0578-AA60 201410 The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions 0578 Natural Resources Conservation Service NRCS 0500 Department of Agriculture USDA Changes to Existing Conservation Program Regulations

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.

]]> Substantive, Nonsignificant First Time Published in The Unified Agenda Final Rule Stage No No 7 CFR 610 7 CFR 625 7 CFR 652 7 CFR 1455 7 CFR 1465 7 CFR 1466 7 CFR 1470 PL 113-79 Statutory Other 11/04/2014 270 days from enactment of Public Law 113-79 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. No Interim Final Rule 08/01/2014 79 FR 44635 Interim Final Rule Effective 08/01/2014 Interim Final Rule Comment Period End 09/30/2014 Final Rule 01/00/2015 No No None No No No No Leslie Deavers Farm Bill Coordinator 0578 Natural Resources Conservation Service NRCS 202 690-4616 leslie.deavers@wdc.usda.gov 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Washington DC 20250