PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the Subcommittee on Commodity Markets, Digital Assets, and Rural Development.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Feb 26, 2025
Securing Our Lands and Resources Act or the SOLAR Act
This bill prohibits the Department of Agriculture from providing financial assistance for certain projects that would result in the conversion of covered farmland for solar energy production.
Under the bill, covered farmland generally refers to prime farmland, unique farmland, and farmland that is of statewide or local importance. Conversion means any activity that results in the covered farmland no longer meeting certain requirements for agricultural production, activity, or use.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
The bill includes an exception for certain smaller projects that result in the conversion of (1) less than 5 acres of covered farmland, or (2) less than 50 acres of covered farmland if the majority of the energy produced by the project is for on-farm use.
The bill also includes an exception for projects that have the approval or support from the local county and municipality. For these projects, the applicant must (1) develop a farmland conservation plan for the project (e.g., implementing best practices to protect future soil health and productivity), and (2) ensure that sufficient funds are provided for the decommissioning of the solar energy production system and the remediation and restoration of the farmland.
People & committees
Rep. Bost, Mike [R-IL-12] · R–IL
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Commodity Markets, Digital Assets, and Rural Development.
Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.
Source last updated: Apr 14, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze H.R.1592 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine H.R.1592 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine H.R.1592 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine H.R.1592 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.
PlainBill explanation
Based on the full Introduced in House · 2025-02-26 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.
This proposal would limit Agriculture Department financial assistance for solar projects that take covered farmland out of agricultural use under state rules. Funding could still be available for projects converting less than 5 acres, projects converting less than 50 acres that produce energy mainly for on-farm use, or projects supported by every county and municipality where they would be located. Projects covered by the local-approval exception would face conservation-plan and funding requirements.
The term conversion means, with respect to covered farmland, any activity that results in the covered farmland failing to meet the requirements of a State (defined in section 343 of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1991)) for agricultural production, activity, or use.
The term Secretary means the Secretary of Agriculture. (b) In general The Secretary may not provide financial assistance for a project that would result in the conversion of covered farmland for solar energy production.
(c) Exception Subsection (b) shall not apply to a project if the project— (1) results in the conversion of less than 5 acres of covered farmland; (2) results in the conversion of less than 50 acres of covered farmland, and the majority of the energy produced by the project is for on-farm use; or (3) has received a resolution of approval or support, or other similar instrument from each county and municipality in which the project is sited.
A person who has applied to the Secretary for financial assistance for a project referred to in subsection (c)(3) shall— (A) develop a farmland conservation plan for the project to— (i) implement best practices to protect future soil health and productivity, and mitigate soil erosion, compaction, and other effects of solar energy production during construction, operation, and decommissioning; and (ii) remediate and restore the soil health of the farmland to that of the farmland before the solar energy production project construction; and (B) ensure sufficient funds, as determined by the Secretary, are provided for the decommissioning of the solar energy production system and the remediation and restoration of covered farmland to carry out the farmland conservation plan described in subparagraph (A).
Section 1 would name the bill the Securing Our Lands and Resources Act, or SOLAR Act.
This Act may be cited as the Securing Our Lands and Resources Act or the SOLAR Act.
Section 2 would prohibit the Secretary of Agriculture from providing financial assistance for solar projects that convert covered farmland, subject to the exceptions below. Conversion means causing the land to fail state requirements for agricultural production, activity, or use. The bill incorporates an existing federal definition of farmland.
The term conversion means, with respect to covered farmland, any activity that results in the covered farmland failing to meet the requirements of a State (defined in section 343 of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1991)) for agricultural production, activity, or use.
The term covered farmland means farmland, as defined in section 1540(c)(1) of the Farmland Protection Policy Act (7 U.S.C. 4201(c)(1)).
The term Secretary means the Secretary of Agriculture. (b) In general The Secretary may not provide financial assistance for a project that would result in the conversion of covered farmland for solar energy production.
Two acreage exceptions would remove the funding prohibition for projects converting less than 5 acres, regardless of where their energy is used, and projects converting less than 50 acres if more than half their energy is for on-farm use. These exceptions would permit assistance, not guarantee funding.
(c) Exception Subsection (b) shall not apply to a project if the project— (1) results in the conversion of less than 5 acres of covered farmland; (2) results in the conversion of less than 50 acres of covered farmland, and the majority of the energy produced by the project is for on-farm use;
A separate exception would remove the funding prohibition if the project has received a resolution of approval or support, or a similar instrument, from every county and municipality where it is located. This exception has no stated acreage limit.
(c) Exception Subsection (b) shall not apply to a project if the project—
(3) has received a resolution of approval or support, or other similar instrument from each county and municipality in which the project is sited.
Applicants for assistance for projects covered by the local-approval exception would have to develop a farmland conservation plan. The plan must provide for best practices to protect future soil health and productivity and mitigate erosion, compaction and other solar-related effects during construction, operation and decommissioning, as well as restoration of soil health to its condition before construction.
