Congress bans a new conservation funding tool—blocking public investment in land stewardship
H.R. 1309 — Protect America’s Lands Act · Filed by Mark Green (R-TN) · 22 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 13, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends the Securities Exchange Act to ban U.S. stock exchanges from listing or trading securities issued by natural asset companies (NACs)—entities that hold rights to ecological performance and ecosystem services on defined land areas and manage them for conservation or sustainable use. The ban applies to the NACs themselves and any company that controls or is controlled by an NAC. Citizens lose access to a new investment vehicle; conservation-focused land managers lose a potential funding mechanism.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a blanket ban on exchange trading of a specific security type, not a regulatory framework or environmental standard. It prohibits a market structure rather than governing its conduct, which is unusual for securities law and suggests ideological opposition to the NAC model itself rather than investor-protection or environmental-harm concerns.
What the text implies
- The definition of 'natural asset company' is broad enough to capture any entity with conservation-management authority over defined land, including nonprofits, trusts, and public-private partnerships—the ban may affect entities beyond commercial NACs.
- By blocking NAC securities from U.S. exchanges, the bill may redirect NAC capital-raising to private markets, foreign exchanges, or alternative structures, potentially reducing transparency and retail investor access while preserving institutional/accredited investor pathways.
- The bill does not regulate NAC environmental performance, governance, or accountability—it simply removes a funding mechanism, which may harm conservation outcomes if NACs cannot raise capital to execute restoration projects.
- Existing NAC securities already trading may face delisting requirements, creating retroactive market disruption and potential investor losses without grandfathering or transition provisions visible in the text.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill restricts citizens' investment choices and blocks a potential funding mechanism for conservation and land stewardship. While framed as land protection, it does so by prohibiting a market-based conservation model rather than by regulating NAC conduct or environmental standards—ordinary people lose both investment optionality and a tool for funding ecological restoration.
Who stands to gain
- Traditional land trusts and nonprofits (reduced competition for conservation funding)
- Private equity and impact investors (NAC capital-raising redirected to private markets)
- Foreign exchanges (if NACs list abroad instead)
Named in the bill
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), National securities exchanges, Natural asset companies (NACs), Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Section 6 of the Securities Exchange Act
Where it stands
22 cosponsors: 22 Republicans.
- Feb 13, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Feb 13, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Financial Services · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. Those filings disclosed $25,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 2 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Mark Green, the sponsor, reported $29,535 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Intrinsic Exchange Group, Inc. — $25,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jan 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,444 characters) on Aug 17, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jan 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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