Federal Update: Senate Advances Bipartisan Housing Supply Compromise 

The Senate this week voted on a procedural measure to advance a compromise housing package – the 21st Century Road to Housing Act – aimed at boosting the supply of affordable housing. The legislation is likely to pass when it receives a vote next week. In addition to merging provisions from the Senate’s ROAD to Housing Act (S.2651) and the House-passed bill (H.R.6644), the measure incorporates several new White House priorities, including a ban on institutional investors purchasing single-family homes, with certain exceptions. 

The legislation also includes language that would temporarily prohibit the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC), which is a long-standing goal for some lawmakers who have raised privacy concerns about the technology. The CBDC restriction would remain in place through 2030. 

Ahead of the procedural vote, the White House issued a Statement of Administration Policy supporting the compromise package as written. However, the president’s endorsement may not be enough to secure final passage in the House, where some conservatives have raised concerns about several Senate provisions. If the measure clears the upper chamber, lawmakers are expected to continue negotiations before the House takes up the measure. Complicating the matter, the National Association of Home Builders, a key stakeholder in the housing debate, withdrew its support for the compromise due to the new language curbing institutional investors. 

Of particular interest to counties, the bill retains the Build Now Act, which would introduce a performance-based incentive structure within the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. Under the proposal, CDBG recipients that exceed the median housing growth improvement rate among eligible jurisdictions would receive bonus funding allocations, while recipients below the median would face a 10 percent reduction in their CDBG allocation for that year, with those funds redirected to finance the bonuses. Because the formula compares housing growth across all eligible jurisdictions, some California counties could potentially see reductions in their annual CDBG allocations under this framework. 

House Panel Advances Five-Year Farm Bill Reauthorization 

Following a marathon markup session that stretched late into the night, the House Agriculture Committee this week advanced a five-year Farm Bill package on a 34–17 vote. The legislation drew support from seven Democrats, including two California members – Representatives Jim Costa (D-CA) and Adam Gray (D-CA).  

The Farm Bill shapes federal policy across agriculture, nutrition assistance (including SNAP/CalFresh), conservation, rural infrastructure, forestry, and energy programs. The most recent authorization, the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018, expired in 2023 and has been extended multiple times. It is currently set to expire on September 30, 2026. 

In the interim, Congress enacted portions of the traditional Farm Bill through last year’s reconciliation package (H.R. 1), including major updates to commodity programs and significant changes to SNAP. Notably, H.R. 1 shifted certain SNAP administrative and benefit costs to states and, by extension, counties. 

The House proposal includes several provisions of interest to California’s counties:  

Farm Safety Net 

In the Farm Safety Net title, the bill enhances disaster assistance for agricultural producers, including specialty crop producers, and expands support for beginning farmers and ranchers. 

Rural Development 

The bill prioritizes rural childcare projects within USDA programs, expands rural health access, reauthorizes key water, wastewater and solid waste infrastructure programs, enhances broadband deployment by increasing minimum eligible speeds to 50/25 Mbps, and directs USDA to provide technical assistance to help underserved and capacity-constrained counties better compete for federal funding. 

Conservation 

Conservation and watershed programs are also updated and strengthened, including reforms to agricultural easement programs and enhancements to working lands conservation tools.  

Forestry 

The Forestry title contains a range of provisions that empower counties to take a more active role in managing public lands, mitigating wildfire risk and restoring damaged landscapes. The bill directs the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) to develop and implement strategies to use livestock grazing as a wildfire prevention tool and permits electrical utilities to remove trees near transmission lines without initiating a new timber sale process. It expands the use of categorical exclusions (CEs) to accelerate forest management projects, including creating a CE for treatment of high-priority hazardous trees up to 6,000 acres, expanding the CE for firebreaks to 10,000 acres, and establishing a CE for forest thinning up to 3,000 acres within a 10,000-acre project area when developed with input from county leaders.  

The bill also allows special districts to enter into Good Neighbor Authority agreements with USFS, reauthorizes Resource Advisory Committees (RACs) through FY 2031 and permits regional foresters to appoint RAC members for Secure Rural Schools Title II projects, and provides USFS with direct hire authority for Job Corps graduates. 

Nutrition 

In the Nutrition title, the bill focuses primarily on SNAP oversight and program integrity. It requires USDA to include all identified SNAP payment errors in a supplemental annual report, establishes new regulations to strengthen SNAP Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cybersecurity, and directs the Government Accountability Office to investigate states’ SNAP administrative costs. It should be noted that the proposal does not reverse or modify the SNAP cost shifts enacted under H.R. 1, meaning the additional fiscal burdens placed on states and counties remain in place. For California counties that administer CalFresh, this continues to be a significant concern. 

Energy 

The Energy title expands access to the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) while placing new restrictions on USDA funding for large-scale solar development on prime farmland, with limited exceptions. 

Pesticides 

One of the most contentious debates centered on language that would preempt states from imposing pesticide labeling requirements that differ from EPA standards. An amendment to remove that provision was rejected. 

Looking ahead, Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson (R-PA) has indicated an intent to move the bill to the House floor before the Easter recess, but with narrow margins in both chambers and ongoing disagreements over nutrition policy and regulatory provisions, significant negotiations remain ahead before a final 2026 Farm Bill can be enacted. 

HUD Proposes Optional Work Requirements and Term Limits for Housing Assistance 

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would allow public housing authorities (PHAs) and landlords participating in federal rental assistance programs to establish work requirements and term limits for certain households. The proposal follows a recent HUD action related to eligibility standards for families with mixed immigration status. 

Under current law, a limited number of PHAs participating in HUD’s Moving to Work (MTW) demonstration program have authority to test employment incentives and work-related policies. The new proposal would broaden that flexibility to most PHAs and landlords administering federal housing assistance, except those in receivership or otherwise not in good standing with HUD. 

Specifically, the rule would permit PHAs and voucher-accepting landlords to: 

• Establish work requirements of up to 40 hours per week for non-elderly, non-disabled households, with hardship exemptions; and/or 

• Impose term limits of no less than two years for non-elderly, non-disabled households receiving Housing Choice Vouchers or residing in public housing. 

Households subject to a term limit could reapply for assistance but would need to return to the standard waitlist process if determined eligible. The proposal includes mandatory exemptions for both work requirements and term limits, though exemptions for term limits would be more limited. PHAs or landlords opting to implement these policies would be responsible for administering, verifying, and enforcing compliance. 

The NPRM reflects concepts included in the Trump administration’s FY 2026 budget proposal, which suggested consolidating certain HUD housing assistance programs into a block grant structure with a two-year time limit for non-elderly, non-disabled adults. Congress did not adopt that proposal in the final FY 2026 appropriations legislation. 

Comments on the NPRM are due by May 1, 2026. 

Legislation Introduced to Modernize NOAA Weather Forecasting 

Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) recently introduced comprehensive legislation to strengthen the forecasting and public warning capabilities of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). 

The legislation would reauthorize key weather research programs, modernize NOAA’s aging radar network, and advance next-generation forecasting technologies. It also aims to improve prediction and communication of hurricanes, tornadoes, atmospheric rivers, extreme rainfall, drought, and wildfire, while enhancing subseasonal-to-seasonal outlooks that support farmers, ranchers, and water managers.  

If enacted, the bill would reinforce NOAA’s core public-safety mission by improving forecast accuracy, closing radar coverage gaps, and ensuring weather warnings are clear, timely, and actionable. 

President Trump to Replace DHS Secretary Kristi Noem 

Earlier today, President Donald Trump announced that he will replace Kristi Noem as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, naming Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) as his choice to lead the department. Noem will instead move into a new role as a special envoy focused on Western Hemisphere security cooperation, which the administration plans to highlight at an upcoming summit. 

The leadership change follows growing frustration within the administration and among some Republican lawmakers over Noem’s management of DHS and recent congressional testimony. According to reports, senior administration officials and advisers had recently urged the White House to make a change. 

If confirmed by the Senate, Mullin would take over a department that oversees several agencies, including FEMA, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The leadership transition could have implications for federal disaster programs, homeland security grants, and other federal-local partnerships administered through DHS. It is also unclear how the change could affect the administration’s ongoing work through the FEMA Review Council, which has been tasked with developing recommendations to reform federal disaster response and recovery programs.