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The Agricultural Act of 2014 (the 2014 Act) made mandatory changes to several conservation programs, including: 1) requiring review of the operating procedures for the State Technical Committee (7 CFR part 610, subpart C); 2) authorizing the Secretary to use the authorities of the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act (watershed operations), except for Watershed Rehabilitation Program, in the implementation of the new Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) (7 CFR part 622); 3) expanding the definition of "acreage owned by Indian tribes" under the Healthy Forests Reserve Program (HFRP) (7 CFR part 625); and 4) replacing minimum aggregate State allocation amounts of $15 million with a 0.6 percent of aggregate program funding allocation amount under Regional Equity (7 CFR part 662) Additionally, NRCS was delegated authority for implementation of the Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program (VPA-HIP) (7 CFR part 1455). Internal NRCS administrative changes warrant updating the appropriate delegated official in the Technical Service Provider provisions (7 CFR part 652). Finally, NRCS administers the Agricultural Management Assistance (AMA) (7 CFR part 1465) program consistent with the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) administrative requirements. Though the 2014 Act did not make any changes to the AMA program, minor adjustments to the AMA program regulation are needed to maintain its consistency with EQIP.

Overall Description of Deadline: Section 2712 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (2014 Act) and associated Manager's Report identifies that NRCS may implement the Farm Bill conservation provisions under their current regulations to the extent that such regulations are consistent with the 2014 Act provisions. This interim administration authority expires November 4, 2014. NRCS is publishing its Changes to Existing Conservation Program Regulations interim rule prior to this deadline.