II

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1111

To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to authorize

the National Rural Development Partnership, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 27, 2001

Mr. CRAIG (for himself, Mr. CONRAD, Mr. ALLARD, Mr. BAUCUS, Mr. BINGAMAN, Mr. BURNS, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. DASCHLE, Mr. DAYTON, Mr. DORGAN, Mr. ENZI, Mr. GRAMM, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. HAGEL,

Mr. HELMS, Mrs. HUTCHISON, Mr. JEFFORDS, Mr. JOHNSON, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. KERRY, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. LUGAR, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. NELSON of Nebraska, Mr. REED, Mr. ROBERTS, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. SMITH of New Hampshire, Mr. SMITH of Oregon, Mr. THOMAS, and Mr. WELLSTONE) introduced the following bill; which was read

twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

A BILL

To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development

Act to authorize the National Rural Development Partnership, 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 ‘‘National Rural Devel5 opment Partnership Act of 2001’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

2 Congress finds that—

3 (1) rural development has been given high pri4 ority throughout most of this century as a means of

5 achieving a sound balance between rural and urban

6 areas in the United States, a balance that Congress

7 considers essential to the peace, prosperity, and wel8 fare of all citizens of the United States;

9 (2)(A) during the last half century, Congress

10 has enacted many laws and established many pro11 grams to provide resources to rural communities;

12 (B) in addition, many efforts have been made

13 to coordinate Federal rural development programs;

14 and

15 (C) during the last decade, the National Rural

16 Development Partnership and its principal compo17 nents, the National Rural Development Council and

18 State rural development councils, have successfully

19 provided opportunities for collaboration and coordi20 nation among Federal agencies and between Federal

21 agencies and States, nonprofit organizations, the

22 private sector, tribal governments, and other entities

23 committed to rural advancement;

24 (3) Congress enacted the Rural Development

25 Act of 1972 (86 Stat. 657) and the Rural Develop-
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1 ment Policy Act of 1980 (94 Stat. 1171) as a mani2 festation of this commitment to rural development;

3 (4) section 607(b)(3) of the Rural Development

4 Policy Act of 1972 (7 U.S.C. 2204b(b)(3)) directs

5 the Secretary of Agriculture to develop a process

6 through which multi-state, State, substate, and local

7 rural development needs, goals objectives, plans, and

8 recommendations can be received and assessed on a

9 continuing basis;

10 (5) the National Rural Development Partner11 ship and State rural development councils were es12 tablished as vehicles to help coordinate development

13 of rural programs in 1990;

14 (6) in 1991, the Secretary began to execute

15 those statutory responsibilities, in part through the

16 innovative mechanism of national, State, and local

17 rural development partnerships administered by the

18 Under Secretary of Agriculture for Small Commu19 nity and Rural Development;

20 (7) that mechanism, now known as the ‘‘Na21 tional Rural Development Partnership’’, has been

22 recognized as a model of new governance and as an

23 example of the effectiveness of collaboration between

24 the Federal, State, local, tribal, private, and non-
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1 profit sectors in addressing the needs of the rural

2 communities of the United States;

3 (8) partnerships by agencies and entities in the

4 Partnership would extend scarce but valuable fund5 ing through collaboration and cooperation; and

6 (9) the continued success and efficacy of the

7 Partnership could be enhanced through specific Con8 gressional authorization removing any statutory bar9 riers that could detract from the benefits potentially

10 achieved through the Partnership’s unique structure.

11 SEC. 3. NATIONAL RURAL DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIP.

12 Subtitle E of the Consolidated Farm and Rural De13 velopment Act (7 U.S.C. 2009 et seq.) is amended by add14 ing at the end the following:

15 ‘‘SEC. 381P. NATIONAL RURAL DEVELOPMENT PARTNER16 SHIP.

