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51 records in US in 2017
United States · United States Congress · 21 December 2017
Century Farms Act of 2017 This bill requires the Department of Agriculture to establish a program to recognize: (1) any farm that a state department of agriculture or similar statewide agricultural organization recognizes as a Century Farm, or (2) a farm or ranch that has been operated continuously and owned by the same family for at least 100 consecutive years.
United States · United States Congress · 21 December 2017
Fruit and Vegetable Planting Flexibility Act of 2017 This bill amends the Agricultural Act of 2014 to modify the effect that planting fruits, vegetables, or wild rice on a farm has on the acreage eligible for payments under Department of Agriculture (USDA) commodity programs. Under current law, payments acres on a farm must be reduced by specified amounts in any year in which fruits, vegetables (other than mung beans and pulse crops), or wild rice have been planted on base acres on the farm. For each year in which there is a reduction in payment acres on a farm due to the planting of fruits, vegetables, or wild rice on base acres, the bill requires USDA to maintain the commodity program eligibility of those base acres by considering the acres to be planted or prevented from planting to a covered commodity when USDA recalculates the base acres for the farm under the commodity programs.
United States · United States Congress · 20 December 2017
Puppy Protection Act of 2017 This bill amends the Animal Welfare Act to require the Department of Agriculture to expand standards that govern the humane handling, care, treatment, and transportation of animals to include new requirements for commercial dog dealers. Specifically, the standards must require dog dealers to provide to dogs: (1) adequate housing, exercise, and veterinary care; (2) appropriate and nutritious food; (3) continuous access to potable water; and (4) meaningful socialization with humans and compatible dogs for at least 30 minutes each day. The standards must also include requirements for breeders to use safe breeding practices and make all reasonable efforts to find humane placement for retired breeding dogs.
United States · United States Congress · 20 December 2017
Welfare of Our Friends Act of 2017 or the WOOF! Act This bill amends the Animal Welfare Act to prohibit the Department of Agriculture (USDA) from licensing a dealer of dogs whose previous licenses have been suspended or revoked in the last 10 years if the license is for operating a facility that the dealer previously used. Further, USDA may not issue or renew a license to: (1) the dog dealer's immediate family members, (2) a person who resides at the same address as the dog dealer, or (3) certain legal entities if such dealer holds an ownership interest in the entity.
United States · United States Congress · 20 December 2017
This bill amends the Wyoming Wilderness Act of 1984 to direct the Department of Agriculture, with respect to helicopter skiing in the Palisades Wilderness Study Area in the Bridger-Teton and Targhee National Forests in Wyoming, to authorize the number of permitted days of helicopter skiing to be at least the number of days specified in the High Mountain Heli-Skiing Final Environmental Impact Statement for certain national forest districts in Wyoming and Idaho, issued by the Forest Service on June 30, 2005. Subject to such requirement, all recreational uses occurring before the enactment of this bill within the Palisades, High Lakes, and Shoal Creek Wilderness Study Areas, including horseback riding, snowmobiling, dirt bike riding, mountain biking, and helicopter skiing shall continue to be permitted in those areas. The bill bars the construction of any recreational access points in such wilderness study areas, except by an express authorization of Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 19 December 2017
Land Grants-Mercedes Conservation Program Eligibility Act of 2017 This bill amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to authorize the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to enter into an alternative funding arrangement under any USDA conservation program with a land grant-merced. A land grant-merced is a community, town, colony, or pueblo that: (1) includes certain land granted by Mexico or Spain; or (2) asserted title pursuant to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, through the Office of the Surveyor General for New Mexico or the U.S. Court of Private Land Claims. (An alternative funding arrangement allows a land grant-merced to receive assistance directly from the conservation programs.) USDA may also provide technical and administrative assistance under the alternative funding arrangement. USDA may enter into an arrangement if: (1) the goals and objectives of the applicable conservation program will be met by the arrangement, and (2) statutory limitations regarding contracts with individual producers will not be exceeded by any member of the land grant-merced.
United States · United States Congress · 19 December 2017
Chronic Wasting Disease Support for States Act This bill amends the Animal Health Protection Act to require the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to support state and tribal efforts in developing and implementing management strategies to address chronic wasting disease. The transmissible disease afflicts deer, elk, and moose populations. In addition, USDA must make grants to research centers to support efforts to expand and accelerate applied research on the disease. Land management agencies of the USDA and the Department of the Interior must work cooperatively with states in researching the disease and implementing state management strategies to reduce the spread and prevalence of the disease.
