Sponsors (7)
The bill increases and clarifies financial support for livestock producers harmed by Mexican gray wolves—reducing rancher losses and improving oversight—while imposing higher costs on taxpayers and creating risks of reduced prevention incentives, uneven access to aid, and short-term implementation delays.
Livestock producers (ranchers) receive more complete and timely financial relief: killed animals are eligible for 100% market-value compensation and affected herds can receive annual emergency payments tailored to herd size, depredation rates, increased management costs, and birth-rate declines.
Producers who implement and document depredation-prevention measures can be rewarded because prevention efforts are included in the payment formula, encouraging reporting and continued use of non-lethal deterrence.
The bill improves transparency and congressional oversight by requiring annual reports to the House and Senate Agriculture Committees on amounts distributed and producers served.
Taxpayers will face higher fiscal costs because payments rise to full market value and additional emergency funds are authorized, increasing federal outlays and potential long-term budgetary commitments.
Fully compensating losses risks reducing ranchers' incentives to adopt non‑lethal deterrence or other preventive measures (moral hazard), which could increase future depredations and program costs.
Emergency relief funding could crowd out other farm programs or require budget trade‑offs, shifting resources away from other agricultural priorities or increasing overall budgetary pressure on taxpayers.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Requires 100% market-value indemnity for livestock killed by Mexican gray wolves and creates an annual emergency relief payment program with a USDA-developed formula.
Official title: To amend the Agricultural Act of 2014 to provide emergency relief to producers of livestock with herds adversely affected by Mexican gray wolves, and for other purposes.
Introduced March 18, 2025 by Greg Stanton · Last progress March 18, 2025
Requires the Department of Agriculture to pay livestock producers full (100%) market-value indemnity for animals lost to Mexican gray wolf attacks and establishes an annual emergency-relief payment program for producers with wolf-related herd impacts. The USDA must develop a payment formula within 180 days that accounts for herd size, state-level depredation history, management-cost increases, birth-rate declines, and reported depredation-prevention practices, and must report annually to the House and Senate Agriculture Committees on distributions and recipients.