I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1230 

To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to make grants to States to support 

the establishment and operation of grocery stores in underserved communities, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 28, 2023 

Mr. CARSON (for himself, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Ms. NORTON, Mr. DOGGETT, 

Mr. PAYNE, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Ms. TITUS, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mrs. BEATTY, Mrs. CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK, Ms. STANSBURY, Mr. CUELLAR, Mr. DESAULNIER, Ms. LEE of 

California, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr. MOULTON, Ms. 

SCHOLTEN, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Ms. 

CLARKE of New York, Mr. VARGAS, Ms. ROSS, Mr. TONKO, Mr. 

GALLEGO, Mr. SOTO, Ms. BARRAGA ́N, Mr. CLEAVER, Ms. TOKUDA, and 

Mr. CARTER of Louisiana) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to make grants to 

States to support the establishment and operation of 

grocery stores in underserved communities, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Food Deserts Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM TO ESTABLISH GROCERY STORES 

2 IN UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES. 

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF GRANT PROGRAM.—The 

4 Secretary shall establish a program to provide capitaliza5 tion grants to States for the purpose of establishing re6 volving funds to support the establishment and operation 

7 of grocery stores in underserved communities. 

8 (b) ADMINISTRATION.—A State receiving funds 

9 under this Act shall administer the revolving fund of the 

10 State through an instrumentality of the State with such 

11 powers and limitations as may be required to operate such 

12 fund in accordance with the requirements of this Act. 

13 (c) PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES ELIGIBLE FOR AS14 SISTANCE.—Amounts in a revolving fund shall be used for 

15 the purpose of making loans— 

16 (1) to open a grocery store in an underserved 

17 community, except that such loan may not be used 

18 for the purpose of new construction; 

19 (2) to support the operations of an existing gro20 cery store in an underserved community; 

21 (3) to provide access to healthy food; or 

22 (4) to support the operations of a program par23 ticipant that is located in a community that would 

24 be an underserved community if the program partici25 pant was not located in such community. 

26 (d) GROCERY STORES ELIGIBLE FOR ASSISTANCE.— 


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1 (1) REQUIRED CRITERIA.—A State receiving a 

2 capitalization grant under this Act may only make 

3 a loan from the revolving fund of the State to an en4 tity that the State determines— 

5 (A) is a grocery store or will be a grocery 

6 store after opening; 

7 (B) emphasizes or will emphasize unproc8 essed, healthful foods; 

9 (C) provides or will provide a variety of 

10 raw fruits and vegetables; 

11 (D) provides or will provide staple foods; 

12 (E) has a plan to keep such foods in stock 

13 to the extent possible; 

14 (F) charge affordable at or below market 

15 values; 

16 (G) either— 

17 (i) is demonstrably qualified to oper18 ate a grocery store; or 

19 (ii) at the time of such application, 

20 has existing partnerships with organiza21 tions that provide technical assistance on 

22 business operations of food services; and 

23 (H) will match no less than 20 percent, 

24 from non-Federal funds, of the amount of such 

25 loan. 


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1 (2) PRIORITY CRITERIA.—A State shall 

2 prioritize an application for a loan from the revolv3 ing fund of the State from an entity that the State 

4 determines— 

5 (A) hires or plans to hire workers who re6 side within the underserved community that 

7 would be served by the entity; 

8 (B) provides or plans to provide classes or 

9 other educational information about a healthful 

10 diet; 

11 (C) sources or plans to source food from 

12 local urban farms and gardens; and 

13 (D) demonstrates existing supply chain re14 lationships in the grocery industry. 

15 (e) APPLICATION.—An entity that desires a loan 

16 from a revolving fund of a State shall submit an applica17 tion to the State at such time, in such manner, and con18 taining such information as the State may require. 

19 (f) LOAN CONDITIONS.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—A loan distributed from a 

21 revolving fund by a State may be used by a program 

22 participant only for the purposes specified in sub23 section (c). 

24 (2) INTEREST RATES.—A loan distributed by a 

25 State from a revolving fund— 


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1 (A) shall be made at or below market in2 terest rates; and 

3 (B) may be an interest free loan, at terms 

4 not to exceed the lesser of 30 years or the pro5 jected useful life (as determined by the State) 

6 of the project to be financed with the proceeds 

7 of the loan. 

8 (3) STRUCTURE OF LOAN.—A loan may be dis9 tributed from a revolving fund by a State to a pro10 gram participant in— 

11 (A) a lump sum; or 

12 (B) in multiple distributions over a period 

13 of years, if the State determines multiple dis14 tributions are necessary to carry out the 

15 project. 

16 (4) LOAN AMOUNT.—A State may not provide 

17 a loan to a program participant from the revolving 

18 fund of the State in a fiscal year that exceeds 10 

19 percent of the amount available from the fund for 

20 making distributions in that fiscal year. 