United States · United States Congress · 18 December 2017
Organic Farmers Access Act This bill amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act and the Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000 to expand the eligibility of organic farmers for assistance under Department of Agriculture (USDA) rural development grant and loan programs. The bill authorizes additional assistance for certified organic farms and certified organic handling operations under USDA programs that provide: (1) rural business development grants, (2) loans and loan guarantees for locally or regionally produced agricultural food products, and (3) value-added agricultural product market development grants.
United States · United States Congress · 18 December 2017
DIVISION A--DISASTER ASSISTANCE Further Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Requirements, 2017 This division provides $81 billion in FY2018 emergency appropriations to several federal agencies for disaster assistance related to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria; and wildfires that occurred in 2017. (Emergency spending is exempt from discretionary spending limits and other budget enforcement rules.) DIVISION B--DISASTER RECOVERY REFORM ACT This division amends the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to modify the Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster response and recovery programs. DIVISION C--OTHER MATTERS This division amends the Agricultural Act of 2014 to designate cottonseed as a covered commodity beginning with the 2018 crop year. (Producers of covered commodities are eligible for Department of Agriculture [USDA] price and income support programs such as the Price Loss Coverage program.) It also amends the Federal Crop Insurance Act to remove the $20 million cap on annual expenditures for livestock producers under the federal crop insurance program. The bill requires all states to participate in USDA's National Accuracy Clearinghouse, which is a database for states to use to prevent Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as the food stamp program) participants from receiving duplicative benefits in multiple states. (The clearinghouse is currently a pilot program with five participating states.) DIVISION D--BUDGETARY EFFECTS This division exempts the budgetary effects of division B and each succeeding division of this bill from Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) and other budget enforcement rules.
United States · United States Congress · 18 December 2017
Voluntary Public Access Improvement Act of 2017 This bill amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to increase and extend through FY2023 the authorization of mandatory funding for the Department of Agriculture Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program. (The program provides grants for state and tribal governments to encourage owners and operators of privately-held farm, ranch, and forest land to voluntarily make the land available for access by the public for wildlife-dependent recreation, including hunting or fishing.)
United States · United States Congress · 14 December 2017
This bill amends the Agricultural Act of 2014, with respect to the Agricultural Risk Coverage program, to require the Department of Agriculture to: (1) use specified data to assign actual or benchmark county yields, and (2) make payments to producers using the payment rate of the county of the physical location of the base acres of a farm.
United States · United States Senate · 13 December 2017
United States · United States Congress · 13 December 2017
Good Neighbor Authority Improvement Act This bill amends the Agricultural Act of 2014 to permit the Department of Agriculture to carry out as forest, rangeland, and watershed restoration services under a good neighbor agreement the reconstruction, repair, or restoration of a National Forest System road that is necessary to carry out the authorized restoration services.
United States · United States Congress · 12 December 2017
West Fork Fire Station Act of 2017 This bill directs the Department of Agriculture, on receiving a request from Dolores County in Colorado, to convey to the county, without consideration, approximately 3.61 acres of National Forest System land in the county to be used for a fire station, related infrastructure, and roads to facilitate access to and through such land.
United States · United States Congress · 11 December 2017
West Fork Fire Station Act of 2017 This bill directs the Department of Agriculture, on receiving a request from Dolores County in Colorado, to convey to the county, without consideration, approximately 3.61 acres of National Forest System land in the county to be used for a fire station, related infrastructure, and roads to facilitate access to and through such land.
United States · United States Congress · 11 December 2017
Homegrown Organic Act of 2017 This bill amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to modify several Department of Agriculture conservation programs to authorize additional assistance for farmers who are transitioning to organic farming. The bill modifies the Conservation Reserve Program, the Conservation Stewardship Program, and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program.
United States · United States Congress · 4 December 2017
Livestock and Honey Bee Disaster Assistance Act of 2017 This bill amends the Agricultural Act of 2014 to remove the $20 million annual limit on mandatory funding for emergency assistance under the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees, and Farm-raised Fish Program (ELAP). The bill also removes a provision that permits funds provided under ELAP to remain available until expended. (ELAP provides financial assistance to eligible producers of livestock, honeybees and farm-raised fish for losses due to disease, certain adverse weather events, or loss conditions, including blizzards and wildfires.) The bill amends the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 to specify that the maximum cost-share percentage permitted under the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) is 90% for an area that has been identified by the U.S. Drought Monitor as experiencing extreme or exceptional drought. (The ECP provides emergency funding and technical assistance to farmers and ranchers to rehabilitate farmland damaged by natural disasters and implement emergency conservation measures in periods of severe drought.)
