S. 909: Conservation Program Improvement Act of 2017

115th Congress · introduced 2017-04-07 · Agriculture and Food · Latest: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.

federal

Follow this bill, step by step

Where it came from: introduced 2017-04-07 · official record
Who proposed it: Sen. Thune, John [R-SD] · what a sponsor is
What happened next: no floor votes in our records yet. Why?
Where it stands now: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. Not final yet: this can still change. We check for updates every day.
If it becomes law and spends money: follow the money to money laws, then agencies and contracts and grants.

What does this mean?

Official title

Conservation Program Improvement Act of 2017

Plain summary

Conservation Program Improvement Act of 2017 This bill amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to modify the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and conservation easement programs administered by the Department of Agriculture (USDA). (CRP provides payments to farmers who agree to remove environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production and plant species that will improve environmental health and quality.) The bill modifies CRP to: reauthorize the program through FY2023, increase the annual acreage cap to 30 million acres, revise the formula for determining state target acreage enrollment, add restrictions for land that is planted to trees, modify policies regarding grazing and the mechanical harvesting of vegetative cover, and remove payment limitations for rural water districts or associations that use land enrolled in CRP to protect a wellhead. The bill also modifies the Transition Incentives Program (TIP), which currently provides retired or retiring land owners or operators with additional payments for land enrolled in expiring CRP contracts in exchange for agreeing to sell or rent the land to a beginning farmer or rancher or a socially disadvantaged group. The bill revises TIP to: (1) make landowners who are at least 65 years of age and not retiring eligible for the program, (2) permit the land to be transferred to a veteran farmer or rancher, and (3) modify policies regarding the early termination and transfer of CRP contracts. In administering conservation easement programs, USDA must allow enrolled land to be: (1) modified for specified purposes; or (2) exchanged for land that has equal or greater conservation, wildlife, ecological, and economic values.

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

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What does this mean? (plain words)

Official text

Conservation Program Improvement Act of 2017

Source: Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)

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How did my representative vote? · This bill's floor votes

Officials and money

Sponsor: Sen. Thune, John [R-SD] · 1 cosponsors

Cost estimate: No cost estimate published yet.

Cosponsors on this site

Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)

Sponsor's campaign money: Sen. Thune, John [R-SD] reported raising $4.7 million (2025–2026). Details. Shown for context only; it does not mean any donor supported this bill.

No linked floor roll calls in our collected records yet. This does not mean the bill has never had a vote. Check the official bill history.

Words on this page, explained (2)

Bill: A proposed law. It becomes law only if it passes the legislature and is signed by the president or governor (or a veto is overridden).
Securities: Financial investments that can be bought and sold, such as stocks and bonds.

Plain meanings written from linked sources. All words.

Sources

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)
Congress.gov
Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-115s909.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/115/s>

Record fed-us-cong115-s909 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong115 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong115