A series of hard freezes struck Florida and surrounding areas in early 2026, prompting the Secretary of Agriculture to formally designate affected counties as disaster areas on March 4, 2026. The Florida Freeze Disaster Assistance Act appropriates $3.5 billion in emergency federal funding — available through fiscal year 2027 — for the Secretary of Agriculture to distribute as block grants to affected states covering revenue, quality, and production losses from those freezes, including for multi-year crops like citrus and orchards. Grants are limited to counties included in the March 4, 2026 disaster designation and must be requested by state agriculture departments or other appropriate state agencies. The Secretary must report quarterly to the congressional appropriations committees on how the money is being spent until all funds are used.
Congressional Summary
Florida Freeze Disaster Assistance ActThis bill provides $3.5 billion in emergency funding for the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to provide block grants to certain states for losses of revenue, quality, or production of crops (including crops prevented from planting), trees, bushes, and vines as a consequence of a freeze or cold weather conditions.The bill specifies that the funding may only be made available for losses occurring in counties that received a disaster designation for freeze and related cold weather conditions issued by USDA on March 4, 2026. (This includes certain counties in Alabama, Florida, and Georgia.)The bill requires the assistance provided by the bill to include compensation to producers for losses of multi-year crops.The funds provided by this bill must be made available upon the request of a state department of agriculture or other appropriate state agency.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- Senate
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in Senate
- Action Date
- 2026-06-02
- Date Added
- 2026-06-27
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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