United States · United States Congress · 1 December 2017
SNAP Simplification for the Elderly Act This bill (1) extends the certification period for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for certain households, (2) expands the use of combined applications for SNAP and certain other benefits, and (3) requires the Department of Agriculture to carry out pilot projects to integrate the delivery of various benefits to certain low-income households.
United States · United States Congress · 1 December 2017
Farmers of Tomorrow Act This bill amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to expand eligibility for Department of Agriculture (USDA) direct farm ownership loans by modifying the three-year experience requirement. (Under current law, USDA may make a direct farm ownership loan only to a farmer or rancher who has participated in the business operations of a farm or ranch for at least three years or has other acceptable experience.) The bill modifies the experience requirement to specify a list of acceptable experience and educational criteria that USDA may count for an applicant to meet or reduce the necessary experience requirement.
United States · United States Congress · 1 December 2017
Bears Ears National Monument Expansion Act This bill expands the boundaries of the Bear Ears National Monument in Utah. The Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture USDA shall administer the lands under their jurisdictions within the expanded boundaries: (1) as part of the monument; and (2) in accordance with Presidential Proclamation 9558, dated December 28, 2016, which provided for establishment of the monument. Interior and USDA shall promptly carry out the proclamation's provisions, including the provisions requiring them to engage the Bear Ears Commission to: ensure the proper care and management of the objects identified; ensure that management decisions affecting the monument reflect tribal expertise and traditional and historical knowledge; and provide guidance and recommendations on the development and implementation of management plans and on management of the monument. The National Park Service shall administer Natural Bridges National Monument and those portions of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area that are within the expanded boundaries as part of the monument. Interior and USDA may acquire lands, waters, or interests in land that are located within the revised boundaries of the monument by donation, purchase, or exchange.
United States · United States Congress · 28 November 2017
Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands Equitable Rebuild Act of 2017 This bill provides for additional disaster-recovery assistance and other assistance to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands with respect to infrastructure, health care, agriculture, education, economic development, and environmental remediation, among other sectors. Specifically, regarding both territories, the bill: provides for the use of certain emergency assistance to rebuild electric grids; establishes several grant programs to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy; subject to specified oversight requirements, increases funding for transportation infrastructure, telecommunications systems, housing, and community development; increases funding for the Medicaid and Medicare programs; temporarily increases social-services block-grant allotments; increases funding for, and otherwise revises, rural and agricultural programs; increases funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs; provides for aid to the Head Start program, elementary and secondary education programs, and higher education programs; increases funding for training and employment services; modifies provisions concerning the earned-income tax credit, the child tax credit, and unemployment assistance; increases funding for economic and community development programs; increases funding for environmental remediation; and otherwise modifies provisions related to emergency funding and disaster-recovery assistance. In addition, the bill: extends Medicaid waiver authority to all territories, provides for Medicaid disproportionate share hospital allotments to the territories, and otherwise revises the Medicaid and Medicare programs with respect to the territories; extends participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to all territories; modifies provisions concerning the application of certain workers' protections in Puerto Rico; and requires the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to submit to Congress a long-term disaster-relief plan with respect to Puerto Rico and the U.S Virgin Islands.
United States · United States Congress · 21 November 2017
Chronic Wasting Disease Management Act This bill requires the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service-Wildlife Services to support state and tribal efforts to address chronic wasting disease. The transmissible disease afflicts deer, elk, and moose populations. The agency must make grants to research centers to support efforts to expand and accelerate applied research on the disease. Land management agencies of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Interior must work cooperatively with states in researching the disease and implementing state response plans to reduce the spread and prevalence of the disease.
