II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3270 

To amend the Federal Crop Insurance Reform and Department of Agriculture 

Reorganization Act of 1994 to establish a budgetary Tribal Government 

consultation process at the Department of Agriculture, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 9, 2023 

Mr. ROUNDS (for himself, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. DAINES, and Ms. SMITH) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Crop Insurance Reform and Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 to establish a budgetary Tribal Government consultation process 

at the Department of Agriculture, 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 Economic-devel5 opment Assistance and Consultation to Help Our Tribes 

6 Act’’ or the ‘‘REACH Our Tribes Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHING A BUDGETARY TRIBAL GOVERN2 MENT CONSULTATION PROCESS AT THE DE3 PARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 309 of the Federal Crop 

5 Insurance Reform and Department of Agriculture Reorga6 nization Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 6921) is amended by add7 ing at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(c) BUDGETARY TRIBAL GOVERNMENT CONSULTA9 TION PROCESS.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

11 the date of the enactment of the Rural Economic-de12 velopment Assistance and Consultation to Help Our 

13 Tribes Act, the Secretary, in consultation with the 

14 Office of Tribal Relations and the Office of Budget 

15 and Program Analysis of the Department of Agri16 culture, shall establish, finalize, and implement a 

17 formal process for consultation with Tribal Govern18 ments on at least an annual basis, on— 

19 ‘‘(A) annual budget requests; and 

20 ‘‘(B) bills proposing the reauthorization of 

21 certain Department of Agriculture programs 

22 over a period of multiple years with budgetary 

23 impacts, including bills providing for the reau24 thorization of Department of Agriculture pro25 grams (commonly known as farm bills). 


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1 ‘‘(2) NOTICE.—The consultation process under 

2 paragraph (1) shall require the Secretary to provide 

3 notice to Tribal Governments of a consultation not 

4 later than 30 days before the date on which such 

5 consultation is to occur. 

6 ‘‘(3) REPORTING.—The Secretary, in consulta7 tion with Tribal Governments, shall develop and im8 plement a mechanism for reporting on any consulta9 tion that occurs pursuant to paragraph (1). Such a 

10 report shall include— 

11 ‘‘(A) a summary of issues consulted on; 

12 ‘‘(B) comments received during that con13 sultation from Tribal Governments; and 

14 ‘‘(C) if applicable, steps taken, or to be 

15 taken, by the Secretary in response to such con16 sultation. 

17 ‘‘(4) SCOPE.—The consultation process under 

18 paragraph (1) shall not be limited only to programs 

19 that are specific to Indian Tribes, but may include 

20 programs that may impact Indian Tribes and Tribal 

21 entities. 

22 ‘‘(5) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 

23 this subsection shall be construed as limiting the 

24 Secretary from— 


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1 ‘‘(A) conducting other consultations with 

2 Tribal Governments or other entities, as speci3 fied under another provision of Federal law; or 

4 ‘‘(B) advancing other practices to conduct 

5 such consultations.’’. 

6 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 12 months after the 

7 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agri8 culture shall submit to the Committee on Agriculture of 

9 the House of Representatives and the Committee on Agri10 culture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate a report 

11 on— 

12 (1) how the Secretary developed the Tribal Gov13 ernment consultation process under subsection (c) of 

14 section 309 of the Federal Crop Insurance Reform 

15 and Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act 

16 of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 6921), as added by subsection (a) 

17 of this section; and 

18 (2) a detailed description of the consultation 

19 process so developed. 

20 SEC. 3. REQUIRING DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE TO RE21 PORT PROGRAM FUNDING TO TRIBAL ENTI22 TIES. 

23 Section 309 of the Federal Crop Insurance Reform 

24 and Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 


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1 1994 (7 U.S.C. 6921), as amended by section 2, is further 

2 amended by adding at the end the following: 

3 ‘‘(d) PROGRAM FUNDING REPORTING.—The Sec4 retary and the Office of Tribal Relations shall, in consulta5 tion with Tribal Governments, establish a plan for ana6 lyzing and publicly reporting to Tribal entities on funding 

7 provided through programs administered by the Secretary 

8 for which such entities are eligible to apply. In conducting 

9 such analysis, the Secretary shall identify ways to improve 

10 assistance provided through such programs to Tribal enti11 ties, including through conducting additional outreach to 

12 provide technical assistance for such programs that are 

13 underutilized by Tribal entities.’’. 

14 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS RELATING TO TRIBES. 

15 Section 309 of the Federal Crop Insurance Reform 

16 and Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 

17 1994 (7 U.S.C. 6921), as amended by section 2, is further 

18 amended by adding at the end the following: 

19 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In this section: 

21 ‘‘(A) The term ‘1994 Institution’ has the 

22 meaning given such term in section 532 of the 

23 Equity in Educational Land-Grant Status Act 

24 of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 301 note). 


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1 ‘‘(B) The term ‘Secretary’ means the Sec2 retary of Agriculture. 

3 ‘‘(C) The term ‘Tribal entity’ means an In4 dian Tribe, Tribal organization, Tribal Govern5 ment, 1994 Institution, Urban Indian organiza6 tion, tribally-owned or tribally-controlled busi7 ness or non-profit organization, an arm or in8 strumentality of one or more Indian Tribes, or 

9 a business or nonprofit organization owned or 

10 controlled by one or more members of an In11 dian Tribe. 

