3.0.0 795 2026-03-02T20:19:53Z 2026-03-02T20:19:53Z Senate S S 2025-02-27 119 https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/795 ssev00 Environment and Public Works Committee Senate Standing Referred To 2025-02-27T18:49:28Z 2025-02-27 ssev00 Environment and Public Works Committee Senate Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works. IntroReferral 2025-02-27 Introduced in Senate IntroReferral 10000 9 Library of Congress R000605 Sen. Rounds, Mike [R-SD] Mike Rounds R SD N B001261 Sen. Barrasso, John [R-WY] John Barrasso R WY 2025-02-27 True T000250 Sen. Thune, John [R-SD] John Thune R SD 2025-02-27 True H001061 Sen. Hoeven, John [R-ND] John Hoeven R ND 2025-02-27 True M001198 Sen. Marshall, Roger [R-KS] Roger Marshall R KS 2025-02-27 True E000295 Sen. Ernst, Joni [R-IA] Joni Ernst R IA 2025-04-11 False K000393 Sen. Kennedy, John [R-LA] John Kennedy R LA 2025-04-11 False Environmental Protection Environmental Protection 2025-03-28T11:22:46Z 00 2025-02-27 Introduced in Senate 2026-03-02T20:01:20Z Farmers Freedom Act of 2025

This bill excludes certain prior converted cropland from permit requirements under the Clean Water Act, including Section 404 permits for discharges of dredged materials into waters of the United States (WOTUS). The exclusion applies to areas that were converted to cropland prior to December 23, 1985. However, the bill does not exclude an area that has reverted to wetlands and has not been used for agricultural purposes in five years.

In recent years, there has not been regulatory consistency about which cropland, such as cropland that has reverted to wetlands, is protected under the scope of the act as WOTUS. In 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued the Navigable Waters Protection Rule that, among other provisions, defined prior converted cropland in order to specify which cropland is excluded from the scope of the act. However, the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona vacated the rule in Pascua Yaqui Tribe v. EPA. In 2023, the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers issued another rule that excluded prior converted cropland from the scope of the act, but they defined the exclusion more narrowly than the exclusion in the 2020 rule. 

Similar to the 2020 rule, this bill broadens the exclusion. The bill determines the scope of the exclusion by defining the term prior converted cropland in statute. 

]]> Farmers Freedom Act of 2025 Display Title 45 Farmers Freedom Act of 2025 2025-04-12T11:03:16Z Short Title(s) as Introduced 101 Farmers Freedom Act of 2025 2025-03-27T01:53:18Z Introduced in Senate IS Official Title as Introduced 6 A bill to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to exclude prior converted cropland from the definition of "navigable waters", and for other purposes. 2025-03-27T01:48:22Z Introduced in Senate IS Introduced in Senate 2025-02-27T05:00:00Z https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-119s795is/xml/BILLS-119s795is.xml 2025-02-27 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works. 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.