II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3378 

To amend the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 to improve 

the Rural Energy for America Program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 30, 2023 

Mr. WELCH introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To amend the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act 

of 2002 to improve the Rural Energy for America Program, 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 ‘‘Rural Energy Equity 

5 Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. RURAL ENERGY FOR AMERICA PROGRAM. 

7 Section 9007 of the Farm Security and Rural Invest8 ment Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C. 8107) is amended— 

9 (1) in subsection (b)— 


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1 (A) in the subsection heading, by striking 

2 ‘‘ENERGY AUDITS AND RENEWABLE ENERGY’’ 

3 and inserting ‘‘PROJECT’’; 

4 (B) in paragraph (1)— 

5 (i) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 

6 ‘‘, including for purposes of reducing the 

7 carbon footprint of the agricultural pro8 ducer and rural small business’’ before the 

9 semicolon; and 

10 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by inserting 

11 ‘‘, including for purposes of reducing the 

12 carbon footprint of the agricultural pro13 ducer and rural small business’’ before the 

14 period at the end; 

15 (C) in paragraph (4)— 

16 (i) in subparagraph (B), by redesig17 nating clauses (i) and (ii) as subclauses (I) 

18 and (II), respectively, and indenting appro19 priately; 

20 (ii) by redesignating subparagraphs 

21 (A) and (B) as clauses (i) and (ii), respec22 tively, and indenting appropriately; 

23 (iii) in the matter preceding clause (i) 

24 (as so redesignated), by striking ‘‘A recipi25 ent’’ and inserting the following: 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A recipient’’; and 

2 (iv) by adding at the end the fol3 lowing: 

4 ‘‘(B) MULTIPLE ACTIVITIES.—A recipient 

5 of a grant under paragraph (1) may use the 

6 grant to carry out 1 or more activities described 

7 in subparagraph (A).’’; and 

8 (D) in paragraph (6)— 

9 (i) by striking ‘‘A recipient’’ and in10 serting the following: 

11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A recipient’’; and 

12 (ii) by adding at the end the fol13 lowing: 

14 ‘‘(B) UNDERSERVED PRODUCERS AND

15 BUSINESSES.—If the agricultural producer or 

16 rural small business under subparagraph (A) is 

17 an underserved agricultural producer or rural 

18 small business, the amount paid by that under19 served agricultural producer or rural small busi20 ness pursuant to that subparagraph shall be at 

21 least 10 percent of the cost of the energy 

22 audit.’’; 

23 (2) in subsection (c)— 

24 (A) in paragraph (3)— 

25 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 


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1 (I) by striking ‘‘The amount of a 

2 grant under this subsection shall not 

3 exceed 25 percent’’ and inserting the 

4 following: 

5 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except as pro6 vided in clause (ii), the amount of a grant 

7 under this subsection shall not exceed 50 

8 percent’’; and 

9 (II) by adding at the end the fol10 lowing: 

11 ‘‘(ii) UNDERSERVED PRODUCERS.— 

12 The amount of a grant provided under this 

13 subsection to an agricultural producer who 

14 is a beginning farmer or rancher, a veteran 

15 farmer or rancher (as those terms are de16 fined in section 2501(a) of the Food, Agri17 culture, Conservation and Trade Act of 

18 1990 (7 U.S.C. 2279(a))), or an under19 served farmer or rancher shall not exceed 

20 75 percent of the cost of the activity fund21 ed by the grant.’’; 

22 (ii) by redesignating subparagraphs 

23 (C) and (D) as subparagraphs (D) and 

24 (E), respectively; 


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1 (iii) by inserting after subparagraph 

2 (B) the following: 

3 ‘‘(C) MAXIMUM PERCENTAGE OF LOAN

4 GUARANTEE.—The portion of a loan that the 

5 Secretary may guarantee under this subsection 

6 shall be— 

7 ‘‘(i) in the case of a loan in an 

8 amount that is less than $1,000,000, 90 

9 percent of the principal amount of the 

10 loan; and 

11 ‘‘(ii) in the case of a loan in an 

12 amount that is not less than $1,000,000, 

13 80 percent of the principal amount of the 

14 loan.’’; and 

15 (iv) in subparagraph (E) (as so redes16 ignated), by striking ‘‘subsection (f)’’ and 