12 ‘‘(D) The term ‘Tribal Government’ means 

13 the governing body of any Indian or Alaska Na14 tive Tribe, band, nation, pueblo, village, com15 munity, component band or component reserva16 tion, individually identified (including par17 enthetically) in the list published most recently 

18 as of the date of enactment of this subsection 

19 pursuant to section 104 of the Federally Recog20 nized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 

21 5131). 

22 ‘‘(E) The term ‘Tribal organization’ has 

23 the meaning given such term in section 4 of the 

24 Indian Self-Determination and Education As25 sistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 


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1 ‘‘(F) The term ‘Urban Indian organization’ 

2 has the meaning given such term in section 4 

3 of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act 

4 (25 U.S.C. 1603). 

5 ‘‘(2) INDIAN TRIBE.—For purposes of sub6 section (c), the term ‘Indian Tribe’ has the meaning 

7 given such term in section 102 of the Federally Rec8 ognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 

9 5130).’’. 

10 SEC. 5. INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE ON ECONOMIC DEVEL11 OPMENT PROGRAMS. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture, in 

13 consultation with the Secretary of Housing and Urban De14 velopment and the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for 

15 Economic Development, shall establish an interagency 

16 task force— 

17 (1) to review guidance and application require18 ments for economic development programs adminis19 tered by the Secretary of Agriculture; and 

20 (2) to develop interagency agreements to reduce 

21 administrative and planning burdens for applicants 

22 to such programs and the Federal agencies admin23 istering such programs. 


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1 (b) COMPOSITION.—The interagency task force es2 tablished under subsection (a) shall be composed of the 

3 following: 

4 (1) The Deputy Under Secretary for Rural De5 velopment of the Department of Agriculture (or 

6 their designee). 

7 (2) The Assistant Secretary of Commerce for 

8 Economic Development (or their designee). 

9 (3) The Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary 

10 for Community Planning and Development of the 

11 Department of Housing and Urban Development (or 

12 their designee). 

13 (4) Such other individuals or officials as deter14 mined appropriate by the Secretary of Agriculture, 

15 in consultation with the Secretary of Housing and 

16 Urban Development and the Assistant Secretary of 

17 Commerce for Economic Development. 

18 (c) DUTIES.—The task force established under sub19 section (a) shall— 

20 (1) in developing the agreements under sub21 section (a), identify opportunities for the Secretary 

22 of Agriculture, the Secretary of Housing and Urban 

23 Development, and the Assistant Secretary of Com24 merce for Economic Development— 


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1 (A) to align strategic planning require2 ments, stakeholder engagement requirements, 

3 and other application requirements; and 

4 (B) to issue joint guidance across pro5 grams of each such agency; and 

6 (2) establish a plan for regularly reviewing and 

7 updating interagency agreements entered into pursu8 ant to subsection (a) to ensure that such agree9 ments— 

10 (A) advance shared economic development 

11 objectives; 

12 (B) reduce applicant administrative and 

13 planning burdens; 

14 (C) reduce technical assistance needs; 

15 (D) reduce duplication in agency efforts; 

16 (E) improve collaboration across Federal, 

17 State, and local agencies; and 

18 (F) encourage and improve stakeholder 

19 and community engagement. 

20 SEC. 6. ESTABLISHING A COMPREHENSIVE REPOSITORY OF 

21 FEDERAL TRIBAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 

22 PROGRAMS. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Commerce, in 

24 consultation with the Office of Native American Business 

25 Development, shall establish and implement a working 


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1 group to develop, and regularly update, a comprehensive 

2 and public repository of Federal economic development 

3 programs available to Tribal entities (as defined in sub4 section (e) of section 309 of the Federal Crop Insurance 

5 Reform and Department of Agriculture Reorganization 

6 Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 6921), as added by section 4) to— 

7 (1) reduce agency and applicant administrative 

8 burden in identifying Tribal economic development 

9 programs; 

10 (2) improve awareness and utilization of Tribal 

11 economic development programs; and 

12 (3) improve the ability of the Office of Native 

13 American Business Development to assist Tribal en14 tities. 

15 (b) COMPOSITION.—The working group established 

16 under subsection (a) shall be composed of representatives 

17 of— 

18 (1) the Office of Native American Business De19 velopment; 

20 (2) the Economic Development Administration; 

21 (3) the Small Business Administration; 

22 (4) the Department of Agriculture; 

23 (5) the Department of Education; 

24 (6) the Department of Health and Human 

25 Services; 


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1 (7) the Department of Housing and Urban De2 velopment; 

3 (8) the Department of the Interior; and 

4 (9) such other Federal offices or agencies, as 

5 determined appropriate by the Secretary of Com6 merce. 

7 (c) DUTIES.—The working group established under 

8 subsection (a) shall— 

9 (1) identify economic development programs 

10 across Federal agencies for which Tribal entities are 

11 eligible to participate or receive assistance; 

12 (2) establish a comprehensive publicly accessible 

13 repository of information on such programs; 

14 (3) develop and execute a plan for sharing such 

15 repository with Federal, State, and local agencies 

16 and Tribal entities; and 

17 (4) develop and execute a plan for regularly re18 viewing and updating such repository once at least 

19 every 2 years. 

Æ 


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