118th Congress Agriculture and Food
S. 1224: Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program Improvement Act of 2023
Introduced
- Introduced (completed)
- Passed Senate (not reached)
- Passed House (not reached)
- To the President (not reached)
- Became law (not reached)
Summary
This bill revises the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP), which is a component of the Farm Service Agency's (FSA's) Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). CREP is a public-private partnership program which allows states, tribal governments, and nonprofit and private entities to partner with FSA to implement CRP practices. CRP is a land conservation program that provides an annual rental payment to farmers in exchange for removing environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production and planting species that will improve environmental health and quality.
The bill specifies that dryland agricultural uses and grazing are included as appropriate practices under CREP.
The bill also allows a land owner or operator to elect to determine the annual payment amount allocated for each year of a CREP agreement, instead of a fixed payment per year for the contract period.
Read the full summary
For drought and water conservation agreements that include the permanent retirement of water rights, annual payment rates must be equal to the irrigated acre payment rates determined by the Department of Agriculture (USDA). In the case of an agreement that permits dryland agricultural uses, the annual payment rates must be equal to the difference between the irrigated acre payment rates and the dryland acre payment rates determined by USDA. The payment formula is retroactive for certain existing drought and water conservation agreements.
Further, the bill exempts CREP payments from the $50,000 annual payment limitation under CRP.
Written by the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress.
Roll calls
No roll call votes have been held on this bill.
Amendments
No amendments were offered to this bill.
Cosponsors
- John Hickenlooper D-COOriginal
- Jerry Moran R-KSOriginal
- Roger Marshall R-KSOriginal
Who scored on this bill
- 1Michael Bennet SponsorDrew cross-party cosponsors, introduced2 events+6
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Introductions and cosponsorships count toward weekly caps and show no points.
Other bills by Michael Bennet
- S. 2754: Crystal Reservoir Conveyance Act
- S. 1787: Dolores River National Conservation Area and Special Management Area Act
- S.J.Res. 139: Disapproval of Environmental Protection Agency rule: Air Plan Disapproval; Colorado; Regional Haze Plan for the Second Implementation Period
- S. 2514: Colorado River Salinity Control Fix Act
- S. 2156: Bolts Ditch Act
- S. 254: Ski Hill Resources for Economic Development Act of 2023
History
- Introduced in the Senate by Michael Bennet.
Show the full action history (2 actions)
- Introduced in Senate
- Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.