Bill Text: IL SB3721 | 2025-2026 | 104th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois. Creates the Fall Covers for Spring Savings Program in the Department of Agriculture to provide crop insurance premium discounts for cover crops. Directs the Department to award grants in specified amounts to Soil and Water Conservation Districts. Creates the Cover Crop Insurance Premium Discount Fund. Provides for requirements for the Program. Directs the Department to adopt rules.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 10)

Status: (Introduced) 2026-05-22 - Rule 3-9(a) / Re-referred to Assignments [SB3721 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2025-SB3721-Introduced.html

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104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2025 and 2026SB3721 Introduced 2/5/2026, by Sen. Doris Turner SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
20 ILCS 205/205-455 new
30 ILCS 105/5.1038 new
Amends the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois. Creates the Fall Covers for Spring Savings Program in the Department of Agriculture to provide crop insurance premium discounts for cover crops. Directs the Department to award grants in specified amounts to Soil and Water Conservation Districts. Creates the Cover Crop Insurance Premium Discount Fund. Provides for requirements for the Program. Directs the Department to adopt rules.
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A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning State government.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Department of Agriculture Law of the Civil
Administrative Code of Illinois is amended by adding Section
205-455 as follows:
(20 ILCS 205/205-455 new)
Sec. 205-455. Fall covers for spring savings.
(a) The General Assembly finds that:
(1) Soil is an essential natural resource and Illinois
farmers and professionals play a critical role in managing
Illinois soil and water resources.
(2) The Natural Resources Conservation Service of the
United States Department of Agriculture defines soil
health as the continued capacity of soil to function as a
vital living ecosystem that sustains plants, animals, and
humans.
(3) The protection of Illinois soils is essential to
long-term prosperity and sustainability of the soil and
water resources of our State.
(4) Soil health principles of cover crop coverage
enhance the ability of farmers to meet the non-point
source pollution goals for nitrate-nitrogen and phosphorus

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reduction.
(5) Soil health principles reduce carbon dioxide in
the atmosphere through sequestration of carbon within the
upper soil profile. This process improves organic matter
content, provides a stable biome for soil organisms,
improves nutrient transfer from soil to root, and
increases water infiltration and water-holding capacity.
(6) It is imperative that the State of Illinois
actively raise awareness of the importance of soil health
and promote its stewardship to safeguard this resource for
future generations of Illinois citizens.
(b) There is created the Fall Covers for Spring Savings
Program within the Department of Agriculture. This program
shall be the successor program of any program currently in
place that offers crop insurance discounts for cover crop
incorporation. The program shall offer a crop insurance policy
premium discount of up to $5 per acre for every acre planted in
cover crop in a calendar year that is insured in the following
calendar year for crop production. For every $5 expenditure
that is made under this Program, the Department shall grant $1
to Soil and Water Conservation Districts in the State.
(c) There is created in the State treasury a special fund
to be known as the Cover Crop Insurance Premium Discount Fund
for the purpose of receiving and distributing money in
accordance with this Section. Disbursements from the Fund
shall be made in accordance with this Section, including for

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the Fall Covers for Spring Savings Program and the grants to
Soil and Water Conservation Districts under subsection (b),
for any other expenditure or distribution under this Section,
and for no other purpose. In addition to any other amounts
deposited into the Fund through action by the General
Assembly, there shall be deposited into the Fund any residual
federal funds that can be used for the purpose of the Program
and all moneys donated to the State by private individuals or
entities for the purposes for which the moneys in the Fund may
be used.
(d) The number of acres receiving the discount under the
Program under this Section shall be limited only by available
funding from State, federal, and private sources contained in
the Cover Crop Insurance Premium Discount Fund.
(e) The Department may use a portion of funding allocated
to the Cover Crop Insurance Premium Discount Fund for the
purpose of administering the provisions of this Section.
(f) The application period for receiving the crop
insurance premium discount shall commence the first week of
December and continue through the end of January of the
following calendar year or until available funds are depleted,
whichever comes first. The Department may change the
application period by rule.
(g) Premium discounts shall be awarded from available
funds on a first-come, first-served basis.
(h) Applicants to the program shall submit Farm Service

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Agency Form 578, Report on Acreage, or its successor document,
the crop insurance policy number, the field, farm, tract,
common land unit numbers, and field acres seeded in cover
crops the previous year. The Department may change applicant
submission requirements by rule.
(i) Applicants shall maintain documentation of cover crop
utilization, including, but not limited to, seeding dates,
appropriate seeding rates, and seed mix. The Department may
contact applicants to clarify information contained in any
application. The Department may change applicant documentation
requirements by rule.
(j) The Department may not consider the participation of
the applicant in any federal or private program concerning
conservation, nutrient loss, or carbon sequestration when
considering applicants and their applications for
participation in the program.
(k) The Department shall adopt rules implementing and
administering this Section.
Section 10. The State Finance Act is amended by adding
Section 5.1038 as follows:
(30 ILCS 105/5.1038 new)
Sec. 5.1038. The Cover Crop Insurance Premium Discount
Fund.