S 795 119th Congress
Farmers Freedom Act of 2025
A bill to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to exclude prior converted cropland from the definition of "navigable waters", and for other purposes.
Official Title as Introduced Congress.gov
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Bill journey
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Introduction Congress.gov
Introduced
Introduced in the Senate.
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Open bill recordOfficial action Congress.gov
Introduced in Senate
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Introduced in Senate
A dated text-version record is available.
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| Date and time | Record | Official detail | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| IntroductionIntroduced | Introduced in the Senate. | Congress.gov | |
| Official actionRead twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works. | No additional detail supplied.IntroReferral · Senate | Congress.gov | |
| Official actionIntroduced in Senate | No additional detail supplied.IntroReferral · Library of Congress · Code 10000 | Congress.gov | |
| Text versionIntroduced in Senate | A dated text-version record is available. | Congress.gov |
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Congressional Research Service
CRS summary
Farmers Freedom Act of 2025This bill excludes certain prior converted cropland from permit requirements under the Clean Water Act, including Section 404 permits for discharges of dredged materials into waters of the United States (WOTUS). The exclusion applies to areas that were converted to cropland prior to December 23, 1985. However, the bill does not exclude an area that has reverted to wetlands and has not been used for agricultural purposes in five years.In recent years, there has not been regulatory consistency about which cropland, such as cropland that has reverted to wetlands, is protected under the scope of the act as WOTUS. In 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued the Navigable Waters Protection Rule that, among other provisions, defined prior converted cropland in order to specify which cropland is excluded from the scope of the act. However, the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona vacated the rule in Pascua Yaqui Tribe v. EPA. In 2023, the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers issued another rule that excluded prior converted cropland from the scope of the act, but they defined the exclusion more narrowly than the exclusion in the 2020 rule. Similar to the 2020 rule, this bill broadens the exclusion. The bill determines the scope of the exclusion by defining the term prior converted cropland in statute.
Official documents
Text versions
- Introduced in SenateFeb 27, 2025