II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1824 

To reform the Appalachian Regional Commission, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 18, 2017 

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

referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

A BILL 

To reform the Appalachian Regional Commission, 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 ‘‘Appalachian Regional 

5 Commission Reform Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 (a) HEADQUARTERS.—Congress finds that— 

8 (1) regional commissions, such as the Delta Re9 gional Authority, the Denali Commission, and the 

10 Northern Border Regional Commission, are each 

11 headquartered in their respective region; 


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1 (2) headquartering regional commissions within 

2 the region affected is a sensible approach to ensure 

3 that the commissions are housed in more affordable 

4 locations than the District of Columbia, thereby re5 ducing administrative overhead and making the com6 missions closer and more accountable to the people 

7 the commissions were designed to serve; 

8 (3) the Appalachian Regional Commission (re9 ferred to in this Act as the ‘‘Commission’’) is not 

10 headquartered in Appalachia but in Washington, 

11 DC; and 

12 (4) the headquarters of the Commission should 

13 be relocated from the District of Columbia to a more 

14 affordable location in the Appalachian region so that 

15 it is closer and more accountable to the people the 

16 Commission was designed to serve. 

17 (b) PERFORMANCE.—Congress finds that— 

18 (1) the Commission was created to help foster 

19 economic opportunity and close health and edu20 cational disparities in a geographic region of the 

21 United States beleaguered by persistent poverty and 

22 high unemployment; 

23 (2) the Commission remains the sole Federal 

24 agency focused singularly on economic revitalization 

25 in the Appalachian region; 


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1 (3) in 1998, Congress charged the Commission 

2 with ‘‘address[ing] the needs of severely and persist3 ently distressed areas of the Appalachian region and 

4 focus[ing] special attention on the areas of greatest 

5 need’’; 

6 (4) the Commission has long been criticized for 

7 its shortcomings in fulfilling this mission, including 

8 in— 

9 (A) a 1999 study titled ‘‘Mountain Money: 

10 Federal Tax Dollars Miss the Mark in Core Ap11 palachia’’ by Mark Ferenchik and Jill 

12 Ripenhoff for the Columbus Dispatch; and 

13 (B) a 2008 book titled ‘‘Uneven Ground: 

14 Appalachia Since 1945’’ by Ronald D. Eller; 

15 (5) in 2004, the Office of Management and 

16 Budget noted the importance of the Commission 

17 ‘‘[f]ocusing efforts on . . . targeting assistance to 

18 areas of distress’’; 

19 (6) in 2017, Citizens Against Government 

20 Waste characterized the programming of the Com21 mission as duplicative and called for drastic reduc22 tions in the budget of the Commission; 

23 (7) in 2017, the Office of Management and 

24 Budget, citing a Government Accountability Office 

25 study, concluded that the Commission should be 


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1 abolished, and that conclusion was reflected in the 

2 fiscal year 2018 budget request submitted by the 

3 President; 

4 (8) these recent actions reflect a growing cho5 rus that the Commission should be reformed; and 

6 (9) therefore, given the long-recognized short7 comings of the Commission, the long-standing criti8 cism of the Commission, and the need to ensure its 

9 optimal performance, the time has arrived for the 

10 Commission to be reformed. 

11 (c) PERSISTENT POVERTY.—Congress finds that— 

12 (1) using 1960 data, the Commission (which 

13 was created in 1965) concluded that there were 214 

14 distressed counties in the Appalachian region; 

15 (2) in 2017, according to the Commission, there 

16 are 84 distressed counties in the Appalachian region, 

17 reflecting the areas of most persistent poverty in the 

18 region; and 

19 (3) therefore, the Commission should be re20 formed to focus its attention on the areas of most 

21 persistent poverty in the region. 

22 (d) AREA DEVELOPMENT FUNDING FOR DIS23 TRESSED COUNTIES.—Congress finds that— 

24 (1) according to the study by the Columbus 

25 Dispatch referred to in subsection (b)(4)(A), of the 


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1 22,169 grants issued by the Commission from fiscal 

2 year 1966 through fiscal year 1998, none of the 5 

3 counties that received the most Commission funding 

was considered distressed, and more than 1 4 ⁄4 of all 

5 Commission spending during that period went to 

6 States with few, if any, distressed counties; 

7 (2) according to author Ronald D. Eller in 

8 2014, ‘‘[the Commission] policies have concentrated 

9 resources in a select few ‘growth centers’ in the [Ap10 palachian] region, expanding services to the poor 

11 and growing the mountain middle class, but doing 

12 little to alter conditions in the most rural distressed 

13 counties or to address systemic political or economic 

14 inequalities throughout Appalachia’’; 

15 (3) until 1995, the Commission allocated up to 

16 20 percent of its area development grants for use in 

17 distressed counties; 

18 (4) following instructions given to the Commis19 sion by the Committees on Appropriations of the 

20 Senate and the House of Representatives in 1995, 

21 this allocation was increased by the Commission to 

22 30 percent; 

23 (5) section 7.5(c) of the Code of the Commis24 sion (as in effect on the date of enactment of this 

25 Act) reflects this 1995 policy change and states that 


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1 the Commission ‘‘will allocate up to 30 percent of 

2 Commission area development funds for use in dis3 tressed counties’’, even though, according to the 

4 Commission’s public representations, economic con5 ditions in distressed areas of the Appalachian region 

6 have not greatly improved since the 1960s; 

7 (6) given the persistent levels of poverty in the 

8 distressed counties in the Appalachian region, more 

9 area development funding and emphasis should be 

10 devoted to those counties; and 

11 (7) therefore, the allocation described in para12 graph (3) should be increased to 60 percent. 

13 (e) GRANT EXPENDITURES.—Congress finds that— 

14 (1) section 14524(d) of title 40, United States 

15 Code, provides that ‘‘not less than 50 percent of the 

16 amount of grant expenditures the Commission ap17 proves shall support activities or projects that ben18 efit severely and persistently distressed counties and 

19 areas’’; 

20 (2) given the persistent levels of poverty in the 

21 distressed counties in the Appalachian region, more 

22 grant expenditures and emphasis should be devoted 

23 to those counties; and 


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1 (3) therefore, the 50 percent threshold in sec2 tion 14524(d) of title 40, United States Code, 

3 should be increased to 60 percent. 

4 SEC. 3. MISSION OF THE APPALACHIAN REGIONAL COM5 MISSION. 

6 Section 14301 of title 40, United States Code, is 

7 amended by striking subsection (a) and inserting the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT AND MISSION.— 

10 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is an Appa11 lachian Regional Commission (referred to in this 

12 chapter as the ‘Commission’). 

13 ‘‘(2) MISSION.—The mission of the Commission 

14 shall be to focus primarily on poverty reduction and 

15 economic development in areas in the Appalachian 

16 region with the most persistent poverty.’’. 

17 SEC. 4. HEADQUARTERS OF THE APPALACHIAN REGIONAL 

18 COMMISSION. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 14301 of title 40, United 

20 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol21 lowing: 

22 ‘‘(g) HEADQUARTERS.—The headquarters of the 

23 Commission shall be located in the Appalachian region.’’. 

24 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Federal Cochairman of 

25 the Commission shall take such actions as may be necVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Sep 22, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1824.IS S1824

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1 essary to carry out the amendment made by subsection 

2 (a). 

3 SEC. 5. GRANT EXPENDITURES. 

4 Section 14524(d) of title 40, United States Code, is 

5 amended by striking ‘‘50 percent’’ and inserting ‘‘60 per6 cent’’. 

7 SEC. 6. AREA DEVELOPMENT FUNDS FOR DISTRESSED 

8 COUNTIES. 

9 Section 14526(b) of title 40, United States Code, is 

10 amended— 

11 (1) by striking ‘‘In program and’’ and inserting 

12 the following: 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In program and’’; and 

14 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(2) AREA DEVELOPMENT FUNDS.— 

16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Of the funds made 

17 available for each fiscal year for the Area De18 velopment Program of the Commission, the 

19 Commission shall allocate not less than 60 per20 cent for projects in counties for which a dis21 tressed county designation is in effect under 

22 this section. 

23 ‘‘(B) METHODOLOGY.—The methodology 

24 for determining whether a county is designated 

25 as a distressed county under subsection 


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1 (a)(1)(A) shall be the methodology in effect on 

2 the day before the date of enactment of the Ap3 palachian Regional Commission Reform Act. 

4 ‘‘(3) REPORT.—The Commission shall submit 

5 an annual report that describes the allocation of 

6 funds, in dollar amounts and percentage of total ap7 propriations, for the Area Development Program to 

8 counties described in paragraph (2) to— 

9 ‘‘(A) the Speaker of the House of Rep10 resentatives; 

11 ‘‘(B) the minority leader of the House of 

12 Representatives; 

13 ‘‘(C) the majority leader of the Senate; 

14 ‘‘(D) the minority leader of the Senate; 

15 ‘‘(E) the Committee on Appropriations of 

16 the House of Representatives; 

17 ‘‘(F) the Committee on Appropriations of 

18 the Senate; 

19 ‘‘(G) the Committee on Transportation 

20 and Infrastructure of the House of Representa21 tives; and 

22 ‘‘(H) the Committee on Environment and 

23 Public Works of the Senate.’’. 

Æ 


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