I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8198 

To reauthorize and improve the relending program to resolve ownership and 

succession on farmland, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 1, 2024 

Mr. BISHOP of Georgia (for himself and Mr. DAVIS of North Carolina) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To reauthorize and improve the relending program to resolve 

ownership and succession on farmland, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Heirs Education and 

5 Investment to Resolve Succession of Property Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REAUTHORIZATION OF THE HEIRS PROPERTY 

2 INTERMEDIARY RELENDING PROGRAM. 

3 Section 310I(g) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural 

4 Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1936c(g)) is amended by 

5 striking ‘‘2023’’ and inserting ‘‘2028’’. 

6 SEC. 3. COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS FOR HEIRS PROPERTY 

7 RESOLUTION THROUGH DIRECT PUBLIC IN8 TEREST LEGAL SERVICES. 

9 Section 310I of the Consolidated Farm and Rural 

10 Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1936c) is amended— 

11 (1) by redesignating subsections (f) and (g) as 

12 subsections (g) and (h), respectively; and 

13 (2) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol14 lowing: 

15 ‘‘(f) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS FOR HEIRS PROP16 ERTY RESOLUTION THROUGH DIRECT PUBLIC INTEREST

17 LEGAL SERVICES.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall enter 

19 into cooperative agreements with eligible entities to 

20 provide legal or accounting services to underserved 

21 heirs, at no cost to the underserved heirs, to assist 

22 in resolving issues related to ownership and succes23 sion on farmland or forest land that has multiple 

24 owners. Such a cooperative agreement must be for 

25 any of the following purposes: 


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1 ‘‘(A) To assist with transitioning land to 

2 agricultural production. 

3 ‘‘(B) To maintain land in agricultural pro4 duction. 

5 ‘‘(C) To increase access to programs ad6 ministered by the Secretary through the resolu7 tion of real property claims in order to allow 

8 real property owners to meet land ownership 

9 eligibility requirements for participation in a 

10 program administered by the Secretary. 

11 ‘‘(2) ADMINISTRATION OF COOPERATIVE

12 AGREEMENTS.— 

13 ‘‘(A) DURATION.— 

14 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—A cooperative 

15 agreement under paragraph (1) shall be in 

16 effect for not more than 5 years, subject to 

17 clause (ii). 

18 ‘‘(ii) SPECIAL RULE.—The Secretary 

19 may re-enter into a cooperative agreement 

20 with the same or a different eligible entity 

21 to provide continued services for heirs if 

22 property ownership is not resolved within 

23 the initial term of the original cooperative 

24 agreement, and the entity certifies that the 

25 entity understands that the cooperative 


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1 agreement is not guaranteed to be funded 

2 for more than 5 years after the commence3 ment of the original cooperative agreement. 

4 ‘‘(B) MANAGEMENT OF PERFORMANCE.— 

5 ‘‘(i) ANNUAL REPORTS.—An eligible 

6 entity must provide annual reports to the 

7 Secretary summarizing the progress made 

8 during each fiscal year towards achieving 

9 the goals of the cooperative agreement for 

10 the heirs for whom services are provided 

11 under the cooperative agreement. 

12 ‘‘(ii) INFORMATION AND DATA.—The 

13 Secretary may require an eligible entity to 

14 provide the Secretary with such informa15 tion or data, other than personally identifi16 able information or data, as the Secretary 

17 deems necessary to determine that the eli18 gible entity is making acceptable progress. 

19 ‘‘(iii) EFFECT OF FAILURE TO DEM20 ONSTRATE SUCCESS.—If an eligible entity 

21 providing services under such a cooperative 

22 agreement does not demonstrate success, 

23 as determined by the Secretary, in resolv24 ing or reasonably attempting to resolve the 

25 property claims of an heir, the Secretary 


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1 may terminate the agreement, or elect to 

2 not enter into a new cooperative agreement 

3 with the eligible entity after the initial 

4 term of the original cooperative agreement. 

5 ‘‘(C) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary 

6 may utilize requests for public input or the for7 mal rulemaking process to effectuate this sub8 section. At a minimum, the Secretary shall 

9 make publicly available the criteria for selecting 

10 an eligible entity to enter into an agreement to 

11 provide services, the administrative and per12 formance requirements for cooperative agree13 ments under this subsection, as well as codify 

14 within its internal policy its implementation 

15 process. 

