Sponsors (2)
The bill finances and formalizes wetland and floodplain restoration to reduce flooding and improve water quality, while trading off greater federal spending and new restrictions or maintenance burdens on participating landowners.
Farmers and rural landowners can receive federal financial and technical assistance to restore vegetative cover and wetland hydrology, reducing local flood risk and improving soil stability on working lands.
Local governments and communities gain stronger floodplain management through long‑term maintenance and management agreements, increasing the durability of flood mitigation measures and reducing community exposure to flood damage.
Rural communities, downstream water users, and wildlife benefit from wetland restoration investments that improve water quality and provide ecosystem services (e.g., filtration, habitat, and floodwater storage).
Taxpayers could face higher federal spending if the restoration and long‑term management assistance is funded without offsets, increasing fiscal costs borne broadly by Americans.
Farmers and landowners may have reduced negotiation leverage because the Secretary has sole discretion over compatible‑use and management agreements, potentially imposing use restrictions they cannot easily contest.
Landowners could face new maintenance obligations or limits on productive uses under easement restoration and management requirements, which may reduce on‑farm income or usable acreage.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Expands Emergency Watershed Program authority to fund and support restoration of vegetative cover and wetland functions on floodplain easements and to authorize management and compatible-use agreements.
Introduced July 9, 2025 by Joni Ernst · Last progress July 9, 2025
Amends the Emergency Watershed Program to expand and reorganize federal authority over floodplain easements by adding explicit restoration and management powers: it authorizes financial and technical assistance to restore adapted vegetative cover and wetland hydrologic functions on floodplain easements and gives the Secretary discretion to enter compatible-use and maintenance agreements with landowners and other organizations. It also revises the law on modification and termination of floodplain easements and includes a provisions establishing a short title. The bill does not specify new funding levels; it changes what the Secretary may do under existing authorities and how easements can be managed and modified going forward, which affects landowners with floodplain easements, federal implementing agencies, nonprofit partners, and local and state governments involved in watershed and floodplain management.