H.R. 7195

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7195 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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.
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