United States · United States Congress · 16 November 2017
Chesapeake Bay Farm Bill Enhancements Act of 2017 This bill amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to modify and increase funding for the Department of Agriculture (USDA) Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). (The RCPP operates through several USDA conservation programs to provide funding for partners to join in efforts with producers to increase the restoration and sustainable use of soil, water, wildlife, and related natural resources on regional or watershed scales. The RCPP includes the purposes and functions of several conservation programs such as the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Initiative.) The bill modifies the RCPP to: increase mandatory funding and revise the requirements for distributing funds, allow in-kind support to count toward a partner's matching contribution, allow partners to apply for a funding renewal of a partnership agreement, authorize USDA to provide information and feedback to applicants throughout the application process, authorize grants for partners to directly operate conservation projects, authorize USDA to advance funding to partners for technical assistance for project development and outreach activities, require USDA to make publicly available the amounts available for technical assistance under a partnership agreement, limit USDA costs for technical assistance to costs specific and necessary to carry out the objectives of the partnership agreement, modify the criteria for a critical conservation area, and revise the requirements for prioritizing applications.
United States · United States Congress · 16 November 2017
Food and Farm Act This bill reauthorizes and modifies several Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs that address: commodity support, crop insurance, conservation, food assistance, nutrition, farm credit, beginning farmers and ranchers, food waste, research and educational programs, animal welfare, and regional food systems. The bill modifies agriculture and nutrition policies to: repeal the Agriculture Risk Coverage Program and the Price Loss Coverage Program, impose additional limits on farm subsidies, extend crop insurance premium subsidies to farmers who plant crops to reduce erosion, require recipients of farm subsidies to comply with additional conservation requirements, authorize increased funding for conservation programs, authorize additional assistance under the Environmental Quality Incentives Program for organic farmers, establish a loan program for conservation-based structural improvements, increase Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as the food stamp program) benefits, authorize additional assistance for beginning farmers and ranchers, establish the Office of Food Waste within USDA, authorize additional funding for research and education programs, require USDA to comply with certain animal welfare standards at federal agricultural research centers, require USDA to reinstate online posting of Animal Welfare Act and Horse Protection Act enforcement records, and expand grant and loan programs for local and regional food systems.
United States · United States Congress · 16 November 2017
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from the gross income of certain banks interest received on small business loans of up to $5 million. The bill applies to loans that are: (1) secured by land situated in the United States that is used or held by the small business in connection with the active conduct of a farming business, or (2) incurred in the ordinary course of the trade or business of the small business. To be eligible for the exclusion, the bank must: (1) have less than $50 billion in assets at the closing of the preceding taxable year, and (2) receive the interest before 2019.
United States · United States Congress · 16 November 2017
Chesapeake Bay Farm Bill Enhancements Act of 2017 This bill amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to modify and increase funding for the Department of Agriculture (USDA) Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). (The RCPP operates through several USDA conservation programs to provide funding for partners to join in efforts with producers to increase the restoration and sustainable use of soil, water, wildlife, and related natural resources on regional or watershed scales. The RCPP includes the purposes and functions of several conservation programs such as the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Initiative.) The bill modifies the RCPP to: increase mandatory funding and revise the requirements for distributing funds, allow in-kind support to count toward a partner's matching contribution, allow partners to apply for a funding renewal of a partnership agreement, authorize USDA to provide information and feedback to applicants throughout the application process, authorize grants for partners to directly operate conservation projects, authorize USDA to advance funding to partners for technical assistance for project development and outreach activities, require USDA to make publicly available the amounts available for technical assistance under a partnership agreement, limit USDA costs for technical assistance to costs specific and necessary to carry out the objectives of the partnership agreement, modify the criteria for a critical conservation area, and revise the requirements for prioritizing applications.
United States · United States Congress · 16 November 2017
This bill amends the Rural Development Act of 1972, with respect to the Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Health and Safety Education Competitive Grants Program, to require USDA to give priority to applicants that will use the grants for substance use disorder education, prevention, or treatment.
United States · United States Congress · 15 November 2017
Farm to Table Safety Act This bill amends the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 to modify the food safety education program authorized in the Act. The bill requires the Department of Agriculture to: (1) include farm workers in the program; and (2) expand the scope of the program to include practices that prevent bacterial contamination of food, methods of identifying sources of food contamination, and other means of decreasing food contamination.
United States · United States Congress · 15 November 2017
Providing Land Grants and Acequias Conservation and Environmental Services Act or the PLACES Act This bill amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to authorize the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to enter into an alternative funding arrangement under any USDA conservation program with an entity that: (1) is comprised of members who are producers that are eligible for payments under the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, and (2) is a local governmental entity that does not have the authority to impose taxes or levies. (An alternative funding arrangement would allow certain community irrigation associations and community land grants to receive assistance directly from the conservation programs.) USDA may also provide technical and administrative assistance under the alternative funding arrangement. USDA may enter into an arrangement if: (1) the goals and objectives of the applicable conservation program will be met by the arrangement, and (2) statutory limitations regarding contracts with individual producers will not be exceeded by any member of the entity.
