A bill to exempt from the requirements of NEPA the provision of certain assistance for the construction or modification of residential housing on infill sites, and for other purposes.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [S. 3970 Introduced in Senate (IS)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 3970 To exempt from the requirements of NEPA the provision of certain assistance for the construction or modification of residential housing on infill sites, and for other purposes. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES March 3, 2026 Mr. Ricketts introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To exempt from the requirements of NEPA the provision of certain assistance for the construction or modification of residential housing on infill sites, 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 ``Rural Housing Regulatory Relief Act''. SEC. 2. APPLICABILITY OF NEPA TO THE PROVISION OF CERTAIN ASSISTANCE FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OR MODIFICATION OF RESIDENTIAL HOUSING ON INFILL SITES. (a) Exemption.--Providing assistance under section 501, 502, 504, 515, 533, or 538 of the Housing Act of 1949 (42 U.S.C. 1471, 1472, 1474, 1485, 1490m, or 1490p-2) for the construction or modification of residential housing located on an infill site may not be considered a major Federal action under section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)). (b) Report.--Not later than the date that is 5 years after the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary of Agriculture shall submit to Congress a report that-- (1) determines whether the implementation of this section-- (A) reduced the amount of time it takes to review an application for assistance described in subsection (a); and (B) reduced the administrative cost of providing such assistance; (2) descri