II 

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. 

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 ‘‘USDA Grant Sim5 plification Act of 2024’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 

9 means the Department of Agriculture. 

10 (2) RURAL COMMUNITY.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘rural com2 munity’’ means an incorporated municipality, 

3 Tribal area, or territory— 

4 (i) with a population of not more than 

5 10,000, as determined by the Bureau of 

6 the Census in the most recent decennial 

7 census; or 

8 (ii) that is not located in a metropoli9 tan statistical area, as designated by the 

10 Director of the Office of Management and 

11 Budget. 

12 (B) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘rural com13 munity’’ includes a nonmunicipal publicly elect14 ed or appointed local infrastructure political 

15 subdivision described in clause (i) or (ii) of sub16 paragraph (A), including— 

17 (i) a water district; 

18 (ii) an irrigation district; 

19 (iii) a road and bridge district; and 

20 (iv) a fire district. 

21 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

22 the Secretary of Agriculture. 

23 (4) SHORT FORM APPLICATION.—The term 

24 ‘‘short form application’’ means the short form ap25 plication described in section 3(a). 


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1 SEC. 3. CREATION OF A STANDARD SHORT FORM APPLICA2 TION. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

4 date of enactment of this Act, and after soliciting input 

5 from rural communities in accordance with subsection (b), 

6 the Secretary shall create a standardized grant application 

7 short form for use by a rural community when applying 

8 for a grant under a grant program of the Department for 

9 which the rural community is otherwise eligible. 

10 (b) RURAL COMMUNITY INPUT.—The Secretary shall 

11 solicit input from a representative group of rural commu12 nities on the challenges faced by rural communities in 

13 finding and applying for grants from the Department, in14 cluding— 

15 (1) the length of applications; 

16 (2) the information and documents requested 

17 by the application; 

18 (3) the applicability of questions and requested 

19 materials to rural communities; and 

20 (4) any other consideration that the Secretary 

21 determines to be necessary for the creation of the 

22 short form application. 

23 (c) CONTENTS OF SHORT FORM APPLICATION.—The 

24 short form application shall— 

25 (1) include— 


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1 (A) basic information common to all appli2 cations for grants from the Department for 

3 which rural communities are eligible; and 

4 (B) any other information the Secretary, 

5 in consultation with rural communities in ac6 cordance with subsection (b), determines nec7 essary to include; and 

8 (2) exclude questions and requests for informa9 tion that are not applicable to a rural community. 

10 (d) USE OF SHORT FORM APPLICATION.— 

11 (1) GRANT PROGRAM IDENTIFICATION.—Not 

12 later than 90 days after the creation of the short 

13 form application, the Secretary shall identify grant 

14 programs administered by the Department for 

15 which— 

16 (A) rural communities are eligible to re17 ceive funds; and 

18 (B) the application requirements are in ex19 cess of those in the short form application. 

20 (2) IMPLEMENTATION.—Except as provided in 

21 paragraph (3), not later than 180 days after the 

22 Secretary identifies grant programs under paragraph 

23 (1), the Secretary shall accept the short form appli24 cation from a rural community for those programs. 


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1 (3) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (2) shall not 

2 apply to a grant program identified under paragraph 

3 (1) for which changes to the application process are 

4 not feasible, including a grant program for which 

5 changes to the application process require rule6 making. 

Æ 


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