[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 629 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        S.629

                     One Hundred Nineteenth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Saturday,
          the third day of January, two thousand and twenty six


                                 An Act


 
   To amend the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 to remove barriers to 
    agricultural producers in accessing funds to carry out emergency 
    measures under the emergency conservation program, and for other 
                                purposes.

    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 ``Emergency Conservation Program 
Improvement Act of 2025''.
SEC. 2. IMPROVING THE EMERGENCY CONSERVATION PROGRAM.
    Section 401 of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2201) 
is amended--
        (1) in subsection (b)--
            (A) in the subsection heading, by inserting ``and Other 
        Emergency Conservation Measures'' after ``Fencing'';
            (B) in paragraph (1)--
                (i) by inserting ``or for other emergency measures to 
            replace or restore farmland or conservation structures 
            requiring an immediate response (as determined by the 
            Secretary),'' after ``replacement of fencing,''; and
                (ii) by striking ``option of receiving'' and all that 
            follows through the period at the end and inserting the 
            following: ``option of receiving, before the agricultural 
            producer carries out the repair, replacement, or 
            restoration--
            ``(A) with respect to a payment to the agricultural 
        producer for a replacement, 75 percent of the cost of the 
        replacement, as determined by the Secretary; and
            ``(B) with respect to a payment to the agricultural 
        producer for a repair or restoration, 50 percent of the cost of 
        the repair or restoration, as determined by the Secretary.''; 
        and
            (C) in paragraph (2), by striking ``60-day'' and inserting 
        ``180-day''; and
        (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(c) Wildfire Determination.--A wildfire that causes damage 
eligible for a payment under subsection (a) includes--
        ``(1) a wildfire that is not caused naturally, if the damage is 
    caused by the spread of the wildfire due to natural causes; and
        ``(2) a wildfire that is caused by the Federal Government.''.
SEC. 3. IMPROVING THE EMERGENCY FOREST RESTORATION PROGRAM.
    Section 407 of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2206) 
is amended--
        (1) in subsection (a)(2), by striking ``wildfires,'' and 
    inserting ``wildfires (including a wildfire that is not caused 
    naturally, if the damage is caused by the spread of the wildfire 
    due to natural causes, and a wildfire that is caused by the Federal 
    Government),'';
        (2) by redesignating subsection (e) as subsection (f); and
        (3) by inserting after subsection (d) the following:
    ``(e) Advance Payments.--
        ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall give an owner of 
    nonindustrial private forest land the option of receiving, before 
    the owner carries out emergency measures under this section, not 
    more than 75 percent of the cost of the emergency measures, as 
    determined by the Secretary.
        ``(2) Return of funds.--If the funds provided under paragraph 
    (1) are not expended by the end of the 180-day period beginning on 
    the date on which the owner of nonindustrial private forest land 
    receives those funds, the funds shall be returned within a 
    reasonable timeframe, as determined by the Secretary.''.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.