17 inserting ‘‘subsection (g)’’; 

18 (B) in paragraph (4)— 

19 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

20 ‘‘3-tiered’’ and inserting ‘‘2-tiered’’; 

21 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

22 ‘‘$80,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$150,000’’; 

23 (iii) by striking subparagraph (C); 


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1 (iv) by redesignating subparagraphs 

2 (D) and (E) as subparagraphs (C) and 

3 (D), respectively; 

4 (v) in subparagraph (C) (as so redes5 ignated), in the subparagraph heading, by 

6 striking ‘‘3’’ and inserting ‘‘2’’; and 

7 (vi) in subparagraph (D) (as so redes8 ignated)— 

9 (I) by striking ‘‘The Secretary’’ 

10 and inserting the following: 

11 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary’’; 

12 (II) in clause (i) (as so des13 ignated), by striking ‘‘tier I projects 

14 and more comprehensive for each sub15 sequent tier’’ and inserting ‘‘tier 1 

16 projects and more comprehensive for 

17 tier 2 projects’’; and 

18 (III) by adding at the end the 

19 following: 

20 ‘‘(ii) SCORING.—The Secretary shall 

21 establish a scoring mechanism for tier 1 

22 project applications that is designed to in23 crease program utilization by small- and 

24 medium-sized farmers.’’; 


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1 (3) by redesignating subsections (d), (e), and 

2 (f) as subsections (e), (f), and (g), respectively; 

3 (4) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(d) REGIONAL DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry 

7 out regional demonstration projects that incentivize 

8 agricultural producers to reduce their carbon foot9 print or overall carbon equivalent emissions to the 

10 maximum extent practicable through the use of en11 ergy efficiency improvements and renewable energy 

12 systems. 

13 ‘‘(2) PUBLICIZATION.—The Secretary shall 

14 publicize the results of the regional demonstration 

15 projects carried out under paragraph (1).’’; 

16 (5) in subsection (e) (as so redesignated)— 

17 (A) by striking ‘‘The Secretary shall’’ and 

18 inserting ‘‘Using funds made available under 

19 subsection (g)(4), the Secretary shall’’; and 

20 (B) by inserting ‘‘or provided, as applica21 ble,’’ after ‘‘conducted’’; 

22 (6) in subsection (f) (as so redesignated)— 

23 (A) by striking ‘‘subsection (f)’’ each place 

24 it appears and inserting ‘‘subsection (g)’’; and 

25 (B) in paragraph (1)— 


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1 (i) by striking ‘‘20 percent’’ and in2 serting ‘‘25 percent’’; and 

3 (ii) by striking ‘‘$20,000’’ and insert4 ing ‘‘$75,000’’; and 

5 (7) in subsection (g) (as so redesignated)— 

6 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking subpara7 graphs (A) through (E) and inserting the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘(A) $50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 

10 2014 through 2023; 

11 ‘‘(B) $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2024; 

12 ‘‘(C) $150,000,000 for fiscal year 2025; 

13 ‘‘(D) $200,000,000 for fiscal year 2026; 

14 ‘‘(E) $250,000,000 for fiscal year 2027; 

15 and 

16 ‘‘(F) $300,000,000 for fiscal year 2028 

17 and each fiscal year thereafter.’’; 

18 (B) by striking paragraph (2) and insert19 ing the following: 

20 ‘‘(2) PROJECT DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE

21 FUNDING.—Of the funds made available for each fis22 cal year under paragraph (1) or any other funds 

23 made available to carry out this section, not less 

24 than 5 percent shall be made available to carry out 

25 subsection (b).’’; and 


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1 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

2 ‘‘(4) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—Of the 

3 funds made available to carry out this section for a 

4 fiscal year, the Secretary shall use not more than 8 

5 percent for administrative expenses. 

6 ‘‘(5) RESERVATION OF FUNDS.—Of the funds 

7 made available to carry out this section for a fiscal 

8 year, the Secretary may reserve— 

9 ‘‘(A) not more than 15 percent for award10 ing grants under subsection (c) that support 

11 the adoption of underutilized but proven com12 mercial technologies; and 

13 ‘‘(B) not more that 5 percent to carry out 

14 subsection (d).’’. 

Æ 


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