II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 709

To amend the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to establish

and sustain viable rural and remote communities, and to provide affordable housing and community development assistance to rural areas with

excessively high rates of outmigration and low per capita income levels.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 24, 1999

Mr. MURKOWSKI (for himself and Mr. DASCHLE) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

A BILL

To amend the Housing and Community Development Act

of 1974 to establish and sustain viable rural and remote

communities, and to provide affordable housing and community development assistance to rural areas with excessively high rates of outmigration and low per capita

income levels.

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 ‘‘The Rural and Remote

5 Community Fairness Act’’.
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1 TITLE I—RURAL AND REMOTE

2 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

3 BLOCK GRANTS

4 The Housing and Community Development Act of

5 1974 (Public Law 93–383) is amended by inserting at the

6 end the following new title:

7 ‘‘TITLE IX—RURAL AND REMOTE

8 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

9 BLOCK GRANTS

10 ‘‘FINDINGS AND PURPOSE

11 ‘‘SEC. 901. (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds and

12 declares that—

13 ‘‘(1) a modern infrastructure, including efficient

14 housing, electricity, bulk fuel, waste water and water

15 service, is a necessary ingredient of a modern society

16 and development of a prosperous economy with mini17 mal environmental impacts.

18 ‘‘(2) the Nation’s rural and remote communities

19 face critical social, economic and environmental

20 problems, arising in significant measure from the

21 high cost of infrastructure development in sparsely

22 populated and remote areas, that are not adequately

23 addressed by existing Federal assistance programs;

24 ‘‘(3) in the past, Federal assistance has been

25 instrumental in establishing electric and other utility
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1 service in many developing regions of the Nation,

2 and that Federal assistance continues to be appro3 priate to ensure that electric and other utility sys4 tems in rural areas conform with modern standards

5 of safety, reliability, efficiency and environmental

6 protection; and

7 ‘‘(4) the future welfare of the Nation and the

8 well-being of its citizens depend on the establishment

9 and maintenance of viable rural and remote commu10 nities as social, economic and political entities.

11 ‘‘(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this title is the de12 velopment and maintenance of viable rural and remote

13 communities through the provision of efficient housing,

14 and reasonably priced and environmentally sound energy,

15 water, waste water, and bulk fuel and utility services to

16 those communities that do not have those services or who

17 currently bear costs of those services that are significantly

18 above the national average.

19 ‘‘DEFINITIONS

20 ‘‘SEC. 902. As used in this title:

21 ‘‘(1) The term ‘unit of general local govern22 ment’ means any city, county, town, township, par23 ish, village, borough (organized or unorganized) or

24 other general purpose political subdivision of a

25 State, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern

26 Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, the Republic of the
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1 Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micro2 nesia, the Republic of Palau, the Virgin Islands, and

3 American Samoa, a combination of such political

4 subdivisions that is recognized by the Secretary; and

5 the District of Columbia; or any other appropriate

6 organization of citizens of a rural and remote com7 munity that the Secretary may identify.

8 ‘‘(2) The term ‘population’ means total resident

9 population based on data compiled by the United

10 States Bureau of the Census and referable to the

11 same point or period in time.

12 ‘‘(3) The term ‘Native American group’ means

13 any Indian tribe, band group, and nation, including

14 Alaska Indians, Aleuts, and Eskimos, and any Alas15 kan Native Village, of the United States, which is

16 considered an eligible recipient under the Indian Self

17 Determination and Education Assistance Act (Public

18 Law 93–638) or was considered an eligible recipient

19 under chapter 67 of title 31, United States Code,

20 prior to the repeal of such chapter.

21 ‘‘(4) The term ‘Secretary’ means the Secretary

22 of housing and Urban Development.

23 ‘‘(5) The term ‘rural and remote community’

24 means a unit of local general government or Native

25 American group which represents or contains a pop-
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1 ulation not in excess of 10,000 permanent inhab2 itants, and that has an average retail cost per kilo3 watt hour of electricity that is equal to or greater

4 than 150 percent of the average retail cost per kilo5 watt hour of electricity for all consumers in the

6 United States, as determined by data provided by

7 the Department of Energy’s Information Adminis8 tration.

9 ‘‘(6) The term alternative energy sources in10 clude non-traditional means of providing electrical

11 energy, including, but not limited to, wind, solar,

12 biomass, geo-thermal and tidal power.

13 ‘‘(7) The term ‘average retail cost per kilowatt

14 hour of electricity’ has the same meaning as ‘aver15 age revenue per kilowatt hour of electricity’ as de16 fined by the Energy Information Administration.

17 ‘‘AUTHORIZATIONS

18 ‘‘SEC. 903. The Secretary is authorized to make

19 grants to rural and remote communities to carry out ac20 tivities in accordance with the provisions of the title. For

21 purposes of assistance under section 906, there are au22 thorized to be appropriated $100,000,000 for each of fis23 cal years 2000 through 2006

24 ‘‘STATEMENT OF ACTIVITIES AND REVIEW

25 ‘‘SEC. 904. (a) Prior to the receipt in any fiscal year

26 of a grant under section 906 by any rural and remote com-
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1 munity, the grantee shall have prepared and submitted to

2 the Secretary a final statement of rural and remote com3 munity development objectives and projected use of funds.

4 ‘‘(b) In order to permit public examination and ap5 praisal of such statements, to enhance the public account6 ability of grantees, and to facilitate coordination of activi7 ties with different levels of government, the grantee shall

8 in a timely manner—

9 ‘‘(1) furnish citizens information concerning the

10 amount of funds available for rural and remote com11 munity development acitivies and the range of activi12 ties that may be undertaken;

13 ‘‘(2) publish a proposed statement in such man14 ner to afford affected citizens an opportunity to ex15 amine its content and to submit comments on the

16 proposed statement and on the community develop17 ment performance of the grantee;

18 ‘‘(3) provide citizens with reasonable access to

19 records regarding the past use of funds received

20 under section 906 by the grantee; and

21 ‘‘(4) provide citizens with reasonable notice of,

22 and opportunity to comment on, any substantial

23 change proposed to be made in the use of funds re24 ceived under section 906 from one eligible activity to

25 another.
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1 The final statement shall be made available to the public,

2 and a copy shall be furnished to the Secretary. Any final

3 statement of activities may be modified or amended from

4 time to time by the grantee in accordance with the same

5 Procedures required in this paragraph for the preparation

6 and submission of such statement.

7 ‘‘(c) Each grantee shall submit to the Secretary, at

8 a time determined by the Secretary, a performance and

9 evaluation report, concerning the use of funds made avail10 able under section 906, together with an assessment by

11 the grantee of the relationship of such use to the objectives

12 identified in the grantee’s statement under subsection (a)

13 and to the requirements of subsection (b). The grantee’s

14 report shall indicate its programmatic accomplishments,

15 the nature of and reasons for any changes in the grantee’s

16 program objectives, and indications of how the grantee

17 would change its programs as a result of its experiences.

18 ‘‘(d) Any rural and remote community may retain

19 any program income that is realized from any grant made

20 by the secretary under section 906 if (1) such income was

21 realized after the initial disbursement of the funds re22 ceived by such unit of general local government under such

23 section; and (2) such unit of general local government has

24 agreed that it will utilize the program income for eligible

25 rural and remote community development activitiess in ac-
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1 cordance with the provisions of this title; except that the

2 Secretary may, by regulation, exclude from consideration

3 as program income any amounts determined to be so small

4 that compliance with the subsection creates an unreason5 able administrative burden on the rural and remote com6 munity.

