I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4751 

To reauthorize the Soil and Water Resources Conservation Act of 1977, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 10, 2018 

Mr. FASO (for himself and Ms. FUDGE) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To reauthorize the Soil and Water Resources Conservation 

Act of 1977, 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 ‘‘Healthy Fields and 

5 Farm Economies Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE SOIL AND WATER RE7 SOURCES CONSERVATION ACT OF 1977. 

8 The Soil and Water Resources Conservation Act of 

9 1977 (16 U.S.C. 2001 et seq.) is amended— 


dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 4751 IH

1 (1) in section 5(e), by striking ‘‘and December 

2 31, 2015’’ and inserting ‘‘December 31, 2015, and 

3 December 31, 2022’’; 

4 (2) in section 6(d), by striking ‘‘, respectively’’ 

5 and inserting ‘‘, and a program update shall be com6 pleted by December 31, 2023’’; 

7 (3) in section 7— 

8 (A) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘and 

9 2016’’ and inserting ‘‘, 2016, and 2022’’; and 

10 (B) in subsection (b), in the matter pre11 ceding paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and 2017’’ 

12 and inserting ‘‘, 2017, and 2023’’; 

13 (4) in section 10, by striking ‘‘2018’’ and in14 serting ‘‘2023’’; 

15 (5) by redesignating sections 8 through 10 as 

16 sections 9 though 11, respectively; and 

17 (6) by inserting after section 7 the following: 

18 ‘‘SEC. 8. CONSERVATION PROGRAMS ASSESSMENT. 

19 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In coordination with the ap20 praisal of soil, water, and related resources and with the 

21 national soil and water conservation program established 

22 under this Act, the Secretary may carry out a conservation 

23 effects assessment project to quantify the environmental 

24 and economic effects of conservation practices, develop the 

25 science base for managing the agricultural landscape for 


dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 4751 IH

1 environmental quality and sustainable productive capacity, 

2 and improve the efficacy of conservation practices and pro3 grams by evaluating conservation effects. 

4 ‘‘(b) SCOPE.—The project under this subsection may 

5 be carried out at national, regional, and watershed scales, 

6 and may include cropland, grazing lands, wetlands, for7 ests, and such other lands as the Secretary may determine 

8 appropriate. 

9 ‘‘(c) ACTIVITIES.—The project under this subsection 

10 may include research, literature reviews and bibliog11 raphies, modeling, assessment, monitoring and data collec12 tion, outreach, extension education, and such other activi13 ties as the Secretary may determine appropriate. 

14 ‘‘SEC. 9. GOALS AND ASSESSMENT PROCESS FOR CON15 SERVATION PROGRAMS. 

16 ‘‘(a) NATURAL RESOURCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL

17 OBJECTIVES AND OUTCOMES.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In coordination with the 

19 appraisal of soil, water, and related resources, the 

20 soil and water conservation program, and the con21 servation effects assessment project established by 

22 this Act, the Secretary shall identify, and periodi23 cally revise, specific natural resource and environ24 mental objectives and anticipated conservation out25 comes and results, by resource concern, for the conVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:17 Jan 11, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4751.IH H4751

dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 4751 IH

1 servation programs established under subtitles D 

2 and H of title XII of the Food Security Act of 1985 

3 and the landscape conservation initiatives developed 

4 by the Secretary. 

5 ‘‘(2) ASSESSMENTS.—To help measure out6 comes and results, the Secretary shall, to the max7 imum extent practicable, make assessments of 

8 changes in the status and conditions of natural re9 sources and the environment that result from the 

10 application of conservation activities supported di11 rectly by such conservation programs and initiatives. 

12 ‘‘(3) MONITORING AND PROGRAM EVALUA13 TION.—The Secretary shall establish a coordinated 

14 monitoring and evaluation process for programs and 

15 initiatives to assess progress toward the identified 

16 objectives, to gather information to improve program 

17 and initiative implementation in accordance with de18 sired program and initiative outcomes and results, 

19 and to assess the need for modifications to program 

20 or initiative rules or statutes. 