16 ‘‘(D) HEIRS PROPERTY NOT IN FARM17 ING.—On a limited basis, and when determined 

18 by the Secretary to meet the purposes of a pro19 gram administered by the Secretary and to ex20 pand access to such a program, the Secretary 

21 may allow an eligible entity to provide services 

22 at no cost to an heir who is not an underserved 

23 heir if— 

24 ‘‘(i) the land with respect to which the 

25 services are to be provided is not farmland 


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1 or in agricultural production, but could be 

2 viably productive for agricultural, con3 servation, or forestry purposes; 

4 ‘‘(ii) the heir satisfies all other re5 quirements of the definition of ‘under6 served heir’; 

7 ‘‘(iii) the heir can provide proof to 

8 substantiate that the heir is in control of 

9 the real property; and 

10 ‘‘(iv) the heir certifies to the Secretary 

11 that the heir intends to apply for, and 

12 make a good faith effort to enroll the land 

13 in, a program administered by the Sec14 retary once property claims to the land are 

15 resolved through services provided under a 

16 cooperative agreement entered into under 

17 this subsection. 

18 ‘‘(3) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

19 ‘‘(A) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligi20 ble entity’ means a nonprofit organization 

21 that— 

22 ‘‘(i) provides legal or accounting serv23 ices to an underserved heir at no cost to 

24 the underserved heir; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) has demonstrated experience in 

2 resolving issues related to ownership and 

3 succession on farmland or forest land that 

4 has multiple owners. 

5 ‘‘(B) LIMITED RESOURCE HEIR.—An heir 

6 shall be considered a limited resource heir for 

7 purposes of this subsection if— 

8 ‘‘(i) the total household income of the 

9 heir is at or below the national poverty 

10 level for a family of 4, or less than 50 per11 cent of the county median household in12 come for the 2 immediately preceding cal13 endar years, as determined annually using 

14 data of the Department of Commerce; or 

15 ‘‘(ii) the property of the heir for which 

16 legal services are provided pursuant to a 

17 cooperative agreement entered into under 

18 this subsection is in a persistent poverty 

19 community, as determined annually on the 

20 basis of data from the Department of 

21 Commerce, or a socially vulnerable area, as 

22 designated by the Centers on Disease Con23 trol and Prevention. 

24 ‘‘(C) UNDERSERVED HEIR.—The term ‘un25 derserved heir’ means an heir with an undivided 


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1 ownership interest in farmland that has mul2 tiple owners, who is— 

3 ‘‘(i) a limited resource heir; 

4 ‘‘(ii) a member of a socially disadvan5 taged group (as defined in section 2501(a) 

6 of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, 

7 and Trade Act of 1990); or 

8 ‘‘(iii) a veteran (as defined in section 

9 101(2) of title 38, United States Code). 

10 ‘‘(4) ANNUAL REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Within 

11 1 year after the date of the enactment of this sub12 section, and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall 

13 prepare, make public, and submit to the Committee 

14 on Agriculture of the House of Representatives and 

15 the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and For16 estry of the Senate a written report on the activities 

17 carried out under this subsection in the year covered 

18 by the report. 

19 ‘‘(5) LIMITATIONS ON AUTHORIZATION OF AP20 PROPRIATIONS.— 

21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—To carry out this sub22 section, there is authorized to be appropriated 

23 to the Secretary $60,000,000 for each of fiscal 

24 years 2024 through 2028. 


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1 ‘‘(B) LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS FOR

2 ADMINISTRATION.—The Secretary may expend 

3 for administrative purposes not more than 3 

4 percent of the amounts made available under 

5 subparagraph (A).’’. 

6 SEC. 4. ANNUAL REPORT ON OPERATIONS AND OUTCOMES 

7 UNDER THE RELENDING PROGRAM TO RE8 SOLVE OWNERSHIP AND SUCCESSION ON 

9 FARMLAND. 

10 Section 310I(g) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural 

11 Development Act, as so redesignated by section 3 of this 

12 Act, is amended by striking ‘‘Not later than 1 year after 

13 the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall’’ 

14 and inserting ‘‘The Secretary shall annually’’. 

15 SEC. 5. REPORTS ON LAND ACCESS AND FARMLAND OWN16 ERSHIP DATA COLLECTION. 

17 Section 12607(c) of the Agriculture Improvement Act 

18 of 2018 (7 U.S.C. 2204i(c)) is amended by striking ‘‘2019 

19 through 2023’’ and inserting ‘‘2024 through 2028’’. 

Æ 


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