Title: A bill to amend the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 to establish a program to provide advance payments under the Emergency Conservation Program for the repair or replacement of fencing.
Policy area: Agriculture and Food

Summary:
This bill amends the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 to require the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to give agricultural producers the option of receiving advance payments under the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) for the repair or replacement of fencing.
(The ECP provides emergency funding and technical assistance to farmers and ranchers to rehabilitate farmland damaged by natural disasters and to implement emergency water conservation measures in periods of severe drought.)
The advance payments must be provided before the producer carries out the repair or replacement and be based on the fair market value of the cost of the repair or replacement approved by USDA under the program.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2054 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2054

To amend the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 to establish a program to 
 provide advance payments under the Emergency Conservation Program for 
                 the repair or replacement of fencing.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            November 1, 2017

   Mr. Moran introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 to establish a program to 
 provide advance payments under the Emergency Conservation Program for 
                 the repair or replacement of fencing.

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

SECTION 1. REPAIR OR REPLACEMENT OF FENCING UNDER EMERGENCY 
              CONSERVATION PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--Section 401 of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 
(16 U.S.C. 2201) is amended--
            (1) by striking the section designation and all that 
        follows through ``The Secretary of Agriculture'' and inserting 
        the following:

``SEC. 401. PAYMENTS TO PRODUCERS.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary of Agriculture (referred to in 
this title as the `Secretary')''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) Repair or Replacement of Fencing.--With respect to a payment 
to an agricultural producer under subsection (a) for the repair or 
replacement of fencing, the Secretary shall give the agricultural 
producer the option of receiving the payment, determined based on the 
applicable percentage of the fair market value of the cost of the 
repair or replacement, as determined by the Secretary, before the 
agricultural producer carries out the repair or replacement.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--
            (1) Sections 402, 403, 404, and 405 of the Agricultural 
        Credit Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2202, 2203, 2204, 2205) are 
        amended by striking ``Secretary of Agriculture'' each place it 
        appears and inserting ``Secretary''.
            (2) Section 407(a) of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 
        (16 U.S.C. 2206(a)) is amended by striking paragraph (4).
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