United States S 2998: Land-Grant Research Equity and Accountability Act

Bill Text

II
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION S. 2998
To amend the Food and Agriculture Act of 1977 and the Agriculture Improve-
ment Act of 2018 to modify provisions relating to matching funds re-
quirements for research and extension activities at eligible institutions
and related reporting requirements.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
SEPTEMBER 29 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 22), 2023
Mr. BROWN (for himself and Mr. WARNOCK) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nu-
trition, and Forestry
A BILL
To amend the Food and Agriculture Act of 1977 and the
Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 to modify provi-
sions relating to matching funds requirements for re-
search and extension activities at eligible institutions and
related reporting requirements.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Land-Grant Research 4
Equity and Accountability Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. MATCHING FUNDS REQUIREMENT FOR RESEARCH 1
AND EXTENSION ACTIVITIES AT ELIGIBLE IN-2
STITUTIONS. 3
(a) MODIFICATION.—Section 1449 of the Food and 4
Agriculture Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3222d) is amended— 5
(1) in subsection (b), in the matter preceding 6
paragraph (1)— 7
(A) by striking ‘‘, 1999’’ and inserting ‘‘of 8
each fiscal year’’; and 9
(B) by striking ‘‘fiscal year 1999’’ and in-10
serting ‘‘that fiscal year’’; and 11
(2) by striking subsection (c) and inserting the 12
following: 13
‘‘(c) STATE MATCHING FUNDS REQUIREMENT.— 14
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 15
provision of this subtitle, for each fiscal year, a 16
State shall provide to each eligible institution located 17
in the State matching funds in an amount equal to 18
the amounts provided to the eligible institution from 19
non-Federal sources for that fiscal year, as described 20
in subsection (b). 21
‘‘(2) ATTESTATION TO SECRETARY.— 22
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not less frequently 23
than once each fiscal year, a State shall submit 24
to the Secretary an attestation that describes 25
whether the State— 26
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‘‘(i) plans to fulfill the matching funds 1
requirement under paragraph (1) for that 2
fiscal year; or 3
‘‘(ii) is unable to fulfill that matching 4
funds requirement for the fiscal year. 5
‘‘(B) PUBLICATION.—The Secretary shall 6
publish each attestation submitted under sub-7
paragraph (A) on an annual basis.’’. 8
(b) REPORTS.—Section 7116 of the Agriculture Im-9
provement Act of 2018 (7 U.S.C. 2207d) is amended— 10
(1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1)— 11
(A) by striking ‘‘7601)’’ and inserting 12
‘‘7601))’’; and 13
(B) by striking ‘‘Not later’’ and inserting 14
the following: 15
‘‘(a) MATCH REPORTING.—Not later’’; and 16
(2) by adding at the end the following: 17
‘‘(b) OUTREACH.— 18
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide 19
to the legislature and Governor of each State in 20
which an 1862 Institution or 1890 Institution (as 21
those terms are defined in section 2 of the Agricul-22
tural Research, Extension, and Education Reform 23
Act of 1998 (7 U.S.C. 7601)) is located information 24
relating to each matching requirement applicable to 25
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the State under the programs referred to in para-1
graphs (1), (2), and (3) of subsection (a). 2
‘‘(2) FORM.—The information under paragraph 3
(1) shall be provided— 4
‘‘(A) through direct outreach; and 5
‘‘(B) not later than the February 1 imme-6
diately preceding the date on which the award 7
cycle under the applicable program commences. 8
‘‘(c) ATTESTATIONS.— 9
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not less frequently than 10
once each year, the Governor of each State described 11
in subsection (b)(1) shall submit to the Secretary an 12
attestation that describes whether the State— 13
‘‘(A) is able to fulfill each matching re-14
quirement regarding which information is pro-15
vided under that subsection for that year; or 16
‘‘(B) is unable to fulfill that matching re-17
quirement for the year. 18
‘‘(2) REPORTS.—Not later than December 31 19
of each calendar year, the Secretary shall submit to 20
Congress, and make publicly available on the website 21
of the Department of Agriculture, an annual report 22
describing the attestations received under paragraph 23
(1) during that calendar year.’’. 24
Æ
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