21 (5) PAYMENTS.—Annual principal and interest 

22 payments on a loan received from a revolving fund 

23 of a State shall commence not later than 1 year 

24 after the loan is disbursed to the program particiVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:03 Mar 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1230.IH H1230

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1 pant and all loans will be fully amortized upon the 

2 expiration of the term of the loan. 

3 (6) REVENUE FOR REPAYMENT.—A program 

4 participant shall establish a dedicated source of rev5 enue for repayment of a loan received from a revolv6 ing fund of a State. 

7 (7) CREDITING REVOLVING FUND.—A revolving 

8 fund of a State shall be credited with all payments 

9 of principal and interest on all loans made from the 

10 revolving fund. 

11 (g) ADMINISTRATION COSTS.—A State shall charge 

12 a program participant an administrative fee of not more 

13 than 4 percent of the loan amount. The State shall use 

14 the fees to administer the revolving fund and conduct ad15 ministration activities under this Act. 

16 (h) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary shall 

17 provide technical assistance to program participants to as18 sist with sourcing of food, food storage, and other oper19 ational requirements. 

20 (i) BANKRUPTCY.—In the case of the bankruptcy of 

21 a program participant, amounts owed on a loan from a 

22 revolving fund shall be afforded precedence over other 

23 debt. 

24 (j) CHANGE IN UNDERSERVED STATUS.—In the case 

25 of a community that qualified as underserved during a peVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:03 Mar 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1230.IH H1230

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1 riod in which loans were made by a State pursuant to this 

2 section and no longer qualifies as underserved, recipients 

3 of loans under this section in such community— 

4 (1) shall not be eligible for further loans under 

5 this section; and 

6 (2) may not have their loan agreements altered. 

7 (k) GROCERY STORE EARNINGS.—Earnings of a non8 profit organization or municipally owned program partici9 pant that are attributable to a loan received from a revolv10 ing fund of a State shall be used for reinvestment into 

11 the program participant or to support the continuity of 

12 operations of the program participant. 

13 SEC. 3. CAPITALIZATION GRANTS TO FUND STATE REVOLV14 ING FUNDS. 

15 (a) ELIGIBILITY OF STATE FOR CAPITALIZATION

16 GRANT.—To be eligible for a capitalization grant, a State 

17 shall— 

18 (1) establish a revolving fund that complies 

19 with the requirements of this Act; and 

20 (2) establish a process for applications and cri21 teria for making loans from the revolving fund, sub22 ject to the requirements in section 2(d). 

23 (b) UPON RECEIPT OF CAPITALIZATION GRANT.— 

24 Upon the receipt of a capitalization grant, a State shall 


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1 deposit such capitalization grant into the revolving fund 

2 of the State. 

3 (c) DISTRIBUTION.—For a fiscal year, the Secretary 

4 shall apportion amounts made available for capitalization 

5 grants under this section among the States eligible under 

6 subsection (a) in the ratio that— 

7 (1) the population of underserved communities 

8 in each State eligible under subsection (a), bears to 

9 (2) the population of underserved communities 

10 in all States eligible under subsection (a). 

11 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

12 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

13 this Act $150,000,000 for fiscal year 2022. 

14 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

15 In this Act: 

16 (1) CAPITALIZATION GRANT.—The term ‘‘cap17 italization grant’’ means a grant made to a State 

18 under the program. 

19 (2) HEALTHFUL FOOD.—The term ‘‘healthful 

20 food’’ means food that reflects the most recent Die21 tary Guidelines for Americans. 

22 (3) GROCERY STORE.—The term ‘‘grocery 

23 store’’ means a retail store that derives income pri24 marily from the sale of food for home preparation 

25 and consumption. 


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1 (4) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘program’’ means 

2 the program described in section 2(a). 

3 (5) PROGRAM PARTICIPANT.—The term ‘‘pro4 gram participant’’ means an entity that has received 

5 a loan under the program. 

6 (6) REVOLVING FUND.—The term ‘‘revolving 

7 fund’’ means a fund established by a State for use 

8 as a depository for a capitalization grant. 

9 (7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

10 the Secretary of Agriculture. 

11 (8) STAPLE FOOD.—The term ‘‘staple food’’ 

12 has the meaning given the term in section 243(b) of 

13 the of the Department of Agriculture Reorganization 

14 Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 6953(b)). 

15 (9) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means States of 

16 the Union, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, 

17 the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the 

18 Northern Mariana Islands. 

19 (10) UNDERSERVED COMMUNITY.—The term 

20 ‘‘underserved community’’ has the meaning given 

21 the term in section 310B(g)(9)(A) of the Consoli22 dated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 

23 1932(g)(9)(A)). 

Æ 


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