This bill makes changes to how the U.S. Department of Agriculture can accept money from private sources to support conservation programs. Right now, the law allows the USDA to set up special accounts to collect private donations for conservation work through public-private partnerships—arrangements where government and private organizations work together. This bill simplifies that system by removing most of the detailed rules about these partnerships. Instead, it gives the USDA a more straightforward ability to create sub-accounts under each conservation program to accept non-federal funds (money from private sources, nonprofits, or other non-government entities). Essentially, the bill strips away complicated partnership requirements and lets the USDA accept private contributions more directly to support its conservation work. This affects farmers, conservation organizations, and anyone interested in funding land and environmental protection efforts through the USDA's programs.

To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to repeal certain provisions relating to the acceptance and use of contributions for public-private partnerships, and for other purposes.

Hageman, Harriet M.

This bill repeals provisions that allow the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to accept and use contributions for public-private partnerships.&nbsp;Specifically, the bill repeals the public-private partnerships allowed under an act commonly known as&nbsp;the Sponsoring USDA&nbsp;Sustainability Targets in Agriculture to Incentivize Natural Solutions Act (the SUSTAINS Act). In addition, the bill allows NRCS&nbsp;to continue to accept nonfederal contributions of funds to certain programs&nbsp;(e.g.,&nbsp;the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and the Conservation Stewardship Program)&nbsp;in order to support the purposes of the programs.As background,&nbsp;Congress enacted provisions of the SUSTAINS Act as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act,&nbsp;2023. Under the SUSTAINS Act&nbsp;provisions,&nbsp;the NRCS may accept contributions of nonfederal funds to support a broad range of conservation programs for the purposes of addressing issues related to climate change, carbon sequestration, wildlife habitat improvement, and protection of drinking water sources. NRCS may match these contributions. In addition, those contributing funds may designate the funds for use in a specific program or geographic area.