States and tribes get federal soil-health grants—with strings attached
S. 4851 — SCALE Act of 2026 · Filed by John Hoeven (R-ND) · Introduced Jun 22, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill amends the Food Security Act to create a federal grant program that gives states and Indian tribes up to $10 million per year (for 5-year terms, renewable) to fund their own soil health and wildlife habitat programs on agricultural land. States and tribes design their own programs, set their own performance measures, and must match federal funds with their own spending; the federal money supplements rather than replaces state/tribal investment.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a straightforward federal grant program to states and tribes for soil and wildlife conservation. It amends an existing conservation title of the Food Security Act and funds state-led implementation of locally-designed programs.
What the text implies
- The bill does not specify total appropriations or a budget cap across all states/tribes, only per-recipient limits ($10M/year). Aggregate cost depends on how many states and tribes apply and are approved—potentially significant if all 50 states and hundreds of tribes participate.
- Performance measures are set by each state/tribe, not federally mandated. This allows flexibility but may create inconsistency in outcomes and accountability across jurisdictions.
The full analysis lists 4 implications of this text.
Who stands to gain
state agricultural agencies; tribal governments; agricultural landowners (through state/tribal cost-sharing programs)