21 ‘‘(b) MONITORING AND PROGRAM EVALUATION.— 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall use not 

23 more than one percent of the total annual funding 

24 from the funds of the Commodity Credit Corpora25 tion made available for new annual enrollments for 


dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 4751 IH

1 the conservation programs established under sub2 titles D and H of title XII of the Food Security Act 

3 of 1985 to establish a comprehensive monitoring and 

4 program evaluation process to assess progress in 

5 reaching natural resource and environmental objec6 tives identified in accordance with subsection (a) and 

7 the contribution of individual programs and initia8 tives, as well as the programs and initiatives collec9 tively, to that progress. 

10 ‘‘(2) IMPLEMENTATION.—In implementing the 

11 monitoring and program evaluation process under 

12 paragraph (1), the Secretary may consider and in13 corporate resource concern inventories, quality cri14 teria, conservation practices and enhancements, and 

15 such other information as the Secretary determines 

16 relevant for applying the monitoring and program 

17 evaluation process across each of the major land 

18 uses identified by the Secretary. 

19 ‘‘(3) MONITORING AND EVALUATION PROC20 ESS.— 

21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than two 

22 years after the date of enactment of this sec23 tion, the Secretary shall issue a design for the 

24 comprehensive monitoring and evaluation proc25 ess, a schedule for implementing the process, 


dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 4751 IH

1 and a plan for coordinating the process with the 

2 national soil and water conservation program 

3 and conservation effects assessment project es4 tablished under this Act. 

5 ‘‘(B) METHODOLOGY.—The design for the 

6 monitoring and evaluation process shall— 

7 ‘‘(i) include detailed information con8 cerning the requisite frequency of the mon9 itoring process at the field, water body, 

10 habitat, or other level and the manner in 

11 which the data will be aggregated at the 

12 landscape or watershed level, county or 

13 local level, State level, national level, and 

14 any other level the Secretary determines 

15 necessary; and 

16 ‘‘(ii) take into account the cumulative 

17 nature of conservation over time, the inter18 actions and sequencing effects between 

19 conservation activities, the differing times 

20 for conservation effects to be realized, and 

21 other related measurement challenges. 

22 ‘‘(C) PUBLIC RESEARCH.—Notwith23 standing any other provision of law, in order to 

24 facilitate implementation of the monitoring and 

25 evaluation process, the Secretary shall make 


dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 4751 IH

1 available conservation activity and program 

2 data to cooperators and researchers engaged in 

3 public research and evaluation activities to im4 prove conservation outcomes under this sub5 section, provided that— 

6 ‘‘(i) adequate assurances are provided 

7 to the Secretary that any resulting re8 search or information will be made publicly 

9 available and in a form that protects per10 sonally identifiable information; and 

11 ‘‘(ii) the National Technical Com12 mittee finds that any such research is like13 ly to generate information that furthers 

14 the purpose of this section. 

15 ‘‘(4) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS.—The Sec16 retary may implement the monitoring evaluation 

17 process in part through cooperative or contribution 

18 agreements with Federal, State, and local agencies, 

19 universities and colleges, nongovernmental organiza20 tions with requisite expertise, as determined by the 

21 Secretary in consultation with the National Tech22 nical Committee. 

23 ‘‘(5) NATIONAL TECHNICAL COMMITTEE.— 

24 ‘‘(A) COMPOSITION.—The monitoring and 

25 evaluation process shall be administered by the 


dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 4751 IH

1 Natural Resources Conservation Service with 

2 assistance from a national technical committee 

3 appointed by the Secretary and composed of in4 dividuals with relevant technical and scientific 

5 expertise representing— 

6 ‘‘(i) the Agricultural Research Service 

7 of the Department of Agriculture; 

8 ‘‘(ii) the Economic Research Service 

9 of the Department of Agriculture; 

10 ‘‘(iii) the Farm Service Agency of the 

11 Department of Agriculture; 

12 ‘‘(iv) the United States Fish and 

13 Wildlife Service; 

14 ‘‘(v) the Forest Service; 

15 ‘‘(vi) the National Institute for Food 

16 and Agriculture; 

17 ‘‘(vii) the United States Geological 

18 Survey; 

19 ‘‘(viii) the Environmental Protection 

20 Agency; 

21 ‘‘(ix) State and tribal agencies; 

22 ‘‘(x) land grant university natural re23 source research programs; 

24 ‘‘(xi) nongovernmental organizations 

25 with expertise in the full array of conservaVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:17 Jan 11, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4751.IH H4751

dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
9 

•HR 4751 IH

1 tion issues and measurement and evalua2 tion of conservation outcomes; and 

3 ‘‘(xii) such other agencies, institu4 tions, or organizations as the Secretary 

5 may determine appropriate. 

6 ‘‘(B) FACA EXEMPTION.—The national 

7 technical committee shall be exempt from the 

8 Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. 

9 App.). 

10 ‘‘(C) TRANSPARENCY.—The Secretary 

11 shall ensure the proceedings and recommenda12 tions of the national technical committee are 

13 available to the public. 

14 ‘‘(6) VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION.—In carrying 

15 out this subsection, the Secretary shall ensure that 

16 any on-farm monitoring activities that may be in17 cluded as part of the monitoring and program eval18 uation process are voluntary on the part of the pro19 ducer, and may include appropriate compensation, 

20 as determined by the Secretary. 

21 ‘‘(c) REPORTING.— 

22 ‘‘(1) REPORT ON OBJECTIVES AND METHODS.— 

23 Beginning in the fiscal year that is 3 years after the 

24 date of enactment of this subsection, and periodi25 cally thereafter, as determined by the Secretary, the 


dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
10 

•HR 4751 IH

1 Secretary shall submit to Congress, and make pub2 licly available, a report that includes— 

3 ‘‘(A) a description of conservation outcome 

4 objectives that are, to the maximum extent 

5 practicable, quantitative, measurable, and time6 bound for each program established under sub7 title D or H of the Food Security Act of 1985 

8 and the landscape conservation initiatives devel9 oped by the Secretary; 

10 ‘‘(B) a description of the approaches, tools, 

11 and methods used to measure or model the con12 servation outcomes and results and to estimate 

13 the cost-effectiveness of each such program; and 

14 ‘‘(C) guidance to the conservation project 

15 partners working to implement conservation 

16 programs within a landscape-level project that 

17 provides a description of the approaches, tools, 

18 and methods the partners might consider using 

19 to measure and model the conservation out20 comes and results of their projects. 

21 ‘‘(2) REPORT ON OUTCOMES.—In conjunction 

22 with each of the reports to Congress pursuant to 

23 section 7, the Secretary shall submit to Congress, 

24 and make publicly available, a report that includes— 


dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
11 

•HR 4751 IH

1 ‘‘(A) an assessment of progress made to2 wards achieving conservation program objec3 tives and anticipated outcomes and results for 

4 each conservation program established under 

5 subtitle D or H of title XII of the Food Secu6 rity Act of 1985, as well as for such programs 

7 collectively, and the landscape conservation ini8 tiatives developed by the Secretary; 

9 ‘‘(B) an evaluation of the cost-effectiveness 

10 of each such conservation program and initia11 tive; and 

12 ‘‘(C) recommendations, in light of the as13 sessment and evaluation, to improve program 

14 implementation and improve the scientific and 

15 economic tools (including any new or revised 

16 conservation practices, conservation enhance17 ments, or conservation planning tools) used to 

18 achieve stated natural resource conservation 

19 and environmental objectives. 

20 ‘‘(3) COORDINATION.—The Secretary may co21 ordinate the reports required under paragraphs (1) 

22 and (2) with any reports developed as part of the 

23 conservation effects assessment project authorized 


dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
12 

•HR 4751 IH

1 by section 8, whenever such coordination is feasible 

2 and warranted, as determined by the Secretary.’’. 

Æ 


dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS