COVER Act
Latest action · Jun 5, 2018 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedJun 5, 2018
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Conservation for Very Erodible Row Cropland Act of 2018 or the COVER Act
This bill amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to modify Department of Agriculture (USDA) conservation programs to authorize additional assistance for farm practices related to soil health and carbon storage.
The bill modifies the Environmental Quality Incentives Program to require USDA to provide payments under the program for practices that:
- improve soil health,
- enhance the ability of a farmer to absorb and recover from shocks and stresses to production,
- increase the storage of carbon on agricultural land, and
- achieve other conservation outcomes determined by USDA.
The bill modifies the Conservation Innovation Grants program to establish a pilot program to provide payments to encourage: (1) the measurement of outcomes relating to the planting of a regionally appropriate cover crop, and (2) opportunities to increase farm income. In carrying out the program, USDA must prioritize certain projects with third-party partners such as academic entities, carbon offset protocol developers, livestock producers, and food manufacturers.
Cosponsors
Members who signed on, in the order they did.
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Jun 5, 2018Introduced in Senate
- Jun 5, 2018Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Agriculture and Food.
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Jun 5, 2018Introduced in Senate
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.