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Rural Housing Regulatory Relief Act
To exempt from the requirements of NEPA the provision of certain assistance for the construction or modification of residential housing on infill sites, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill exempts certain rural housing assistance from environmental review requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act. Specifically, assistance for constructing or modifying residential housing on infill sites—sites with existing infrastructure like water, sewer, and roads—no longer requires environmental review. The exemption does not apply to sites in high-risk flood or wildfire areas or to undeveloped greenfields. Within five years, the Secretary of Agriculture must report to Congress on whether the exemption reduced application review times and administrative costs and how it affects affordable housing in rural America.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Sen. Ricketts, Pete [R-NE] (R-NE)
Actions (2)
- Mar 3, 2026 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works. · senate
- Mar 3, 2026 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 3, 2026
Mr. Ricketts introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works
A BILL
To exempt from the requirements of NEPA the provision of certain assistance for the construction or modification of residential housing on infill sites, 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 “Rural Housing Regulatory Relief Act”.
SEC. 2. APPLICABILITY OF NEPA TO THE PROVISION OF CERTAIN ASSISTANCE FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OR MODIFICATION OF RESIDENTIAL HOUSING ON INFILL SITES.
(a) Exemption.—Providing assistance under section 501, 502, 504, 515, 533, or 538 of the Housing Act of 1949 (42 U.S.C. 1471, 1472, 1474, 1485, 1490m, or 1490p-2) for the construction or modification of residential housing located on an infill site may not be considered a major Federal action under section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)).
(b) Report.—Not later than the date that is 5 years after the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary of Agriculture shall submit to Congress a report that—
(1) determines whether the implementation of this section—
(A) reduced the amount of time it takes to review an application for assistance described in subsection
(a); and
(B) reduced the administrative cost of providing such assistance;
(2) describes how the implementation of this section affects the affordable housing sector in rural America; and
(3) includes any recommendations from the Secretary of Agriculture for future congressional action regarding revisions to categorical exclusions or exemptions from the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) related to the provision of assistance described in subsection (a).
(c) Savings Clause.—This section does not affect any requirement under any law other than the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.).
(d) Definitions.—In this section:
(1) Greenfield.—The term “greenfield” means a site that has not been developed, including a woodland, farmland, and an open field.
(2) Infill site.—The term “infill site”—
(A) means a site that is served by existing infrastructure, including water lines, sewer lines, and roads; and
(B) does not include—
(i) a site that is served by existing infrastructure that only consists of a road;
(ii) a site within a census tract designated as very high or relatively high risk for wildfire, coastal flooding, and riverine flooding under the National Risk Index of the Federal Emergency Management Agency pursuant to section 206 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5136); and
(iii) a greenfield. <all>
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