NRCS Wetland Compliance and Appeals Reform Act 2023-03-30 Introduced in Senate NRCS Wetland Compliance and Appeals Reform Act

This bill revises provisions related to the wetland certification program at the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) of the Department of Agriculture (USDA), including by

  • prohibiting the NRCS from acquiring any permanent easement;
  • prohibiting USDA from imposing penalties retroactively for newly determined wetlands;
  • revising the appeals process of the NRCS for wetland certification requests;
  • prohibiting USDA from using new rationale for a wetland determination if a person has previously successfully appealed a final wetland determination;
  • establishing that USDA bears the burden of proof, by clear and convincing evidence, that a person has violated certain wetland conservation provisions;
  • requiring USDA to establish oversight committees in each state that will oversee the appeals of wetland determinations; and
  • requiring that each individual who interacts with the NRCS have the option to participate in a customer satisfaction survey provided by an independent survey company.
]]> 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 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.