Title: SUSTAINS Act
Policy area: Agriculture and Food

Summary:
Sponsoring USDA Sustainability Targets in Agriculture to Incentivize Natural Solutions Act of 2021 or the SUSTAINS Act
This bill authorizes the Natural Resources Conservation Service to accept contributions of nonfederal funds to support a broader range of conservation programs.
Current law authorizes the service to accept nonfederal contributions of funds to support certain programs, such as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and the Conservation Stewardship Program. This bill expands the authority to include other conservation programs, including those that address climate change, carbon sequestration, wildlife habitat improvement, and protection of drinking water sources.
The bill also makes other changes to the administration of contributed funds, such as by allowing the service to match contributions and permitting contributors to designate funds for use in a specific program or geographic area.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2606 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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 following 
        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 Representatives 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 Natural Solutions Act of 2021'', 
or the ``SUSTAINS Act''.

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 follows:
            ``(1) Authority to establish public-private partnership 
        contributions accounts.--The Secretary, acting through the 
        Natural Resources Conservation Service, may establish a sub-
        account for each covered program to accept contributions of 
        non-Federal funds for the purposes of addressing the changing 
        climate, sequestering carbon, improving wildlife habitat, 
        protecting sources of drinking water, and addressing other 
        natural resource priorities identified by the Secretary.'';
            (3) in paragraph (2), by striking ``a conservation 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 contributions received under this 
        subsection, subject to the 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 contribution may--
                            ``(i) identify a natural resource concern 
                        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 activity funded 
                pursuant to this subsection, the Secretary 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 addressing climate 
        change, as the Secretary determines appropriate.
            ``(7) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    ``(A) Covered program.--The term `covered 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 contribution under 
                this subsection of at least a minimum dollar amount 
                established by the Secretary.''.
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