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[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7195 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 7195
To provide financial assistance to forest product harvesting and
hauling businesses impacted by a significant market disruption, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 22, 2026
Mr. Allen introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Agriculture
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide financial assistance to forest product harvesting and
hauling businesses impacted by a significant market disruption, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Timber Harvesters, Haulers, and
Landowners Market Disruptions Relief Act''.
SEC. 2. FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO FOREST HARVESTING AND HAULING
BUSINESSES.
(a) In General.--If the Secretary declares a market disruption
under subsection (b), from amounts appropriated in subsection (f), the
Secretary shall provide financial assistance payments to eligible
entities in accordance with subsection (c).
(b) Process for Declaration of a Market Disruption.--
(1) In general.--The Governor of a State or the Chief of
the Forest Service may petition the Secretary to declare a
market disruption under paragraph (2).
(2) Declaration of a market disruption.--Not later than 14
days after receiving a petition under paragraph (1), the
Secretary shall--
(A) declare a market disruption; or
(B) if the Secretary determines such market
disruption relating to the petition does not exist,
notify the petitioner with an explanation for such
determination.
(c) Payments to Eligible Entities.--
(1) Solicitation.--Not later than 30 days after declaring a
market disruption, the Secretary shall publish on the website
of the United States Department of Agriculture or in the
Federal Register a notice of funding availability under this
section relating to such market disruption.
(2) Applications.--
(A) Application date.--Not later than 30 days after
the publication of a notice of funding availability
under paragraph (1), an eligible entity may apply for
financial assistance by submitting the application
described in subsection (d)(3) to the Secretary.
(B) Review.--Not later than 30 days after receiving
an application under subparagraph (A), the Secretary
shall approve the application, deny the application, or
request additional information from the applicant.
(3) Payments.--
(A) Initial payment.--Not later than 14 days after
approving an application under paragraph (2), from
amounts appropriated in subsection (f), the Secretary
shall provide a payment, to be determined by the
Secretary, of not more than $20,000 to the applicant.
(B) Second payment.--On September 30 following the
date of the payment made under subparagraph (A), the
Secretary may provide to an applicant that received
funds under subparagraph (A) a payment of the
difference between--
(i) the payment made to the applicant under
subparagraph (A); and
(ii) 30 percent of--
(I) the estimated gross revenue of
the eligible entity for the calendar
year of such market disruption; minus
(II) the gross revenue of the
eligible entity for the preceding
calendar year.
(C) Subsequent payments.--
(i) Request for continuing payment.--In
each of the 5 years following the declaration
of a market disruption, the Governor of a State
or the Chief of the Forest Service that
petitioned for the declaration of such market
disruption under subsection (b)(1) may request
the Secretary to continue providing payments
under this section.
(ii) Determination.--Upon receiving a
request described in clause (i), the Secretary
shall--
(I) determine whether the market
conditions described in the applicable
petition under subsection (b)(1) have
improved; and
(II) if such market conditions have
not improved, pay an eligible entity an
amount equal to 50 percent of the sum
of payments under subparagraphs (A) and
(B) previously made to such eligible
entity.
(4) Proration.--To the extent that amounts appropriated
under subsection (f) to carry out subparagraphs (B) and (C) of
paragraph (3) are insufficient, the Secretary shall prorate
amounts provided under such subparagraphs.
(5) Allowable uses.--An eligible entity that receives a
payment under this section may only use the funds from such
payment for--
(A) an operational expense (which may include
payroll, fuel, equipment repairs, and debt service
related to forest product harvesting or hauling); or
(B) expanding access to another market opportunity
in the forest product sector.
(d) Procedures.--
(1) Appeals.--
(A) Submission.--Not later than 30 days after the
Secretary denies an application for payment under
subsection (c)(2)(B), an applicant may submit an appeal
to the National Appeals Division of the Department of
Agriculture.
(B) Decision.--Not later than 30 days after
receiving an appeal under subparagraph (A), the
National Appeals Division of the Department of
Agriculture shall issue a decision on such appeal.
(2) False claims.--An entity that submits fraudulent
information in any application under this section--
(A) may not receive any funds under this section;
and
(B) shall be subject to fines, as determined to be
appropriate by the Secretary.
(3) Development of application.--Not later than 60 days
after the date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary
shall--
(A) establish an application for purposes of
applying for payments under this section; and
(B) develop such application without regard to--
(i) the notice and comment provisions of
section 553 of title 5, United States Code; and
(ii) chapter 35 of title 44, United States
Code (commonly known as the ``Paperwork
Reduction Act'').
(e) Report.--For each year in which the Secretary makes a payment
under this section, the Secretary shall submit a report to Congress
that summarizes each payment made and each activity carried out under
this section during such year.
(f) Appropriation.--There is appropriated to carry out this section
for each fiscal year an amount equal to the total amount collected in
anti-dumping and countervailing duties on articles the Secretary
determines are softwood lumber articles imported into the United States
from Canada during that fiscal year.
(g) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) The term ``eligible entity'' means a forest product
harvesting business (including a landowner that profits from
timber grown on such land) or a forest product hauling
business, that--
(A) has suffered revenue loss related to a market
disruption;
(B) has, in the calendar year preceding such market
disruption, earned at least $35,000 in Federal taxable
income by selling, harvesting, or hauling an unrefined
forest product;
(C) derives not less than 75 percent of its gross
revenue from--
(i) forest product harvesting; or
(ii) forest product hauling activity; and
(D) in the case of a landowner that profits from
timber grown on such land, has in at least 4 of the 5
previous calendar years sold not less than--
(i) 1,000,000 board feet of sawtimber;
(ii) 2,000 cords of pulpwood; or
(iii) 5,000 green tons of any form of
timber.
(2) The term ``gross revenue'' means the gross revenue
generated by an eligible entity from forest product harvesting
or forest product hauling service, within the normal range of
operation of an eligible entity, as determined by the
Secretary.
(3) The term ``region'' means a--
(A) State; or
(B) one of two portions of a State, as delineated
by the Governor of that State or the Chief of the
Forest Service.
(4) The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of
Agriculture, acting through the Administrator of the Farm
Services Agency.
(5) The term ``market disruption'' means--
(A) the closure or idling, during the 5 years
preceding the date of the petition under subsection
(b), of one or more processing facility for a
particular forest product, including a pulp mill that
process pine pulpwood, that represents a loss of at
least 20 percent processing capacity for that forest
product within a region;
(B) a trade barrier imposed by a foreign entity
that results in a national reduction of at least 50
percent in export receipts for a particular forest
product, including hardwood lumber and Douglas-fir
sawlogs, as compared to the export receipts from the
year preceding the date of the petition under
subsection (b);
(C) a decrease, during the 2 years preceding the
date of the petition under subsection (b), of at least
50 percent of the average stumpage price or delivered
price of a particular forest product in a region;
(D) at least 20 percent of a region by area has,
during the 10 years preceding the date of the petition
under subsection (b), lost access to previously
existing markets for a particular forest product; or
(E) an event that poses a significant threat to the
viability of timber harvesting and hauling operations
in the United States.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture.
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