17 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

18 ‘‘(1) AGENCY WITH RURAL RESPONSIBIL19 ITIES.—The term ‘agency with rural responsibilities’

20 means any executive agency (as defined in section

21 105 of title 5, United States Code) that—

22 ‘‘(A) implements Federal law targeted at

23 rural areas, including—
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1 ‘‘(i) the Act of April 24, 1950 (com2 monly known as the ‘Granger-Thye Act’)

3 (64 Stat. 82, chapter 9);

4 ‘‘(ii) the Intergovernmental Coopera5 tion Act of 1968 (82 Stat. 1098);

6 ‘‘(iii) section 41742 of title 49, United

7 States Code;

8 ‘‘(iv) the Rural Development Act of

9 1972 (86 Stat. 657);

10 ‘‘(v) the Rural Development Policy

11 Act of 1980 (94 Stat. 1171);

12 ‘‘(vi) the Rural Electrification Act of

13 1936 (7 U.S.C. 901 et seq.);

14 ‘‘(vii) amendments made to section

15 334 of the Public Health Service Act (42

16 U.S.C. 254g) by the Rural Health Clinics

17 Act of 1983 (97 Stat. 1345); and

18 ‘‘(viii) the Rural Housing Amend19 ments of 1983 (97 Stat. 1240) and the

20 amendments made by the Rural Housing

21 Amendments of 1983 to title V of the

22 Housing Act of 1949 (42 U.S.C. 1471 et

23 seq.); or

24 ‘‘(B) administers a program that has a sig25 nificant impact on rural areas, including—
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1 ‘‘(i) the Appalachian Regional Com2 mission;

3 ‘‘(ii) the Department of Agriculture;

4 ‘‘(iii) the Department of Commerce;

5 ‘‘(iv) the Department of Defense;

6 ‘‘(v) the Department of Education;

7 ‘‘(vi) the Department of Energy;

8 ‘‘(vii) the Department of Health and

9 Human Services;

10 ‘‘(viii) the Department of Housing

11 and Urban Development;

12 ‘‘(ix) the Department of the Interior;

13 ‘‘(x) the Department of Justice;

14 ‘‘(xi) the Department of Labor;

15 ‘‘(xii) the Department of Transpor16 tation;

17 ‘‘(xiii) the Department of the Treas18 ury.

19 ‘‘(xiv) the Department of Veterans Af20 fairs;

21 ‘‘(xv) the Environmental Protection

22 Agency;

23 ‘‘(xvi) the Federal Emergency Man24 agement Administration;
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1 ‘‘(xvii) the Small Business Adminis2 tration;

3 ‘‘(xviii) the Social Security Adminis4 tration;

5 ‘‘(xix) the Federal Reserve System;

6 ‘‘(xx) the United States Postal Serv7 ice;

8 ‘‘(xxi) the Corporation for National

9 Service;

10 ‘‘(xxii) the National Endowment for

11 the Arts and the National Endowment for

12 the Humanities; and

13 ‘‘(xxiii) other agencies, commissions,

14 and corporations.

15 ‘‘(2) COORDINATING COMMITTEE.—The term

16 ‘Coordinating Committee’ means the National Rural

17 Development Coordinating Committee established by

18 subsection (c).

19 ‘‘(3) PARTNERSHIP.—The term ‘Partnership’

20 means the National Rural Development Partnership

21 established by subsection (b).

22 ‘‘(4) RURAL AREA.—The term ‘rural area’

23 means—

24 ‘‘(A) all the territory of a State that is not

25 within the boundary of any standard metropoli-
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1 tan statistical area, as designated by the Direc2 tor of the Office of Management and Budget;

3 ‘‘(B) all territory within any standard met4 ropolitan statistical area described in subpara5 graph (A) within a census tract having a popu6 lation density of less than 20 persons per

7 square mile, as determined by the Secretary ac8 cording to the most recent census of the United

9 States as of any date; and

10 ‘‘(C) such areas as a State rural develop11 ment council may identify as rural.

12 ‘‘(5) STATE RURAL DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL.—

13 The term ‘State rural development council’ means a

14 State rural development council that meets the re15 quirements of subsection (d).

16 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT.—

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is established a Na18 tional Rural Development Partnership composed

19 of—

20 ‘‘(A) the Coordinating Committee; and

21 ‘‘(B) State rural development councils.

