Sponsors (5)
The bill directs substantial federal investment to expand urban and community tree canopy—bringing major health, environmental, job, and equity benefits to underserved neighborhoods—while creating significant new taxpayer costs and risks of maintenance burden, uneven access, and local displacement if not paired with durable funding and equitable implementation.
Residents of low‑canopy, high‑poverty urban neighborhoods gain more shade and cooling trees, reducing heat‑related illness and improving air quality.
Federal funding for urban and community forestry creates local jobs, workforce training, and contracting opportunities in underserved communities.
Tree planting and agroforestry reduce urban heat islands and improve air quality and environmental conditions in dense neighborhoods.
Taxpayers bear substantial new federal costs (authorized deposits rising from ~$100M to up to $700M), which adds budgetary pressure and could require offsets or divert funds from other priorities.
If long‑term maintenance is not sustainably funded, the burden for tree care and associated costs may fall to cash‑strapped local governments or homeowners.
Using older ACS data and discretionary Secretary determinations for grant prioritization risks omitting currently needy tracts and creates administrative discretion that can reduce fairness and reach.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Creates a federal Neighborhood Tree Fund to finance community tree-planting and urban forestry with priority for low‑income, low‑canopy, and historically disadvantaged neighborhoods and authorizes FY2027–FY2031 funding.
Introduced April 27, 2026 by Cory Anthony Booker · Last progress April 27, 2026
Creates a new federal Neighborhood Tree Fund, administered by the Secretary of Agriculture through the Forest Service, to pay for community tree-planting, urban forestry, and related design/maintenance activities. The program prioritizes high-poverty, low-canopy, high-heat, and historically disadvantaged neighborhoods, sets community engagement and climate-informed design requirements, limits spending on canopy assessments, and provides scheduled funding authorizations for FY2027–FY2031. It also adjusts the membership rules for the National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council to require non‑governmental members from small and low‑income communities.