United States · United States Senate · 14 November 2017
United States · United States Senate · 9 November 2017
United States · United States Congress · 9 November 2017
Veterans' Agricultural Apprenticeship Act of 2017 This bill requires the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to establish a program to make direct loans to farmers and ranchers who will provide mentorship and apprenticeship opportunities for veterans to learn the skills necessary to become successful farmers or ranchers. USDA must carry out the program through agreements with state departments of agriculture that will: select veterans to participate in the program, secure established farmers and ranchers to provide the mentorship and apprenticeship opportunities, and make and administer direct loans to support the resulting mentorship and apprenticeship. The loans must be made without interest and may not exceed a term of one year. Of the amounts appropriated for FY2019-FY2023 for the Office of the Secretary of Agriculture, USDA must use $1 million for each of the fiscal years for the program.
United States · United States Congress · 8 November 2017
Rural Broadband Expansion Act This bill requires the Department of Agriculture to allow grants awarded to finance broadband transmission in rural areas to be used for the purposes of the Distance Learning and Telemedicine Program.
United States · United States Congress · 8 November 2017
Harvest Price Subsidy Prohibition Act This bill amends the Federal Crop Insurance Act to prohibit the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation from paying a premium subsidy for a crop insurance policy that is based on the actual market price of an agricultural commodity at the time of harvest.
United States · United States Congress · 8 November 2017
CRP Grazing Flexibility Act This bill amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to allow grazing to be used as a mid-contract management practice under the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) without any reduction in the rental rate if the grazing is consistent with the conservation of soil, water, and wildlife habitat. The Department of Agriculture may not make cost sharing payments for grazing undertaken pursuant to this bill. (CRP provides payments to farmers who agree to remove environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production and plant species that will improve environmental health and quality. Farmers with certain CRP contracts are required to apply authorized mid-contract management practices to CRP land to implement the conservation plan.)
United States · United States Congress · 8 November 2017
Federal Land Management Act of 2017 This bill directs the Department of Agriculture (USDA), upon request of the city of Old Town, Maine, to convey to the city without consideration lands that: (1) were conveyed by the federal government to the city under the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act by the deed dated June 5, 1941, and (2) are proposed for conveyance for the purpose of economic development. The bill authorizes the USDA to sell or exchange 30 tracts of National Forest System land in Georgia totaling approximately 3,841 acres. The bill designates specified federal lands in the Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee as wilderness and as additions to the National Wilderness Preservation System. The bill requires specified lands in the George Washington National Forest (a part of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests in Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky) to be: (1) incorporated in the Rough Mountain Wilderness, and (2) designated as a potential wilderness area for eventual incorporation in the Rich Hole Wilderness. The bill authorizes USDA to sell specified federal land in Winn Parish, Louisiana. USDA shall convey a portion of that land to Collins Camp Properties, Inc. The bill directs USDA to sell and quitclaim a parcel of real property, including improvements, located at 4500 Glenwood Drive in Riverside, California, consisting of approximately 8.75 acres and administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, to the Riverside Corona Resource Conservation District.
United States · United States Congress · 8 November 2017
Beginning Farmer and Rancher Opportunity Act of 2017 This bill modifies several Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs to authorize additional assistance for beginning farmers and ranchers. The bill modifies USDA programs that address conservation, credit, rural development, research and education, and crop insurance.
United States · United States Congress · 8 November 2017
Harvest Price Subsidy Prohibition Act This bill amends the Federal Crop Insurance Act to prohibit the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation from paying a premium subsidy for a crop insurance policy that is based on the actual market price of an agricultural commodity on the date of harvest.
United States · United States Congress · 7 November 2017
Precision Farming Act This bill amends the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to require the Department of Agriculture to give priority to loan applicants that offer to provide broadband service, at better than the minimum acceptable level of broadband service, to agricultural producers in the proposed service territory to improve their ability to conduct precision farming or ranching. (Precision farming is a strategy that uses various technologies to manage production through data analysis and automation.) The bill also amends the Communications Act of 1934 to provide universal service support for the installation of broadband services to improve the ability of an agricultural producer to conduct precision farming or ranching. The bill requires broadband providers to install the services at a discount and makes the providers eligible for a reimbursement of the discount. Agricultural producers are limited to one discount that is the lesser of: (1) the amount that the provider would charge other parties for a similar installation, or (2) $15,000.
