118 HR 9902 IH: Pacific Flyway Habitat Enhancement Act U.S. House of Representatives 2024-10-01 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

I118th CONGRESS2d SessionH. R. 9902IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESOctober 1, 2024Mr. LaMalfa (for himself and Mr. Thompson of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on AgricultureA BILLTo 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.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Pacific Flyway Habitat Enhancement Act.

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)..