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[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4836 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>

118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4836

To require the creation of a simplified Department of Agriculture grant 
                   form for use by rural communities.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 30, 2024

  Ms. Lummis (for herself and Mr. Barrasso) introduced the following 
      bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                  Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
To require the creation of a simplified Department of Agriculture grant 
                   form for use by rural communities.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``USDA Grant Simplification Act of 
2024''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Department.--The term ``Department'' means the 
        Department of Agriculture.
            (2) Rural community.--
                    (A) In general.--The term ``rural community'' means 
                an incorporated municipality, Tribal area, or 
                territory--
                            (i) with a population of not more than 
                        10,000, as determined by the Bureau of the 
                        Census in the most recent decennial census; or
                            (ii) that is not located in a metropolitan 
                        statistical area, as designated by the Director 
                        of the Office of Management and Budget.
                    (B) Inclusions.--The term ``rural community'' 
                includes a nonmunicipal publicly elected or appointed 
                local infrastructure political subdivision described in 
                clause (i) or (ii) of subparagraph (A), including--
                            (i) a water district;
                            (ii) an irrigation district;
                            (iii) a road and bridge district; and
                            (iv) a fire district.
            (3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Agriculture.
            (4) Short form application.--The term ``short form 
        application'' means the short form application described in 
        section 3(a).

SEC. 3. CREATION OF A STANDARD SHORT FORM APPLICATION.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, and after soliciting input from rural 
communities in accordance with subsection (b), the Secretary shall 
create a standardized grant application short form for use by a rural 
community when applying for a grant under a grant program of the 
Department for which the rural community is otherwise eligible.
    (b) Rural Community Input.--The Secretary shall solicit input from 
a representative group of rural communities on the challenges faced by 
rural communities in finding and applying for grants from the 
Department, including--
            (1) the length of applications;
            (2) the information and documents requested by the 
        application;
            (3) the applicability of questions and requested materials 
        to rural communities; and
            (4) any other consideration that the Secretary determines 
        to be necessary for the creation of the short form application.
    (c) Contents of Short Form Application.--The short form application 
shall--
            (1) include--
                    (A) basic information common to all applications 
                for grants from the Department for which rural 
                communities are eligible; and
                    (B) any other information the Secretary, in 
                consultation with rural communities in accordance with 
                subsection (b), determines necessary to include; and
            (2) exclude questions and requests for information that are 
        not applicable to a rural community.
    (d) Use of Short Form Application.--
            (1) Grant program identification.--Not later than 90 days 
        after the creation of the short form application, the Secretary 
        shall identify grant programs administered by the Department 
        for which--
                    (A) rural communities are eligible to receive 
                funds; and
                    (B) the application requirements are in excess of 
                those in the short form application.
            (2) Implementation.--Except as provided in paragraph (3), 
        not later than 180 days after the Secretary identifies grant 
        programs under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall accept the 
        short form application from a rural community for those 
        programs.
            (3) Exception.--Paragraph (2) shall not apply to a grant 
        program identified under paragraph (1) for which changes to the 
        application process are not feasible, including a grant program 
        for which changes to the application process require 
        rulemaking.
                                 <all>
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