22 ‘‘(2) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the Partner23 ship are—

24 ‘‘(A) to empower and build the capacity of

25 States and rural communities within States to
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1 design unique responses to their own special

2 rural development needs, with local determina3 tions of progress and selection of projects and

4 activities;

5 ‘‘(B) to encourage participants to be flexi6 ble and innovative in establishing new partner7 ships and trying fresh, new approaches to rural

8 development issues, with responses to rural de9 velopment that use different approaches to fit

10 different situations; and

11 ‘‘(C) to encourage all partners in the Part12 nership (Federal, State, local, and tribal gov13 ernments, the private sector, and nonprofit or14 ganizations) to be fully engaged and share

15 equally in decisions.

16 ‘‘(3) ROLE OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.—The

17 role of the Federal Government in the Partnership

18 shall be that of a partner, coach, and facilitator,

19 with Federal agencies authorized—

20 ‘‘(A) to cooperate closely with States to

21 implement the Partnership;

22 ‘‘(B) to provide States with the technical

23 and administrative support necessary to plan

24 and implement tailored rural development strat25 egies to meet local needs;
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1 ‘‘(C) to delegate decisionmaking to other

2 levels;

3 ‘‘(D) to ensure that the head of each agen4 cy referred to in subsection (a)(1)(B) des5 ignates a senior-level agency official to rep6 resent the agency on the Coordinating Com7 mittee and directs appropriate field staff to par8 ticipate fully with the State rural development

9 council within the jurisdiction of the field staff;

10 and

11 ‘‘(E) to enter into cooperative agreements

12 with, and to provide grants and other assistance

13 to, State rural development councils, regardless

14 of the legal form of organization of a State

15 rural development council and notwithstanding

16 any other provision of law.

17 ‘‘(4) ROLE OF PRIVATE AND NONPROFIT SEC18 TOR ORGANIZATIONS.—Private and nonprofit sector

19 organizations are encouraged—

20 ‘‘(A) to act as full partners in the Partner21 ship and State rural development councils; and

22 ‘‘(B) to cooperate with participating gov23 ernment organizations in developing innovative

24 approaches to the solution of rural development

25 problems.
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1 ‘‘(c) NATIONAL RURAL DEVELOPMENT COORDI2 NATING COMMITTEE.—

3 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a

4 National Rural Development Coordinating Com5 mittee.

6 ‘‘(2) COMPOSITION.—The Coordinating Com7 mittee shall be composed of—

8 ‘‘(A) 1 representative of each agency with

9 rural responsibilities that elects to participate in

10 the Coordinating Committee; and

11 ‘‘(B) representatives of—

12 ‘‘(i) national associations of State, re13 gional, local, and tribal governments and

14 intergovernmental and multi-jurisdictional

15 agencies and organizations;

16 ‘‘(ii) national public interest groups;

17 and

18 ‘‘(iii) other national nonprofit organi19 zations that elect to participate in the ac20 tivities of the Coordinating Committee.

21 ‘‘(3) DUTIES.—The Coordinating Committee

22 shall—

23 ‘‘(A) provide support for the work of the

24 State rural development councils;
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1 ‘‘(B) facilitate coordination among Federal

2 programs and activities, and with State, local,

3 tribal, and private programs and activities, af4 fecting rural development;

5 ‘‘(C) enhance the effectiveness, responsive6 ness, and delivery of Federal programs in rural

7 areas;

8 ‘‘(D) gather and provide to Federal au9 thorities information and input for the develop10 ment and implementation of Federal programs

11 impacting rural economic and community devel12 opment;

13 ‘‘(E) review and comment on policies, reg14 ulations, and proposed legislation that affect or

15 would affect rural areas;

16 ‘‘(F) provide technical assistance to State

17 rural development councils for the implementa18 tion of Federal programs; and

19 ‘‘(G) develop and facilitate strategies to re20 duce or eliminate administrative and regulatory

21 impediments.

