[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 598 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 598

To amend the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 to 
                improve the farmland protection program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 11, 1999

 Mr. Santorum introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 to 
                improve the farmland protection program.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Farmland Protection Act of 1999''.

SEC. 2. FARMLAND PROTECTION PROGRAM.

    Section 388 of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act 
of 1996 (16 U.S.C. 3830 note; Public Law 104-127) is amended to read as 
follows:

``SEC. 388. FARMLAND PROTECTION PROGRAM.

    ``(a) Definition of Eligible Entity.--In this section, the term 
`eligible entity' means--
            ``(1) any agency of any State or local government, or 
        federally recognized Indian tribe; and
            ``(2) any organization that--
                    ``(A) is organized for, and at all times since its 
                formation has been operated principally for, 1 or more 
                of the conservation purposes specified in clause (i), 
                (ii), or (iii) of section 170(h)(4)(A) of the Internal 
                Revenue Code of 1986;
                    ``(B) is an organization described in section 
                501(c)(3) of the Code that is exempt from taxation 
                under section 501(a) of the Code; and
                    ``(C)(i) is described in section 509(a)(2) of the 
                Code; or
                    ``(ii) is described in section 509(a)(3) of the 
                Code and is controlled by an organization described in 
                section 509(a)(2) of the Code.
    ``(b) Authority.--The Secretary of Agriculture shall establish and 
carry out a farmland protection program under which the Secretary shall 
provide grants to eligible entities, to provide the Federal share of 
the cost of purchasing conservation easements or other interests in 
land with prime, unique, or other productive soil for the purpose of 
protecting topsoil by limiting nonagricultural uses of the land.
    ``(c) Eligible Entities.--The Secretary may provide a grant to an 
eligible entity described in subsection (a)(2) for the purchase of a 
conservation easement or other interest in land within the jurisdiction 
of a State or local government or federally recognized Indian tribe 
only if the appropriate agency of the State or local government or the 
federally recognized Indian tribe does not operate a farmland 
protection program.
    ``(d) Federal Share.--The Federal share of the cost of purchasing a 
conservation easement or other interest described in subsection (b) 
shall be not more than 50 percent.
    ``(e) Conservation Plan.--Any land for which a conservation 
easement or other interest is purchased under this section shall be 
subject to the requirements of a conservation plan that requires, at 
the option of the Secretary, the conversion of the land to less 
intensive uses.
    ``(f) Ranking Criteria.--The Secretary shall consult with 
appropriate agencies of States and local governments and federally 
recognized Indian tribes in developing criteria for ranking 
applications for grants under this section.
    ``(g) Funding.--For each fiscal year, the Secretary shall use not 
more than $50,000,000 of the funds of the Commodity Credit Corporation 
to carry out this section.''.
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