BUFFER Act
- Bill Number
- S. 4912
- Origin Chamber
- Senate
- Congress
- 119th Congress, Session 2
- Status
- Introduced
- Latest Action
- 2026-06-24: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
- Last Updated
- 2026-07-07T04:53:28Z
AI-Generated Summary
Purpose This legislation amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to clarify which lands qualify for enrollment in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), a federal initiative that pays landowners to remove certain acreage from agricultural production in exchange for implementing conservation practices.
Key Provisions
- The bill adds a new category of eligible land under CRP rules: land that must follow resource-conserving or environmental protection measures due to Tribal, State, or local laws, ordinances, or regulations.
- Such land remains eligible unless the requirement stems from an administrative order or court order, in which case it is ineligible.
- The changes also remove the phrase “as determined by the Secretary” from one existing eligibility category and adjust punctuation to accommodate the new provision.
Significant Changes to Existing Law The Food Security Act of 1985 previously listed specific types of land eligible for CRP without explicitly addressing situations where local regulations already mandate conservation actions. This bill introduces an explicit rule on regulatory overlap, creating a new paragraph (8) that distinguishes between voluntary or locally required measures and those imposed by court or administrative orders.
Potential Impacts
- Government agencies: The U.S. Department of Agriculture would apply the clarified eligibility criteria when reviewing CRP applications, potentially altering how some lands are evaluated.
- Citizens and landowners: Farmers and ranchers with properties subject to local environmental rules could gain or lose access to CRP payments depending on the source of those rules.
- International relations: No direct effects are indicated.
Main Stakeholders Affected
- Agricultural landowners and operators seeking CRP enrollment.
- Tribal, State, and local governments whose environmental regulations may now interact differently with federal conservation programs.
- The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency, which administers the CRP.
- Organizations focused on farmland conservation and environmental protection.
Notable Legal, Constitutional, or Political Implications The bill addresses the interaction between federal conservation incentives and non-federal regulatory requirements, potentially affecting how courts or agencies interpret overlapping land-use rules. No constitutional issues are raised in the text itself.
This summary was generated by AI and may contain inaccuracies. Refer to the official source document for the authoritative text.
Sponsor
Cosponsors (1)
Recent Actions
- 2026-06-24: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
- 2026-06-24: Introduced in Senate
Bill Versions
- Building Up Farmland Frontiers for Ecological Resilience Act — issued 2026-06-24 — PDF (2 pages)