22 ‘‘(4) ELECTION NOT TO PARTICIPATE.—An

23 agency with rural responsibilities that elects not to

24 participate in the Partnership shall submit to Con25 gress a report that describes—
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1 ‘‘(A) how the programmatic responsibilities

2 of the Federal agency that target or have an

3 impact on rural areas are better achieved with4 out participation by the agency in the Partner5 ship; and

6 ‘‘(B) a more effective means of partner7 ship-building and collaboration to achieve the

8 programmatic responsibilities of the agency.

9 ‘‘(5) PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS.—In con10 ducting a performance evaluation of an employee of

11 an agency with rural responsibilities, the agency

12 shall consider any comments submitted by a State

13 rural development council.

14 ‘‘(d) STATE RURAL DEVELOPMENT COUNCILS.—

15 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Each State may elect

16 to participate in the Partnership by entering into an

17 agreement with the Secretary to establish a State

18 rural development council.

19 ‘‘(2) STATE DIVERSITY.—Each State rural de20 velopment council shall—

21 ‘‘(A) have a nonpartisan and nondiscrim22 inatory membership that is broad and rep23 resentative of the economic, social, and political

24 diversity of the State; and
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1 ‘‘(B) carry out programs and activities in

2 a manner that reflects the diversity of the

3 State.

4 ‘‘(3) DUTIES.—A State rural development

5 council shall—

6 ‘‘(A) facilitate collaboration among Fed7 eral, State, local, and tribal governments and

8 the private and nonprofit sectors in the plan9 ning and implementation of programs and poli10 cies that target or have an impact on rural

11 areas of the State;

12 ‘‘(B) enhance the effectiveness, responsive13 ness, and delivery of Federal and State pro14 grams in rural areas of the State;

15 ‘‘(C) gather and provide to the Coordi16 nating Committee and other appropriate organi17 zations information on the condition of rural

18 areas in the State;

19 ‘‘(D) monitor and report on policies and

20 programs that address, or fail to address, the

21 needs of the rural areas of the State;

22 ‘‘(E) facilitate the formulation of local

23 needs assessments for the rural areas of the

24 State and participate in the development of cri-
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1 teria for the distribution of Federal funds to

2 the rural areas of the State;

3 ‘‘(F) provide comments to the Coordi4 nating Committee and other appropriate organi5 zations on policies, regulations, and proposed

6 legislation that affect or would affect the rural

7 areas of the State;

8 ‘‘(G) in conjunction with the Coordinating

9 Committee, facilitate the development of strate10 gies to reduce or eliminate conflicting or dupli11 cative administrative or regulatory requirements

12 of Federal, State, local, and tribal governments;

13 and

14 ‘‘(H) use grant or cooperative agreement

15 funds available to the Partnership to—

16 ‘‘(i) retain an Executive Director and

17 such support staff as are necessary to fa18 cilitate and implement the directives of the

19 State rural development council; and

20 ‘‘(ii) pay expenses associated with car21 rying out subparagraphs (A) through (G)

22 and subparagraph (J).

23 ‘‘(4) AUTHORITIES.—A State rural development

24 council may—
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1 ‘‘(A) solicit funds to supplement and

2 match funds granted under paragraph (3)(H);

3 and

4 ‘‘(B) engage in activities, in addition to

5 those specified in paragraph (3), appropriate to

6 accomplish the purposes for which the State

7 rural development council is established.

8 ‘‘(5) COMMENTS OR RECOMMENDATIONS.—

9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A State rural develop10 ment council may provide comments and rec11 ommendations to an agency with rural respon12 sibilities related to the activities of the State

13 rural development council within the State.

14 ‘‘(B) AGENCY.—The agency with rural re15 sponsibilities shall provide to the State rural de16 velopment council a written response to the

17 comments or recommendations.

18 ‘‘(6) ACTIONS OF STATE RURAL DEVELOPMENT

19 COUNCIL MEMBERS.—When carrying out a program

20 or activity authorized by a State rural development

21 council, a member of the council shall be regarded

22 as an employee of the Federal Government for pur23 poses of chapter 171 of title 28, United States Code.

