I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2606 
To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 with respect to the acceptance 
and use of contributions for public-private partnerships, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 15, 2021 
Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania (for himself, Mr. FEENSTRA, Mr. JOHNSON 
of South Dakota, Mr. BAIRD, and Mr. CRAWFORD) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 
A BILL 
To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 with respect to 
the acceptance and use of contributions for public-private 
partnerships, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Sponsoring USDA 
Sustainability Targets in Agriculture to Incentivize Nat-
ural Solutions Act of 2021’’, or the ‘‘SUSTAINS Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. ACCEPTANCE AND USE OF CONTRIBUTIONS FOR 
PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS. 
Section 1241(f) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 
U.S.C. 3841(f)) is amended— 
(1) in the subsection heading, by inserting 
‘‘FOR
PUBLIC-PRIVATE
PARTNERSHIPS’’ 
after 
‘‘CONTRIBUTIONS’’; 
(2) by amending paragraph (1) to read as fol-
lows: 
‘‘(1) AUTHORITY
TO
ESTABLISH
PUBLIC-PRI-
VATE
PARTNERSHIP
CONTRIBUTIONS
ACCOUNTS.— 
The Secretary, acting through the Natural Re-
sources Conservation Service, may establish a sub- 
account for each covered program to accept con-
tributions of non-Federal funds for the purposes of 
addressing the changing climate, sequestering car-
bon, improving wildlife habitat, protecting sources of 
drinking water, and addressing other natural re-
source priorities identified by the Secretary.’’; 
(3) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘a conserva-
tion program administered by the Secretary under 
subtitle D’’ and inserting ‘‘a covered program’’; and 
(4) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(3) MATCH
OF
CONTRIBUTED
FUNDS.—The 
Secretary may provide matching funds for contribu-
tions received under this subsection, subject to the 
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availability of funding under subsection (a) for the 
applicable covered program. 
‘‘(4) ROLE OF CONTRIBUTING ENTITY.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An entity contributing 
funds under this subsection may— 
‘‘(i) designate the covered program for 
which the contributed funds are intended 
to be used; and 
‘‘(ii) specify the geographic area in 
which the contributed funds are intended 
to be used. 
‘‘(B) SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS.—The 
Secretary shall establish a procedure under 
which an entity making a significant contribu-
tion may— 
‘‘(i) identify a natural resource con-
cern the contributed funds are to be used 
to address; and 
‘‘(ii) have the name or brand of the 
individual or entity associated with the use 
of the contributed funds. 
‘‘(5) PRODUCER PARTICIPATION.— 
‘‘(A) PRIORITY.—In selecting producers to 
carry out, through a covered program, an activ-
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ity funded pursuant to this subsection, the Sec-
retary shall give priority to— 
‘‘(i) socially disadvantaged farmers or 
ranchers, as defined in section 355(e) of 
the Agricultural Act of 1961 (7 U.S.C. 
2003); 
‘‘(ii) limited resource farmers or 
ranchers, as determined by the Secretary; 
and 
‘‘(iii) beginning farmers or ranchers. 
‘‘(B) SALE OF ECOSYSTEM BENEFITS.—If 
an activity funded pursuant to this section may 
result in environmental services benefits to be 
sold through an environmental services market, 
the producer carrying out the activity and the 
entity that contributed the applicable funds 
shall negotiate a mutually beneficial sale of 
such benefits. 
‘‘(6) RULES
FOR
EASEMENTS.—An easement 
funded pursuant to this subsection shall be subject 
to the requirements of the covered program for 
which the contributed funds were used, except that 
the Secretary may modify such requirements, as 
they apply to the easement, for the purpose of ad-
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dressing climate change, as the Secretary determines 
appropriate. 
‘‘(7) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 
‘‘(A) COVERED PROGRAM.—The term ‘cov-
ered program’ means a program carried out by 
the Secretary under— 
‘‘(i) subtitle D, subtitle H, or subtitle 
I; 
‘‘(ii) section 403 of the Agricultural 
Credit Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2203); 
‘‘(iii) title V of the Healthy Forests 
Restoration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6571 
et seq.); or 
‘‘(iv) the Watershed Protection and 
Flood Prevention Act (16 U.S.C. 1001 et 
seq.), except for any program established 
by the Secretary to carry out section 14 of 
such Act (16 U.S.C. 1012). 
‘‘(B) SIGNIFICANT
CONTRIBUTION.—The 
term ‘significant contribution’ means a con-
tribution under this subsection of at least a 
minimum dollar amount established by the Sec-
retary.’’. 
Æ 
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