II 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2479 

To amend the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act 

of 1998 to address deferred maintenance at agricultural research facilities, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 1, 2018 

Ms. HIRONO (for herself, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. KING, and Ms. WARREN) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To amend the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 to address deferred maintenance at agricultural research facilities, 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 ‘‘Augmenting Research 

5 and Educational Sites to Ensure Agriculture Remains 

6 Cutting-Edge and Helpful Act’’ or the ‘‘AG RESEARCH 

7 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH FACILITIES. 

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 

3 (1) in 2015, agriculture and related indus4 tries— 

5 (A) contributed $992,000,000,000 to the 

6 gross domestic product of the United States 

7 (5.5 percent of the total gross domestic product 

8 of the United States); and 

9 (B) provided 21,000,000 jobs domestically 

10 (11 percent of total employment in the United 

11 States); 

12 (2) the Department of Agriculture funds more 

13 than $1,500,000,000 in research funding each year 

14 to schools of agriculture; 

15 (3) a study published in 2015 found that de16 ferred maintenance at 91 schools of agriculture 

17 across the United States totaled $8,200,000,000, 

18 with a total replacement cost of $29,000,000,000; 

19 and 

20 (4) infrastructure investments must be made at 

21 schools of agriculture to ensure that United States 

22 agricultural research remains globally competitive. 

23 (b) GRANTS FOR AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH FACILI24 TIES.—Title IV of the Agricultural Research, Extension, 

25 and Education Reform Act of 1998 is amended by insert26 ing before section 404 (7 U.S.C. 7624) the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 401. GRANTS FOR AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH FACILI2 TIES. 

3 ‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to as4 sist agricultural research facilities in efforts to alter or re5 pair those facilities or equipment of the facilities necessary 

6 for conducting agricultural research. 

7 ‘‘(b) DEFINITION OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH FA8 CILITY.—In this section, the term ‘agricultural research 

9 facility’ has the meaning given the term in section 2 of 

10 the Research Facilities Act (7 U.S.C. 390). 

11 ‘‘(c) GRANT PROGRAM.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall estab13 lish in the National Institute of Food and Agri14 culture a competitive grant program to provide to 

15 agricultural research facilities the Federal share of 

16 the cost of the alteration, modernization, renovation, 

17 or remodeling of— 

18 ‘‘(A) the agricultural research facilities; or 

19 ‘‘(B) equipment of the agricultural re20 search facilities necessary for conducting agri21 cultural research. 

22 ‘‘(2) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share re23 ferred to in paragraph (1) shall be not greater than 

24 50 percent. 

25 ‘‘(d) REQUIREMENTS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) AMOUNT; TERMS AND CONDITIONS.— 

2 Grants awarded under this section shall be in such 

3 amounts and under such terms and conditions as 

4 the Secretary determines are necessary to carry out 

5 the purpose of this section. 

6 ‘‘(2) GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION.—To the 

7 maximum extent practicable, grants shall be award8 ed under this section to ensure an equitable geo9 graphic distribution of funds. 

10 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION.—Not greater than 20 per11 cent of amounts made available to carry out this sec12 tion shall be awarded to projects in any 1 State. 

13 ‘‘(4) ADMINISTRATION.—In carrying out this 

14 section, the Secretary shall establish procedures 

15 for— 

16 ‘‘(A) the submission of proposals for com17 petitive grants; and 

18 ‘‘(B) in consultation with representatives 

19 of National Institute of Food and Agriculture 

20 grantmaking peer review panels, the review and 

21 selection of proposals submitted under subpara22 graph (A). 

23 ‘‘(5) PRIORITY.—In selecting proposals under 

24 paragraph (4)(B), the Secretary shall give priority 

25 to proposals that— 


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1 ‘‘(A) are— 

2 ‘‘(i) ready to proceed quickly; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) included in the facilities master 

4 plan or capital improvement plan of the 

5 college, university, or nonprofit institution; 

6 or 

7 ‘‘(B) incorporate— 

8 ‘‘(i) renewable energy; 

9 ‘‘(ii) energy- or water-efficient tech10 nology; or 

11 ‘‘(iii) both energy and technology de12 scribed in clauses (i) and (ii). 

13 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

14 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

15 $1,000,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2018 through 

16 2028.’’. 

17 SEC. 3. AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH CENTERS. 

18 (a) FINDING.—Congress finds that the Agricultural 

19 Research Service Capital Investment Strategy dated April 

20 2012 indicates that research facilities of the Agricultural 

21 Research Services have more than $1,000,000,000 in de22 ferred maintenance. 

23 (b) DIRECT FUNDING FOR DEFERRED MAINTE24 NANCE AT ARS RESEARCH FACILITIES.—Title IV of the 

25 Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform 


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1 Act of 1998 (7 U.S.C. 7624 et seq.) is amended by insert2 ing after section 401 (as added by section 2(b)) the fol3 lowing: 

4 ‘‘SEC. 402. DIRECT FUNDING FOR DEFERRED MAINTE5 NANCE AT ARS RESEARCH FACILITIES. 

6 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Using amounts made available 

7 under subsection (c), the Secretary shall provide direct 

8 payments to research facilities of the Agricultural Re9 search Service for the purpose of addressing deferred 

10 maintenance. 

11 ‘‘(b) PRIORITY.—In providing direct payments under 

12 subsection (a), the Secretary shall give priority to the most 

13 critical structures in accordance with the Agricultural Re14 search Service Capital Investment Strategy dated April 

15 2012. 

16 ‘‘(c) FUNDING.—Of the funds of the Commodity 

17 Credit Corporation, the Secretary shall use to carry out 

18 this section $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2018 

19 through 2028.’’. 

Æ 


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