24 ‘‘(7) FEDERAL PARTICIPATION IN STATE RURAL

25 DEVELOPMENT COUNCILS.—
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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara2 graph (B), Federal employees may participate

3 in a State rural development council.

4 ‘‘(B) CONFLICTS.—A Federal employee

5 who participates in a State rural development

6 council shall not participate in the making of

7 any council decision if the agency represented

8 by the Federal employee has any financial or

9 other interest in the outcome of the decision.

10 ‘‘(C) FEDERAL GUIDANCE.—The Attorney

11 General shall issue guidance to all Federal em12 ployees that participate in State rural develop13 ment councils that describes specific decisions

14 that—

15 ‘‘(i) would constitute a conflict of in16 terest for the Federal employee; and

17 ‘‘(ii) from which the Federal employee

18 must recuse himself or herself.

19 ‘‘(e) ADMINISTRATION OF THE PARTNERSHIP.—

20 ‘‘(1) DETAIL OF EMPLOYEES.—In order to pro21 vide experience in intergovernmental collaboration,

22 with the approval of the head of an agency with

23 rural responsibilities that elects to participate in the

24 Partnership, an employee of the agency with rural

25 responsibilities is encouraged to be detailed to the
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1 Partnership without reimbursement, and such detail

2 shall be without interruption or loss of civil service

3 status or privilege.

4 ‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL SUPPORT.—The Secretary

5 shall provide for any additional support staff to the

6 Partnership as the Secretary determines to be nec7 essary to carry out the duties of the Partnership.

8 ‘‘(3) PANEL.—

9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A panel consisting of

10 representatives of the Coordinating Committee

11 and State rural development councils shall be

12 established to lead and coordinate the strategic

13 operation, policies, and practices of the Part14 nership.

15 ‘‘(B) ANNUAL REPORTS.—In conjunction

16 with the Coordinating Committee and State

17 rural development councils, the panel shall pre18 pare and submit to Congress an annual report

19 on the activities of the Partnership.

20 ‘‘(f) FUNDING.—

21 ‘‘(1) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized

23 to be appropriated such sums as are necessary

24 to carry out this section.
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1 ‘‘(B) FUNDING FORMULA.—In the case of

2 general financial support provided by the Fed3 eral Government to all State rural development

4 councils, such support shall be uniform in

5 amount, but the Secretary may distribute gen6 eral financial support that exceeds 200 percent

7 of the uniform amount received by all State

8 rural development councils for fiscal year 2002

9 under a formula that takes into account the ge10 ographic size of the rural areas of the respective

11 States, the rural populations of the respective

12 States, economic factors, and other appropriate

13 factors.

14 ‘‘(2) FEDERAL AGENCIES.—

15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any

16 other provision of law, in order to carry out the

17 purposes described in subsection (b)(2), the

18 Partnership shall be eligible to receive grants,

19 gifts, contributions, or technical assistance

20 from, or enter into contracts with, any Federal

21 agency, to the extent permitted by law.

22 ‘‘(B) ASSISTANCE.—Federal agencies are

23 encouraged to use funds made available for pro24 grams that target or have an impact on rural

25 areas to provide assistance to, and enter into
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1 contracts with, the Partnership, as described in

2 subparagraph (A).

3 ‘‘(3) CONTRIBUTIONS.—The Partnership may

4 accept private contributions.

5 ‘‘(g) MATCHING REQUIREMENTS FOR STATE RURAL

6 DEVELOPMENT COUNCILS.—A State rural development

7 council shall provide matching funds, or in-kind goods or

8 services, to support the activities of the State rural devel9 opment council in an amount that is not less than 33 per10 cent of the amount of Federal funds received under an

11 agreement under subsection (d)(1).

12 ‘‘(h) TERMINATION.—The authority provided under

13 this section shall terminate on the date that is 5 years

14 after the date of enactment of this section.’’.

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