii), by striking sub- 1 clauses (I) through (IV) and inserting the 2 following: 3 ‘‘(I) fiscal year 2024, 8,000,000 4 acres; 5 ‘‘(II) fiscal year 2025, 9,000,000 6 acres; 7 ‘‘(III) fiscal year 2026, 8 10,000,000 acres; and 9 ‘‘(IV) fiscal years 2027 and 10 2028, 11,000,000 acres.’’. 11 (d) DURATION OF CONTRACT.—Section 1231(e) of 12 the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3831(e)) is 13 amended— 14 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘For the pur- 15 pose’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as provided in para- 16 graph (3), for the purpose’’; 17 (2) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘paragraph 18 (1),’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph (1) or (3), as appli- 19 cable,’’; and 20 (3) by adding at the end the following: 21 ‘‘(3) LAND ENROLLED AFTER OCTOBER 1, 22 2023.—With respect to a contract under this sub- 23 chapter that is entered into on or after October 1, 24 2023, that enrolls land under paragraph (2) or (6) 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:06 May 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1509.IS S1509 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1509 IS of subsection (d), the term of the contract shall be 1 not less than 15, and not more than 30, years.’’. 2 SEC. 3. FARMABLE WETLAND PROGRAM. 3 Section 1231B(a)(1) of the Food Security Act of 4 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3831b(a)(1)) is amended by striking 5 ‘‘2023’’ and inserting ‘‘2028’’. 6 SEC. 4. CLEAR 30 AND SHIPP. 7 (a) CLEAR 30.—Section 1231C(a) of the Food Se- 8 curity Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3831c(a)) is amended— 9 (1) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking ‘‘pilot’’; 10 and 11 (2) in paragraph (7)— 12 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘30 13 annual’’; and 14 (B) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘an- 15 nual’’. 16 (b) SHIPP.—Section 1231C(b) of the Food Security 17 Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3831c(b)) is amended— 18 (1) in the subsection heading, by striking 19 ‘‘PILOT’’; 20 (2) by striking ‘‘pilot’’ each place it appears; 21 (3) in paragraph (1)(A)(ii)— 22 (A) by striking subclause (I); and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:06 May 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1509.IS S1509 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1509 IS (B) by redesignating subclauses (II) and 1 (III) as subclauses (I) and (II), respectively; 2 and 3 (4) in paragraph (2)— 4 (A) by striking the paragraph designation 5 and heading and all that follows through ‘‘The 6 Secretary’’ in subparagraph (A) and inserting 7 the following: 8 ‘‘(2) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary’’; and 9 (B) by striking subparagraph (B). 10 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 1231C of 11 the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3831c) is 12 amended by striking the section heading and inserting 13 ‘‘CLEAR 30 AND SHIPP.’’. 14 SEC. 5. RESOURCE CONSERVING USE. 15 Section 1233(d) of the Food Security Act of 1985 16 (16 U.S.C. 3833(d)) is amended— 17 (1) by striking paragraph (3); and 18 (2) by redesignating paragraph (4) as para- 19 graph (3). 20 SEC. 6. PAYMENTS. 21 (a) TIMING.—Section 1234(a) of the Food Security 22 Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3834(a)) is amended— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:06 May 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1509.IS S1509 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1509 IS (1) in paragraph (2), by redesignating subpara- 1 graphs (A) and (B) as clauses (i) and (ii), respec- 2 tively, and indenting appropriately; 3 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) as 4 subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively, and indent- 5 ing appropriately; 6 (3) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A) 7 (as so redesignated), by striking ‘‘The Secretary’’ 8 and inserting the following: 9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary’’; and 10 (4) by adding at the end the following: 11 ‘‘(2) ALLOCATION OF PAYMENTS FOR 30-YEAR 12 CONTRACTS.—Of the total amount of the payments 13 under a contract enrolled under this subchapter for 14 a term of 30 years, the Secretary shall provide— 15 ‘‘(A) not later than the end of the first 16 year of the contract, 5⁄30 of that total amount; 17 and 18 ‘‘(B) with respect to each of the sixth 19 through thirtieth years of the contract, 1⁄30 of 20 that total amount.’’. 21 (b) COST-SHARING PAYMENTS.—Section 1234(b) of 22 the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3834(b)) is 23 amended by striking ‘‘50’’ each place it appears and in- 24 serting ‘‘75’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:06 May 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1509.IS S1509 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1509 IS (c) ANNUAL RENTAL PAYMENTS.—Section 1234(d) 1 of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3834(d)) 2 is amended— 3 (1) in paragraph (2)(B)(i)— 4 (A) by striking ‘‘85’’ and inserting ‘‘75’’; 5 and 6 (B) by striking ‘‘90’’ and inserting ‘‘110’’; 7 and 8 (2) in paragraph (4)(E)— 9 (A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘85’’ and in- 10 serting ‘‘75’’; and 11 (B) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘90’’ and in- 12 serting ‘‘110’’. 13 SEC. 7. MODIFICATION OF RENTAL RATE. 14 Section 1235(c) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 15 U.S.C. 3835(c)) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 16 lowing: 17 ‘‘(3) MODIFICATION OF RENTAL RATE.—With 18 respect to a contract entered into under this sub- 19 chapter for a term of 30 years pursuant to section 20 1231(e)(3)— 21 ‘‘(A) on or after the date that is 10 years 22 after the date on which the contract is entered 23 into, the owner or operator may submit to the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:06 May 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1509.IS S1509 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1509 IS Secretary a request for a modification of the 1 rental rate under subparagraph (B); and 2 ‘‘(B) on receipt of a request under sub- 3 paragraph (A), the Secretary shall— 4 ‘‘(i) recalculate the annual rental pay- 5 ment amount for the contract based on the 6 applicable rental rate published from the 7 most recent annual survey conducted 8 under section 1234(d)(4)(A); and 9 ‘‘(ii) modify the contract by applying 10 the amount recalculated under clause (i) to 11 each year remaining in the term of the 12 contract.’’. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:06 May 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1509.IS S1509 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS