Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program Improvement Act of 2023
Latest action. ASSUMING FIRST SPONSORSHIP - Ms. Caraveo asked unanimous consentDoing business by universal agreement instead of votes. Most Senate floor action happens this way, which is why a single objecting senator has real power.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) that she may hereafter be considered as the first sponsor of H.R. 4213, a bill originally introduced by Representative Buck, for the purpose of adding cosponsors and requesting reprintings pursuant to clause 7 of rule XII. Agreed to without objection.
Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program Improvement Act of 2023
This bill revises the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP), which is a component of the Farm Service Agency's (FSA's) Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). CREP is a public-private partnership program which allows states, tribal governments, and nonprofit and private entities to partner with FSA to implement CRP practices. CRP is a land conservation program that provides an annual rental payment to farmers in exchange for removing environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production and planting species that will improve environmental health and quality.
The bill specifies that dryland agricultural uses and grazing are included as appropriate practices under CREP.
The bill also allows a land owner or operator to elect to determine the annual payment amount allocated for each year of a CREP agreement, instead of a fixed payment per year for the contract period.
For drought and water conservation agreements that include the permanent retirement of water rights, annual payment rates must be equal to the irrigated acre payment rates determined by the Department of Agriculture (USDA). In the case of an agreement that permits dryland agricultural uses, the annual payment rates must be equal to the difference between the irrigated acre payment rates and the dryland acre payment rates determined by USDA. The payment formula is retroactive for certain existing drought and water conservation agreements.
Further, the bill exempts CREP payments from the $50,000 annual payment limitation under CRP.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on June 20, 2023. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on June 14, 2024: ASSUMING FIRST SPONSORSHIP - Ms. Caraveo asked unanimous consent that she may hereafter be considered as the first sponsor of H.R. 4213, a bill originally introduced by Representative Buck, for the purpose of adding cosponsors and requesting reprintings pursuant to clause 7 of rule XII. Agreed to without objection.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Ken Buck (R-CO) introduced it on June 20, 2023, and 1 member has since signed on as a cosponsor.
They are 1 Democrat.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on June 20, 2023, 1178 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 818 days ago, on June 14, 2024.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 118th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2025 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIntroduced, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers