United States HR 1779: MORE USDA Grants Act

Bill Text

I
117TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 1779
To improve the process for awarding grants under certain programs of the
Department of Agriculture to certain counties in which the majority
of land is owned or managed by the Federal Government and to other
units of local government and Tribal governments in those counties,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 10, 2021
Mr. STEWART (for himself, Mr. ROSENDALE, Mr. OWENS, Mr. NEWHOUSE,
Mr. GOSAR, and Ms. HERRELL) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Commit-
tees on Energy and Commerce, and Financial Services, for a period to
be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
A BILL
To improve the process for awarding grants under certain
programs of the Department of Agriculture to certain
counties in which the majority of land is owned or man-
aged by the Federal Government and to other units
of local government and Tribal governments in those
counties, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:46 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1779.IH H1779pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS

2
•HR 1779 IH
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘More Opportunities 2
for Rural Economies from USDA Grants Act’’ or the 3
‘‘MORE USDA Grants Act’’. 4
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 5
In this Act: 6
(1) HIGH-DENSITY PUBLIC LAND COUNTY.— 7
The term ‘‘High-Density Public Land County’’ 8
means a county (or equivalent jurisdiction) of a 9
State or territory of the United States— 10
(A) that has a population of not more than 11
100,000 people, according to the most recent 12
annual estimates of population by the Bureau 13
of the Census; and 14
(B) in which more than 50 percent of the 15
land is owned or managed by the Federal Gov-16
ernment. 17
(2) QUALIFYING GRANT PROGRAM.—The term 18
‘‘qualifying grant program’’ means— 19
(A) the Rural Business Development grant 20
program established under section 310B(c) of 21
the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development 22
Act (7 U.S.C. 1932(c)); 23
(B) the Economic Impact Initiative grant 24
program established under section 25
306(a)(20)(B) of the Consolidated Farm and 26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:46 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1779.IH H1779pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS

3
•HR 1779 IH
Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1
1926(a)(20)(B)); 2
(C) the Telemedicine and Distance Learn-3
ing Services grant program established under 4
chapter 1 of subtitle D of title XXIII of the 5
Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act 6
of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 950aaa et seq.); 7
(D) the Community Connect Grant Pro-8
gram established under section 604 of the 9
Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (7 U.S.C. 10
950bb–3); 11
(E) the broadband loan and grant pilot 12
program known as the ‘‘Rural eConnectivity 13
Pilot Program’’ or the ‘‘ReConnect Program’’, 14
authorized under section 779 of division A of 15
the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 16
(Public Law 115–141; 132 Stat. 399); 17
(F) any discretionary grant program of the 18
Rural Business-Cooperative Service, the Rural 19
Housing Service, the Rural Utilities Service, or 20
any other rural development agency of the De-21
partment of Agriculture under which grants are 22
awarded to— 23
(i) counties; 24
(ii) other units of local government; or 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:46 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1779.IH H1779pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS

4
•HR 1779 IH
(iii) Tribal governments; and 1
(G) any other discretionary grant program 2
of the Department of Agriculture under which 3
grants for rural development are awarded to— 4
(i) counties; 5
(ii) other units of local government; or 6
(iii) Tribal governments. 7
(3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 8
the Secretary of Agriculture. 9
(4) TRIBAL GOVERNMENT.—The term ‘‘Tribal 10
government’’ means the recognized governing body 11
of any Indian or Alaska Native tribe, band, nation, 12
pueblo, village, community, component band, or com-13
ponent reservation, individually identified (including 14
parenthetically) in the list published most recently as 15
of the date of enactment of this Act pursuant to sec-16
tion 104 of the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe 17
List Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 5131). 18
SEC. 3. GRANTS. 19
(a) REDUCTION IN LOCAL MATCHING REQUIRE-20
MENTS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 21
with respect to a High-Density Public Land County and 22
any unit of local government or Tribal government within 23
a High-Density Public Land County, any requirement for 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:46 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1779.IH H1779pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD wi