3.0.0 2624 2023-01-11T13:39:56Z 2023-01-11T13:39:56Z Senate S 2018-03-22 115 ssaf00 Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee Senate Standing Referred to 2018-03-22T22:10:47Z 2018-03-22 ssaf00 Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee Senate Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. IntroReferral 2018-03-22 Introduced in Senate IntroReferral 10000 9 Library of Congress B001288 Sen. Booker, Cory A. [D-NJ] Cory Booker D NJ N L000577 Sen. Lee, Mike [R-UT] Mike Lee R UT 2018-03-22 True Agriculture and Food Agricultural conservation and pollution Agricultural prices, subsidies, credit Government information and archives Government studies and investigations Land use and conservation Public contracts and procurement Water quality Wildlife conservation and habitat protection Agriculture and Food 00 2018-03-22 Introduced in Senate 2018-12-17T23:15:04Z EQIP Improvement Act of 2018

This bill amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to modify the Department of Agriculture (USDA) Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). (EQIP provides financial and technical assistance for agricultural producers and land owners to implement certain conservation practices.)

The bill modifies EQIP to:

  • reduce the maximum federal cost-share from 75% to 40% for specified practices,
  • repeal the requirement for at least 60% of the funds made available for EQIP payments to be targeted at practices relating to livestock production, and
  • reduce the five-year EQIP payment cap from $450,000 to $150,000.

The bill also requires USDA to: (1) coordinate the program with the conservation effects assessments carried out by USDA, and (2) revise the guidance issued to states for allocating funds to require data regarding environmental concerns to be used as a primary factor to prioritize projects.

USDA must prioritize EQIP applications that consist only of the performance of certain land management or vegetative practices that are a cost-effective means of addressing the most pressing impairments that threaten to degrade or impair water quality, water quantity, soil or related natural resources within a local watershed, or a specific natural resource boundary.

]]> EQIP Improvement Act of 2018 Display Title EQIP Improvement Act of 2018 Official Title as Introduced A bill to amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to make adjustments to the environmental quality incentives program, and for other purposes. Introduced in Senate IS Short Titles as Introduced EQIP Improvement Act of 2018 Introduced in Senate 2018-03-22T04:00:00Z https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-115s2624is/xml/BILLS-115s2624is.xml 2018-03-22 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. 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. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress This file contains bill summaries and statuses for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.