COMPOST Act Cultivating Organic Matter through the Promotion Of Sustainable Techniques Act

I 119TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3272 To require the designation of composting as a conservation practice and activity, and to provide grants and loan guarantees for composting facili- ties and programs, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 8, 2025 Ms. BROWNLEY (for herself and Ms. P INGREE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture A BILL To require the designation of composting as a conservation practice and activity, and to provide grants and loan guarantees for composting facilities and programs, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Cultivating Organic 4 Matter through the Promotion Of Sustainable Techniques 5 Act’’ or the ‘‘COMPOST Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:02 May 16, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3272.IH H3272ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3272 IH SEC. 2. COMPOSTING AS CONSERVATION PRACTICE. 1 (a) C ONSERVATION STANDARDS AND REQUIRE-2 MENTS.—Section 1241(j) of the Food Security Act of 3 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3841(j)) is amended— 4 (1) by redesignating paragraph (2) as para-5 graph (3); and 6 (2) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol-7 lowing new paragraph: 8 ‘‘(2) C OMPOSTING AS CONSERVATION PRACTICE 9 AND ACTIVITY .— 10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL .—The Secretary shall by 11 regulation provide that composting is a con-12 servation practice and a conservation activity 13 for the purposes of this title. 14 ‘‘(B) COMPOSTING DEFINED .— 15 ‘‘(i) I N GENERAL .—For the purposes 16 of this paragraph, the term ‘composting’ 17 means— 18 ‘‘(I) an activity (including an ac-19 tivity that does not require the use of 20 a composting facility) to produce com-21 post from organic waste that is— 22 ‘‘(aa) generated on a farm; 23 or 24 ‘‘(bb) brought to a farm 25 from a nearby community and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:02 May 16, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3272.IH H3272ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3272 IH used to produce compost on that 1 farm; and 2 ‘‘(II) the use and active manage-3 ment of compost on a farm, in accord-4 ance with any applicable Federal, 5 State, or local law, to improve water 6 retention and soil health. 7 ‘‘(ii) D ETERMINATION OF NEARBY 8 COMMUNITIES.—The Secretary, in con-9 sultation with the Administrator of the En-10 vironmental Protection Agency, shall issue 11 regulations for determining whether a com-12 munity is nearby for purposes of clause 13 (i)(I), which shall ensure that bringing or-14 ganic waste from the community to the 15 farm to produce compost results in a net 16 reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.’’. 17 (b) C ONSERVATION STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM.—Sec-18 tion 1240I(2)(B)(i) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 19 U.S.C. 3839aa–21(2)(B)(i)) is amended by inserting ‘‘and 20 composting practices’’ after ‘‘agriculture drainage man-21 agement systems’’. 22 (c) E NVIRONMENTAL QUALITY INCENTIVES PRO-23 GRAM.—Section 1240A(6)(A)(ii) of the Food Security Act 24 of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3839aa–1(6)(A)(ii)) is amended by in-25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:02 May 16, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3272.IH H3272ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3272 IH serting ‘‘, including composting practices’’ before the semi-1 colon at the end. 2 (d) DELIVERY OF TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—Section 3 1242(h) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 4 3842(h)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘(5) D EVELOPMENT OF COMPOSTING PRACTICE 6 STANDARD.—In addition to conducting a review 7 under this subsection of any composting facility 8 practice standard established before the date of en-9 actment of this paragraph, the Secretary shall estab-10 lish a composting practice standard under the proc-11 ess developed under paragraph (3).’’. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:02 May 16, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3272.IH H3272ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS