IB 

Union Calendar No. 93 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2424 

[Report No. 117–129] 

To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a program under which 

the Secretary awards grants to States or State departments of agriculture for the purposes of providing support to agricultural fairs for 

losses sustained due to COVID–19. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 8, 2021 

Mr. PANETTA (for himself, Mr. LONG, Mr. LEVIN of California, and Mr. 

NEWHOUSE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 

SEPTEMBER 27, 2021 

Additional sponsors: Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. COSTA, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. KAPTUR, 

Ms. STEFANIK, Mr. WELCH, Ms. CRAIG, Mr. ROSE, Mr. THOMPSON of 

California, Mr. FORTENBERRY, Mr. KAHELE, Mr. KIND, Mr. KHANNA, 

Mr. MANN, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mrs. BICE of Oklahoma, Ms. MCCOLLUM, 

Mr. JACOBS of New York, Mr. GOHMERT, Mr. TRONE, Mr. MEUSER, Ms. 

PINGREE, Mr. CARL, Mr. DELGADO, Mr. GIMENEZ, Ms. KUSTER, Mr. 

O’HALLERAN, Ms. SALAZAR, and Mr. SABLAN

SEPTEMBER 27, 2021 

Reported with an amendment; committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on April 8, 2021] 


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•HR 2424 RH

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a program 

under which the Secretary awards grants to States or 

State departments of agriculture for the purposes of 

providing support to agricultural fairs for losses sustained due to COVID–19. 


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•HR 2424 RH

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 ‘‘Agricultural Fairs Res5 cue Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AGRICULTURAL FAIR RESCUE GRANTS. 

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

8 date on which funds are made available to carry out this 

9 section, the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Ad10 ministrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service, shall 

11 award a grant to each State department of agriculture (or 

12 other appropriate State agency assigned with the promotion 

13 of agricultural fairs) for the purposes of providing support 

14 to eligible agricultural fairs for losses sustained by such 

15 fairs due to COVID–19. 

16 (b) AMOUNT OF GRANT.—The amount of a grant to 

17 a State or State department of agriculture under this sec18 tion shall be based on the difference between the average 

19 attendance at agricultural fairs in the State for a calendar 

20 year occurring during the 3-calendar-year period beginning 

21 with calendar year 2017 (or over a shorter period, if attend22 ance data is not available for the entire 3-calendar-year pe23 riod) compared to calendar year 2020. 


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1 (c) CONDITIONS.—As a condition on the receipt of a 

2 grant under this section, a State or State department of 

3 agriculture shall agree— 

4 (1) to prioritize supporting eligible agricultural 

5 fairs in the State facing the greatest financial hard6 ship; and 

7 (2) to use not more than 5 percent of grant funds 

8 for administrative costs incurred in providing sup9 port to eligible agricultural fairs. 

10 (d) USE OF FUNDS.—A State or State department of 

11 agriculture selected to receive a grant under this section 

12 may only use grant funds to assist eligible agricultural fairs 

13 that— 

14 (1) host annual events that are drivers and pro15 moters of agribusiness in the State (as determined by 

16 the State); 

17 (2) have experienced a closure, stoppage, or can18 cellation of a local, county or State fair operations as 

19 a direct or indirect result of— 

20 (A) the COVID–19 national emergency; or 

21 (B) any associated actions taken by any 

22 governmental authority at the Federal, State, 

23 county, or municipal level in response to that 

24 national emergency; 


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1 (3) agree to, and demonstrate the intent to, re2 establish a fair within 18 months of the termination 

3 of the declaration specified in subsection (f)(2); 

4 (4) agree to use all grant funds within the 18- 

5 month period that begins on the date on which such 

6 funds are received; and 

7 (5) agree to use funds received pursuant to this 

8 section for operating capital expenses, to reimburse 

9 operating expenses paid from reserves not originally 

10 intended for operating expenses, repay indebtedness 

11 incurred to pay operating expenses, or repay other 

12 third parties that contributed to funding operating 

13 expenses, but not for capital improvements. 

14 (e) FUNDING.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be ap16 propriated to make grants under this section 

17 $500,000,000 for fiscal year 2022, each succeeding fis18 cal year occurring during the COVID–19 national 

19 emergency, and the first fiscal year immediately fol20 lowing the termination of such national emergency. 

21 (2) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—Of the funds 

22 made available under paragraph (1) to carry out this 

23 section for a fiscal year, not more than 8 percent may 

24 be used for expenses related to administering the pro25 gram under this section. 


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1 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

2 (1) ELIGIBLE AGRICULTURAL FAIR.—The term 

3 ‘‘eligible agricultural fair’’ means a local, county, or 

4 State fair that— 

5 (A) is a subunit of a government entity, a 

6 public corporation organized and existing pursu7 ant to State law, or is owned and operated as 

8 a not-for-profit organization described in section 

9 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and 

10 exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of 

11 such Code; and 

12 (B) helps farmers, ranchers, or foresters— 

13 (i) promote their products; or 

14 (ii) expand agricultural markets 

15 through conservation programs, agricultural 

16 research, educational programs, or other 

17 events that encourage agriculture, horti18 culture, and the domestic arts. 

19 (2) COVID–19 NATIONAL EMERGENCY.—The 

20 term ‘‘COVID–19 national emergency’’ means the na21 tional emergency declared by the President under the 

22 National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) on 

23 March 13, 2020, with respect to COVID–19. 

24 (3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the several 

25 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth 


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•HR 2424 RH

1 of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the United 

2 States Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the 

3 Northern Mariana Islands. 

4 (4) STATE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.—The 

5 term ‘‘State department of agriculture’’ means the 

6 agency, commission, or department of a State govern7 ment responsible for agriculture in the State. 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 93 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2424 

[Report No. 117–129] 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish 

COVID–19. agricultural fairs for losses sustained due to culture for the purposes of providing support to grants to States or State departments of agria program under which the Secretary awards 

SEPTEMBER 27, 2021 

Reported with an amendment; committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS