[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9902 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9902

    To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to allow for additional 
   agricultural lands to be enrolled under the conservation reserve 
              enhancement program, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 1, 2024

Mr. LaMalfa (for himself and Mr. Thompson of California) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to allow for additional 
   agricultural lands to be enrolled under the conservation reserve 
              enhancement program, 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 ``Pacific Flyway Habitat Enhancement 
Act''.

SEC. 2. CONSERVATION RESERVE ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM.

    Section 1231A of the Food Security Act of 1985 is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsection (f) as subsection (h); and
            (2) by inserting the following:
    ``(f) Seasonally Flooded Working Lands Habitat Conservation 
Agreements.--
            ``(1) In general.--In the case of an agreement under 
        subsection (b)(1) that addresses diminished quantity and 
        quality of wetland wildlife habitats, the Secretary, in 
        consultation with the applicable State technical committee 
        established under section 1261(a), may--
                    ``(A) enroll other agricultural land that is not 
                eligible land on which the resource concerns identified 
                in the agreement can be addressed if the enrollment of 
                such other agricultural land is critical to the 
                accomplishment of the purposes of the agreement;
                    ``(B) if the agreement involves the maintenance of 
                habitat for one or more wetland-dependent species on 
                working cropland, permit seasonally flooded 
                agricultural uses on such working cropland with the 
                adoption of at least one best management practice; and
                    ``(C) calculate annual rental payments in a manner 
                that--
                            ``(i) is comparable with annual costs to 
                        maintain other seasonally-flooded wetland 
                        wildlife habitats in the region; and
                            ``(ii) ensures regional consistency in 
                        those rental payment rates.
            ``(2) Matching requirement waiver.--In the case of an 
        agreement described in paragraph (1), the Secretary may waive 
        the matching requirement described in subsection (c)(1).''.
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