I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2562 

To address the nationwide shortage of tree seedlings, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 15, 2021 

Mr. BENTZ (for himself, Mr. WESTERMAN, Mr. NEWHOUSE, and Mr. GOSAR) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To address the nationwide shortage of tree seedlings, 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 ‘‘Solving Our Shortages 

5 for Seedlings Act’’ or the ‘‘SOS for Seedlings Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SEEDLING STRATEGY. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

8 date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary of Ag9 riculture, acting through the Chief of the Forest Service, 

10 shall develop and implement a national strategy to inVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:56 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2562.IH H2562

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1 crease the capacity of Federal, State, Tribal, and private 

2 nurseries to address the nationwide shortage of tree seed3 lings. 

4 (b) ELEMENTS.—The strategy required under sub5 section (a) shall— 

6 (1) be based on the best available science and 

7 data; and 

8 (2) identify and address— 

9 (A) regional seedling shortages of bareroot 

10 and container tree seedlings; 

11 (B) regional reforestation opportunities 

12 and the seedling supply necessary to fulfill such 

13 opportunities; 

14 (C) opportunities to enhance seedling di15 versity and close gaps in seed inventories; and 

16 (D) barriers to expanding, enhancing, or 

17 creating new infrastructure to increase nursery 

18 capacity. 

19 SEC. 3. FEDERAL NURSERIES. 

20 Section 2 of the Act of June 9, 1930 (16 U.S.C. 

21 576a; commonly known as the ‘‘Knutson-Vandenberg 

22 Act’’), is amended by striking ‘‘each fiscal year after year 

23 ending June 30, 1934, not to exceed $400,000,’’ and in24 serting ‘‘each of fiscal years 2021 through 2030, 

25 $25,000,000,’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. LOAN PROGRAM FOR STATE, TRIBAL, AND PRIVATE 

2 NURSERIES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture shall 

4 carry out a loan program to make or guarantee qualified 

5 nursery loans to eligible entities under this section. 

6 (b) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a quali7 fied nursery loan or loan guarantee under this section, an 

8 eligible entity shall submit to the Secretary of Agriculture 

9 an application at such time, in such manner, and con10 taining such information as the Secretary may require, in11 cluding a plan to maintain the genetic and physical quality 

12 of seedlings of the eligible entity. 

13 (c) PRIORITY.—In making qualified nursery loans or 

14 loan guarantees under this section, the Secretary of Agri15 culture shall give priority to eligible entities that— 

16 (1) are small businesses, in particular small 

17 businesses located in rural areas; 

18 (2) create or support jobs, particularly in rural 

19 areas; and 

20 (3) serve regions with high demand for reforest21 ation. 

22 (d) QUALIFIED NURSERY PROJECT.—A loan or loan 

23 guarantee under this section may only be used to carry 

24 out a qualified nursery project to— 

25 (1) develop, expand, enhance, or improve nurs26 ery capacity or infrastructure; 


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1 (2) establish nurseries; or 

2 (3) develop or implement quality control meas3 ures at nurseries. 

4 (e) LOAN AND LOAN GUARANTEE TERMS.— 

5 (1) AMOUNT GUARANTEED.—The portion of a 

6 loan that the Secretary of Agriculture may guar7 antee under this section may not be greater than 80 

8 percent of the principal amount of such loan. 

9 (2) REPAYMENT.—The period of repayment for 

10 a loan made under this section shall not exceed 20 

11 years. 

12 (f) ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS.— 

13 (1) LIMITATION ON AUTHORITY.—The total 

14 amount of qualified nursery loans made or guaran15 teed under this section by the Secretary may not ex16 ceed $1,000,000,000. 

17 (2) DISTRIBUTION.—The Secretary shall en18 sure, to the maximum extent practicable, that loans 

19 made or guaranteed under this section are distrib20 uted across diverse geographic regions. 

21 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

22 (1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti23 ty’’ means— 

24 (A) a State, Tribal, or local government; or 


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1 (B) a domestic private, non-profit, or coop2 erative organization. 

3 (2) NURSERY.—The term ‘‘ ‘nursery’’ means a 

4 State, Tribal, or local government or private owned 

5 facility that grows, stores, extracts, or monitors 

6 bareroot or container tree seedlings. 

7 (3) QUALIFIED NURSERY LOAN.—The term 

8 ‘‘qualified nursery loan’’ means a low-interest loan, 

9 the proceeds of which are used to cover the costs to 

10 the borrower of carrying out a qualified nursery 

11 project described in subsection (d). 

Æ 


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