A person who has applied to the Secretary for financial assistance for a project referred to in subsection (c)(3) shall— (A) develop a farmland conservation plan for the project to— (i) implement best practices to protect future soil health and productivity, and mitigate soil erosion, compaction, and other effects of solar energy production during construction, operation, and decommissioning; and (ii) remediate and restore the soil health of the farmland to that of the farmland before the solar energy production project construction;
Those applicants would also have to ensure sufficient funds are provided for decommissioning the solar system and remediating and restoring the farmland under the conservation plan. The Secretary would determine how much funding is sufficient.
(B) ensure sufficient funds, as determined by the Secretary, are provided for the decommissioning of the solar energy production system and the remediation and restoration of covered farmland to carry out the farmland conservation plan described in subparagraph (A).
For projects subject to these conservation requirements, the Secretary could commit financial assistance before determining compliance, but could not pay it out until determining that the applicant had met the plan and funding requirements.
The Secretary may obligate financial assistance for a project described under paragraph (1), but shall not disburse the financial assistance until the Secretary has determined that the applicant for the financial assistance has complied with paragraph (1).
Required soil-protection practices would begin when the project receives assistance and continue throughout solar energy production. The soil-restoration provisions would have to be carried out when solar energy production ends.
A person referred to in paragraph (1) shall carry out— (A) the provisions of the plan that are described in paragraph (1)(A)(i), on the receipt by the project of financial assistance from the Secretary and for the duration of solar energy production under the project; and (B) the provisions of the plan that are described in paragraph (1)(A)(ii), on the cessation of solar energy production under the project.
A project that fails to comply with the conservation plan implementation requirements would have to repay the full amount of financial assistance provided by the Secretary for that project.
Any project that fails to comply with paragraph (3) with respect to a project shall repay to the Secretary the full amount of the financial assistance provided by the Secretary to the person for the project.
The supplied action snapshot, updated April 14, 2026, records introduction and referral to the House Committee on Agriculture on February 26, 2025, followed by referral to the Subcommittee on Commodity Markets, Digital Assets, and Rural Development on March 28, 2025.
Source snapshot updated 2026-04-14T21:46:19Z. 2025-03-28: Referred to the Subcommittee on Commodity Markets, Digital Assets, and Rural Development. 2025-02-26: Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture. 2025-02-26: Introduced in House
A closer look
Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2025-02-26. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.
This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.
Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.
None identified in the reviewed text
No unrelated provision or policy change attached to appropriations was identified after reviewing the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.
Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.
None identified in the reviewed text
No congressionally directed spending for particular recipients or places was identified after reviewing the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials; the source set does not establish formal earmark status.
Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.
Findings to examine
The findings identify exceptions that preserve access to assistance for defined project categories within the proposed restriction. Classification does not establish improper preference or guarantee funding.
Projects converting less than 5 acres, and projects converting less than 50 acres whose energy is mainly for on-farm use, would be exempt from the proposed funding prohibition. These acreage-based exceptions preserve access to financial assistance for those project categories within the bill's farmland-conversion policy, without guaranteeing funding.
(b) In general The Secretary may not provide financial assistance for a project that would result in the conversion of covered farmland for solar energy production.
(c) Exception Subsection (b) shall not apply to a project if the project— (1) results in the conversion of less than 5 acres of covered farmland; (2) results in the conversion of less than 50 acres of covered farmland, and the majority of the energy produced by the project is for on-farm use;
Projects receiving a resolution of approval or support, or a similar instrument, from every county and municipality where they are sited would be exempt from the proposed funding prohibition without a stated acreage limit. This exception preserves access to consideration for assistance within the farmland-conversion policy; it does not guarantee funding. Applicants for these projects must develop a soil-protection and restoration plan and ensure sufficient funds, as determined by the Secretary, for decommissioning and farmland remediation and restoration. Assistance could be obligated, but could not be disbursed until the Secretary determines that the applicant has met those requirements.
(b) In general The Secretary may not provide financial assistance for a project that would result in the conversion of covered farmland for solar energy production.
(c) Exception Subsection (b) shall not apply to a project if the project—
(3) has received a resolution of approval or support, or other similar instrument from each county and municipality in which the project is sited.
(d) Covered farmland protection (1) Farmland conservation plan required A person who has applied to the Secretary for financial assistance for a project referred to in subsection (c)(3) shall— (A) develop a farmland conservation plan for the project to— (i) implement best practices to protect future soil health and productivity, and mitigate soil erosion, compaction, and other effects of solar energy production during construction, operation, and decommissioning; and (ii) remediate and restore the soil health of the farmland to that of the farmland before the solar energy production project construction; and (B) ensure sufficient funds, as determined by the Secretary, are provided for the decommissioning of the solar energy production system and the remediation and restoration of covered farmland to carry out the farmland conservation plan described in subparagraph (A).
(2) Obligation and disbursement of funds The Secretary may obligate financial assistance for a project described under paragraph (1), but shall not disburse the financial assistance until the Secretary has determined that the applicant for the financial assistance has complied with paragraph (1).
Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: Apr 14, 2026. How PlainBill uses AI