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To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to clarify land eligible for enrollment in the conservation reserve program.
Summary
- Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to clarify eligibility requirements for land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program.
- Adds land subject to Tribal, State, or local environmental protection laws or ordinances as eligible for Conservation Reserve Program enrollment.
- Excludes from eligibility land where environmental or resource-conservation requirements were imposed through an administrative order or court order.
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. Welch, Peter [D-VT] (D-VT)
1 cosponsor
- Sen. Sanders, Bernard [I-VT] (I-VT)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Peter Welch’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NULL $8,600
- THE OLD MOUNTAIN COMPANY, INC. $3,300
- WEST FRONT STRATEGIES $2,500
- UCAR $2,300
- MINILEC SERVICE $2,000
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Peter Welch → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Jun 24, 2026 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. · senate
- Jun 24, 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.
Text versions (1)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 24, 2026
Mr. Welch (for himself and Mr. Sanders) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
A BILL
To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to clarify land eligible for enrollment in the conservation reserve program.
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 “Building Up Farmland Frontiers for Ecological Resilience Act” or the “BUFFER Act”.
SEC. 2. ELIGIBLE LAND UNDER THE CONSERVATION RESERVE PROGRAM.
Section 1231(b) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3831(b)) is amended—
(1) in paragraph (6)(B)(ii), by striking “or” at the end;
(2) in paragraph (7)—
(A) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking “as determined by the Secretary,”; and
(B) in subparagraph (C), by striking the period at the end and inserting “; or”; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
“(8) land that is otherwise eligible for enrollment and for which a Tribal, State, or other local law, ordinance, or other regulation requires any resource-conserving or environmental protection measure or practice, unless the requirement to implement such a measure or practice has been imposed by an administrative order or a court order, in which case that land shall not be eligible for enrollment.”. <all>
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