United States · United States Congress · 7 November 2017
Sugar Policy Modernization Act of 2017 This bill amends the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 and other agricultural laws to modify the Department of Agriculture (USDA) sugar program. The bill modifies the sugar program to: reduce the rates for price support loans to processors of domestically grown sugarcane and sugar beets; require USDA to recover the net cost of the program from domestic sugar processors; extend through 2019 and then terminate the Feedstock Flexibility Program under which USDA purchases surplus sugar from domestic processors for resale to ethanol producers; extend through 2020 and then repeal the flexible marketing allotments which limit the amount of sugar that domestic processing companies may sell for domestic human use; require USDA to administer the program to provide adequate supplies of sugar at reasonable prices; require USDA to adjust sugar tariff-rate quota imports to achieve specified ratios of sugar stocks to total sugar use; and allow the transfer of quotas between countries.
United States · United States Congress · 7 November 2017
Sugar Policy Modernization Act of 2017 This bill amends the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 and other agricultural laws to modify the Department of Agriculture (USDA) sugar program. The bill modifies the sugar program to: reduce the rates for price support loans to processors of domestically grown sugarcane and sugar beets; require USDA to recover the net cost of the program from domestic sugar processors; extend through 2019 and then terminate the Feedstock Flexibility Program under which USDA purchases surplus sugar from domestic processors for resale to ethanol producers; extend through 2020 and then repeal the flexible marketing allotments which limit the amount of sugar that domestic processing companies may sell for domestic human use; require USDA to administer the program to provide adequate supplies of sugar at reasonable prices; require USDA to adjust sugar tariff-rate quota imports to achieve specified ratios of sugar stocks to total sugar use; and allow the transfer of quotas between countries.
United States · United States Congress · 7 November 2017
Nourishing Our Golden Years Act This bill amends the Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act of 1973 to establish a minimum certification period of one year for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP). During the certification period, a participant in the program may continue to receive benefits without a formal review of eligibility. (The CSFP provides supplemental food to low-income elderly persons who are at least 60 years of age. Certification periods currently vary by state.) Upon the request of a state, the Department of Agriculture must approve a state certification period of more than year, if, on an annual basis, the local agency administering the program: (1) verifies the address and continued interest of each participant in receiving benefits; and (2) has sufficient reason to determine that the participant still meets the income eligibility standards, which may include a determination that the participant has a fixed income.
United States · United States Congress · 6 November 2017
Advancing Conservation and Education Act This bill allows the states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, or Wyoming (western states) to relinquish state land grant parcels wholly or primarily within eligible areas and select, in exchange, public land within the state. The bill defines "eligible areas" as lands within the outer boundaries of units or components of the National Park, National Wilderness Preservation, National Wildlife Refuge, or National Landscape Conservation Systems, areas identified by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) of the Department of the Interior as having wilderness characteristics, certain designated lands within the National Forest System or administered by the BLM, and sentinel landscapes designated by the Department of Agriculture, Department of Defense, or Interior. Interior shall create a process for the relinquishment of such parcels. A western state may select, and Interior may convey, lands that are mineral in character. The overall value of the state land grant parcels and the public land to be conveyed shall be equal. The bill sets forth requirements regarding hazardous materials on land conveyed, water rights, grazing permits, and road rights-of ways and other valid existing rights.
United States · United States Congress · 6 November 2017
Advancing Conservation and Education Act This bill allows the states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, or Wyoming (western states) to relinquish state land grant parcels wholly or primarily within eligible areas and select, in exchange, public land within the state. The bill defines "eligible areas" as lands within the outer boundaries of units or components of the National Park, National Wilderness Preservation, National Wildlife Refuge, or National Landscape Conservation Systems, areas identified by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) of the Department of the Interior as having wilderness characteristics, certain designated lands within the National Forest System or administered by the BLM, and sentinel landscapes designated by the Department of Agriculture, Department of Defense, or Interior. Interior shall create a process for the relinquishment of such parcels. A western state may select, and Interior may convey, lands that are mineral in character. The overall value of the state land grant parcels and the public land to be conveyed shall be equal. The bill sets forth requirements regarding hazardous materials on land conveyed, water rights, grazing permits, and road rights-of ways and other valid existing rights.
United States · United States Congress · 6 November 2017
Healthy Food Access for All Americans Act This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow tax credits and grants for activities that provide access to healthy food in food deserts. A food desert must be more than 1 mile away from a grocery store in a metropolitan area or more than 10 miles away outside of a metropolitan area. It must also meet population requirements and have either a poverty rate of at least 20% or a median family income that does not exceed 80% of the median for the state or metropolitan area. For entities that are certified by the Department of the Treasury as special access food providers using specified criteria, the bill allows tax credits for operating a new grocery store or renovating an existing grocery store in a food desert. The bill also authorizes grants for a portion of: (1) the construction costs of building a permanent food bank in a food desert, and (2) the annual operating costs of temporary access merchants (mobile markets, farmers markets, and food banks). Treasury, in coordination with the Department of Agriculture (USDA), must annually allocate the tax credits and grants to special access food providers. Grants authorized by this bill are not considered gross income for tax purposes. The bill also amends the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 to require USDA to update the Food Access Research Atlas at least annually to account for food retailers that are placed in service during that year.
United States · United States Congress · 3 November 2017
Disaster Displacement Act of 2017 This bill requires a state, as a condition of participation in the Medicaid program, to provide medical assistance to eligible survivors of Hurricane Maria. For a specified coverage period, the federal matching rate shall be 100% with respect to such assistance. Eligibility shall be determined on the basis of specified income standards but without application of any resources test or state-residency requirements. The Department of Housing and Urban Development shall, upon request from a public housing agency, provide additional funding for specified housing assistance that is necessary as a consequence of a major disaster. The Department of Agriculture shall do the same upon request from either a state or a political subdivision of a state.
United States · United States House of Representatives · 2 November 2017
United States · United States Congress · 2 November 2017
Broadband Connections for Rural Opportunities Program Act or the B-CROP Act This bill amends the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to include grants in the Department of Agriculture (USDA) program that provides loans and loan guarantees for broadband telecommunications services in rural areas. In making grants, loans, or loan guarantees under the program, USDA must give the highest priority to applicants that offer to provide broadband service to the greatest proportion of unserved rural households or rural households that do not have the minimum acceptable level of residential broadband service. USDA must then give priority to projects to serve rural communities that: have fewer than 10,000 permanent residents, are experiencing out-migration, have a high percentage of low-income residents, and are isolated from other significant population centers. A grant may not exceed 50% of the development cost of the project. USDA may increase the limit to 75% for projects that serve a remote or low-income area that does not have access to broadband service from any provider. USDA must: (1) provide technical assistance and training to entities that are eligible for the loans, loan guarantees, or grants; and (2) use a specified portion of the appropriations provided for the program for this purpose. The bill sets forth reporting requirements for recipients of the grants, loans, or loan guarantees.
United States · United States Congress · 2 November 2017
Oracle Cabins Conveyance Act of 2017 This bill directs the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to sell and quitclaim to a person who holds a valid permit for the use of certain National Forest System land in Arizona all right, title, and interest in and to the property for which the permittee holds such a permit. A sale of such property shall be for cash consideration equal to the property's market value, as determined by an appraisal in accordance with this bill. USDA shall pay the costs of the conveyance of any properties sold and quitclaimed under this bill.
United States · United States Congress · 2 November 2017
National Forest System Vegetation Management Pilot Program Act of 2017 This bill directs the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to establish a limited, voluntary pilot program under which owners and operators of rights-of-way on National Forest System (NFS) land may conduct vegetation management projects on NFS land adjacent to or near those rights-of-way to better protect utility infrastructure from potential passing wildfires. USDA shall give priority to an owner or operator of a right-of-way that has worked with Forest Service fire scientists and used technologies to improve utility infrastructure protection prescriptions. Vegetation management projects shall involve only limited and selective vegetation management activities that: create the least amount of disturbance necessary to protect utility infrastructure from passing wildfires; may include thinning, fuel reduction, creation, and treatment of shaded fuel breaks; are conducted only on NFS land adjacent to the participant's right-of-way or within 75 feet of it; and are not conducted on a component of the National Wilderness Preservation System, a designated wilderness area, or an inventoried roadless area. Each vegetation management project, including each of those activities selected, shall be subject to approval by the Forest Service.