I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4947 

To improve infrastructure in small towns and rural areas. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 6, 2018 

Ms. ESTY of Connecticut (for herself, Mr. KATKO, Mr. FASO, and Mr. 

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

A BILL 

To improve infrastructure in small towns and rural areas. 

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 Infrastructure 

5 Development and Partnerships Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. RURAL PARTNERSHIPS OFFICE. 

7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 

8 Department of Agriculture a Rural Partnerships Office (in 

9 this section referred to as the ‘‘Office’’). 

10 (b) HEAD OF OFFICE.—The Office shall be headed 

11 by a Director appointed by the President. 


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1 (c) DIRECT REPORTING TO SECRETARY OF AGRI2 CULTURE.—The Director shall report directly to the Sec3 retary of Agriculture (in this section referred to as the 

4 ‘‘Secretary’’). 

5 (d) DUTIES.—The Secretary, through the Rural 

6 Partnerships Office, shall do the following: 

7 (1) RURAL PARTNERS PROGRAM.—Establish 

8 and run a program to provide technical assistance to 

9 improve delivery, financing, operations, and mainte10 nance of rural infrastructure, as follows: 

11 (A) Through a competitive process, select 

12 not more than 5 organizations to serve as ‘‘on13 call’’ providers of on-site technical assistance to 

14 rural communities. 

15 (B) Solicit applications from rural commu16 nities for technical assistance with infrastruc17 ture planning, asset management, life-cycle ac18 counting, project delivery, financing, regional 

19 coordination, and project oversight. 

20 (C) Require an application for technical as21 sistance from the program to include only a 

22 statement of the type of assistance requested, 

23 and of how the applicant believes the assistance 

24 would improve rural infrastructure, and any 

25 other information necessary to demonstrate the 


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1 ability of the rural community to participate in 

2 the program. 

3 (D) Involve the Rural Liaison in each rel4 evant Federal agency in the review of each ap5 plication for technical assistance from the pro6 gram. 

7 (E) Assign a technical assistance team to 

8 each applicant for technical assistance from the 

9 program whose application is approved by the 

10 Secretary, which shall provide the assistance for 

11 a period of not more than 2 years, with the goal 

12 that technical assistance personnel will be on13 site in the rural community for a significant 

14 portion of that period, and require the team to 

15 submit to the Secretary and the Rural Liaison 

16 in each relevant Federal agency quarterly re17 ports which summarize the activities of, and 

18 progress made by, the team during the quarter, 

19 including an accounting of for how much time 

20 the team spent in the community. 

21 (F) Coordinate the program with the Rural 

22 Water and Wastewater Circuit Rider Program 

23 carried out under section 306(a)(22) of the 

24 Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act 

25 (7 U.S.C. 1926(a)(22)), technical assistance 


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1 provided out under section 1442 of the Safe 

2 Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300j–1), the 

3 program for assistance for capacity building for 

4 community development and affordable housing 

5 under section 4 of the HUD Demonstration Act 

6 of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 9816 note), and any other 

7 activities under which technical assistance may 

8 be provided so as to affect rural infrastructure, 

9 in order to avoid duplication of effort. 

10 (2) BEST PRACTICES CLEARINGHOUSE.—Estab11 lish an online clearinghouse of best practices specifi12 cally targeted to rural infrastructure planning, asset 

13 management, life-cycle accounting, project delivery, 

14 funding and financing, regional coordination, and 

15 project oversight, including resources prepared by 

16 Federal agencies and other sources. 

17 (3) GRANTS.—Make grants to assist rural com18 munities in developing cost-effective infrastructure 

19 projects, with particular focus on regionally coordi20 nated or bundled projects, and require an applica21 tion for such a grant to include only such docu22 mentation as is necessary to demonstrate the poten23 tial for a viable project, and to be submitted by the 

24 State, local, or regional governmental entity with 

25 primary responsibility for the project. 


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1 (4) COORDINATION OF RURAL LIASIONS.—Fa2 cilitate coordination of the Rural Liaisons to de3 velop, to the extent practical, common guidelines for 

4 rural funding or financing programs at the various 

5 Federal agencies, as well as to identify opportunities 

6 to work across agencies to support rural infrastruc7 ture needs. 

8 (5) ANNUAL REPORTS.—Within 60 days after 

9 the end of each fiscal year, publish an annual report 

10 on the activities of the Office during the preceding 

11 fiscal year, including the status of activities funded 

12 or assisted under the technical assistance program, 

13 and submit a copy of the report to the Committee 

14 on Agriculture of the House of Representatives and 

15 the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and For16 estry of the Senate. 

17 SEC. 3. RURAL LIAISONS. 

18 (a) DESIGNATION IN EACH FEDERAL AGENCY.—The 

19 head of each Federal agency that provides financial assist20 ance to a rural community for an activity related to rural 

21 infrastructure, shall designate a Rural Liaison in the 

22 agency. 

23 (b) DUTIES.—The Rural Liaison in a Federal agency 

24 shall do the following: 


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1 (1) Review regulations of, guidance provided by, 

2 and procedures of the agency to identify any that 

3 present a hardship for a rural community, and rec4 ommend ways to alleviate the hardship. 

5 (2) Participate in the review of applications re6 ferred to in section 2(d)(1)(C). 

7 (3) Serve as an ombudsperson for any rural 

8 community to which the agency is providing finan9 cial assistance, to help address issues and resolve 

10 problems. 

11 (4) Meet regularly with other Rural Liaisons to 

12 coordinate efforts and identify ways to work together 

13 to support rural infrastructure needs. 

14 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

15 In this Act: 

16 (1) RELEVANT FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term 

17 ‘‘relevant Federal agency’’ means, with respect to an 

18 application for technical assistance, each Federal 

19 agency that provides financial assistance to a rural 

20 community for an activity related to rural infra21 structure with respect to which the technical assist22 ance is sought. 

23 (2) RURAL AREA.—The term ‘‘rural area’’ 

24 means any area located outside an urbanized area 


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1 (as defined by the Bureau of the Census) with a 

2 population of 50,000 or more. 

3 (3) RURAL COMMUNITY.—The term ‘‘rural 

4 community’’ means any community located in a 

5 rural area. 

6 (4) RURAL INFRASTRUCTURE.—The term 

7 ‘‘rural infrastructure’’ means surface, maritime, air 

8 transportation, water, wastewater, broadband, and 

9 energy facilities and operations, and public build10 ings, including schools, in a rural area. 

Æ 


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