# 119-hr-8538: Save America’s Family Forests Act of 2026

119-hr-8538, Save America’s Family Forests Act of 2026, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Carter, Earl L. "Buddy" [R-GA-1] (R-GA); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-09-21).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-8538
- As of: 2026-09-21
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-8538
- Congress: 119
- Title: Save America’s Family Forests Act of 2026
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2026-04-28
- Sponsor: Rep. Carter, Earl L. "Buddy" [R-GA-1] (R-GA)
- Cosponsors: 10
- Policy area: Taxation
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-09-21

## Summary

**Expands and indexes tax breaks for reforestation and creates a disaster-specific reforestation deduction.** It raises the amounts landowners can expense for planting and adds a separate deduction for reforesting timber damaged by presidentially declared natural disasters. - Timber owners and private forest landholders get higher immediate expensing limits. The per-property caps rise from $10,000 to $30,000 and from $5,000 to $15,000, and those amounts are indexed for inflation for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2026. - Disaster-affected timber owners can claim a new special deduction for reforestation tied to qualified natural disasters. The deduction is limited to $500,000 per property and $1,000,000 in the aggregate, with married filing separately limits of $250,000 and $500,000 respectively, and can be elected even on amended returns. - Pass-throughs, controlled groups, trusts, and estates face specific allocation and application rules. Aggregate limits apply at the partnership or S corporation level, controlled-group members share limits per Treasury rules, and dispositions within 10 years can trigger recapture as ordinary income, with exceptions for casualty, condemnation, government taking, or death.

## Cosponsors (10)

- Rep. Sewell, Terri A. [D-AL-7] (D-AL), 2026-04-28T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Bean, Aaron [R-FL-4] (R-FL), 2026-04-28T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Thompson, Mike [D-CA-4] (D-CA), 2026-04-28T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Steube, W. Gregory [R-FL-17] (R-FL), 2026-04-28T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Murphy, Gregory F. [R-NC-3] (R-NC), 2026-04-28T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Moran, Nathaniel [R-TX-1] (R-TX), 2026-04-28T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Babin, Brian [R-TX-36] (R-TX), 2026-04-29T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Rose, John W. [R-TN-6] (R-TN), 2026-06-22T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Thompson, Glenn [R-PA-15] (R-PA), 2026-08-17T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Sessions, Pete [R-TX-17] (R-TX), 2026-08-31T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Higher reforestation expensing caps: benefit, medium. If enacted, the bill would raise the immediate expensing caps for reforestation spending. The law would replace the $10,000 cap with $30,000 and the $5,000 cap with $15,000 for qualifying reforestation expenditures. Those dollar amounts would be adjusted for inflation for tax years beginning after…
- Disaster reforestation tax deduction: mixed, high. If enacted, you would be able to deduct large reforestation costs paid or incurred to replace standing timber damaged by a President‑declared natural disaster. The deduction for each damaged timber property would be capped at $500,000 (or $250,000 if married filing separately), and your total deduc…

## Related bills

- 119-hr-7567: Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026
- 119-hr-842: Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act
- 119-hr-3514: Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act of 2025
- 119-hr-909: Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act of 2025
- 119-hres-166: Expressing support for the Iranian people's desires for a democratic, secular, and nonnuclear Republic of Iran, and condemning the Iranian regime's terrorism,…
- 119-hr-452: Miracle on Ice Congressional Gold Medal Act

## Sources
- [119-hr-8538 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/8538)

## Related
- [119-hr-7567: Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7567)
- [119-hr-842: Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage A…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-842)
- [119-hr-3514: Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3514)
- [119-hr-909: Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-909)
- [119-hres-166: Expressing support for the Iranian people's desires for a democratic, secular,…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hres-166)
- [119-hr-452: Miracle on Ice Congressional Gold Medal Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-452)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-8538 (as of 2026-09-21).