PASTURES Act
Latest action · Feb 28, 2025 Referred to the Subcommittee on Forestry and Horticulture.
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.
- IntroducedJan 28, 2025
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Protecting Agricultural Spaces Through Effective Ranching Strategies Act or the PASTURES Act
This bill prohibits the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of the Interior from imposing penalties on livestock owners for grazing on certain public lands.
Under the bill, covered lands are National Forest System lands, lands administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, or public lands (1) on which grazing is allowed by a permit or lease on or after the date of the bill's enactment and is then subsequently prohibited, and (2) that border private property.
Specifically, the departments may not impose a penalty on an owner of livestock (including cattle, bison, horses, sheep, and goats) for grazing on covered lands that do not have a fence to prevent grazing.
The bill specifies that USDA or Interior, depending on the covered land, is responsible for any expense related to the construction or maintenance of a fence for the prevention of grazing by livestock.
Cosponsors
Members who signed on, in the order they did.
Committees 2
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| House | Natural Resources Committee | Referred Jan 28, 2025 |
| House | Agriculture Committee | Referred Jan 28, 2025 |
| Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Subcommittee | Referred Feb 28, 2025 | |
| Forestry and Horticulture Subcommittee | Referred Feb 28, 2025 |
Actions 4
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Feb 28, 2025Referred to the Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry.
- Feb 28, 2025Referred to the Subcommittee on Forestry and Horticulture.
- Jan 28, 2025Introduced in House
- Jan 28, 2025Referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Research
What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.
Constitutional authority
The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the Congressional Record, vol. 171, no. 18, January 28, 2025, page H406.
Titles 3
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- To limit the ability of the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior to penalize an owner of livestock for grazing by such livestock on certain Federal lands on which grazing is permitted on or after the date of enactment of this Act and subsequently prohibited, and for other purposes.
- Short Title(s) as Introduced
- PASTURES Act
- Protecting Agricultural Spaces Through Effective Ranching Strategies Act
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Agriculture and Food.
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Jan 28, 2025Introduced in House
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; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.