7 ‘‘ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES

8 ‘‘SEC. 905 (a) Eligible activities assisted under this

9 title may include only—

10 ‘‘(1) the provision of assistance, including loans,

11 grants, and services, for low-cost weatherization and

12 other cost-effective energy-related repair of homes

13 and other buildings;

14 ‘‘(2) the acquisition, construction, repair, recon15 struction, or installation of reliable and cost-efficient

16 facilities for the generation, transmission or distribu17 tion of electricity for consumption in a rural and re18 mote community or communities;

19 ‘‘(3) the acquisition, construction, repair, recon20 struction, remediation or installation of facilities for

21 the safe storage and efficient management of bulk

22 fuel by rural and remote communities, and facilities

23 for the distribution of such fuel to consumers in a

24 rural and remote community or communities;

25 ‘‘(4) facilities and training to reduce costs of

26 maintaining and operating generation, distribution
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1 or transmission systems to a rural and remote com2 munity or communities;

3 ‘‘(5) the institution of professional management

4 and maintenance services for electricity generation,

5 transmission or distribution to a rural and remote

6 community or communities;

7 ‘‘(6) the investigation of the feasibility of alter8 nate energy sources for a rural and remote commu9 nity or communities;

10 ‘‘(7) acquisition, construction, repair, recon11 struction, operation, maintenance, or installation of

12 facilities for water or waste water service;

13 ‘‘(8) the acquisition of disposition of real prop14 erty (including air rights, water rights, and other in15 terests therein) for eligible rural and remote commu16 nity development activities; and

17 ‘‘(9) activities necessary to develop and imple18 ment a comprehensive rural and remote development

19 plan, including payment of reasonable administrative

20 costs related to planning and execution of rural and

21 remote community development activities.

22 ‘‘(b) Eligible activities may be undertaken either di23 rectly by the rural and remote community, or by the rural

24 and remote community through local electric utilities.
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1 ‘‘ALLOCATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS

2 ‘‘SEC. 906. For each fiscal year, of the amount ap3 proved in an appropriation act under section 903 for

4 grants in any year, the Secretary shall distribute to each

5 rural and remote community which has filed a final state6 ment of rural and remote community development objec7 tives and projected use of funds under section 904, an

8 amount which shall be allocated among the rural and re9 mote communities that filed a final statement of rural and

10 remote community development objectives and projected

11 use of funds under section 904 proportionate to the per12 centage that the average retail price per kilowatt hour of

13 electricity for all classes of consumers in the rural and

14 remote community exceeds the national average retail

15 price per kilowatt hour for electricity for all consumers

16 in the United States, as determined by data provided by

17 the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Adminis18 tration. In allocating funds under this section, the Sec19 retary shall give special consideration to those rural and

20 remote communities that increase economies of scale

21 through consolidation of services, affiliation and regional22 ization of eligible activities under this title.

23 ‘‘REMEDIES FOR NONCOMPLIANCE

24 ‘‘SEC. 907. The provisions of section 111 of the

25 Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 shall

26 apply to assistance distributed under this title.’’.
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1 TITLE II—RURAL AND REMOTE

2 COMMUNITY ELECTRIFICA3 TION GRANTS

4 After section 313(b) of the Rural Electrification Act

5 of 1936, add the following new subsection:

6 ‘‘(c) RURAL AND REMOTE COMMUNITY ELEC7 TRIFICATION GRANTS.—The Secretary is authorized to

8 provide grants to eligible borrowers under this Act for the

9 purpose of increasing energy efficiency, lowering or stabi10 lizing electric rates to end users, or providing or modern11 izing electric facilities in rural and remote communities

12 that have an average retail cost per kilowatt hour of elec13 tricity that is equal to or greater than 150 percent of the

14 average retail cost per kilowatt hour of electricity for all

15 consumers in the United States, as determined by data

16 provided by the Department of Energy’s Energy Informa17 tion Administration.

18 ‘‘(d) For purposes of subsection (c), there is author19 ized to be appropriated $20,000,000 for each of fiscal

20 years 2000–2006.’’.
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1 TITLE III—RURAL RECOVERY

2 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

3 BLOCK GRANTS.

4 The Housing and Community Development Act of

5 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.) is amended by adding at

6 the end the following:

7 ‘‘SEC. 123. RURAL RECOVERY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

8 BLOCK GRANTS.

9 ‘‘(a) FINDINGS; PURPOSE.—

10 ‘‘(1) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—

11 ‘‘(A) a modern infrastructure, including af12 fordable housing, wastewater and water service,

13 and advanced technology capabilities is a nec14 essary ingredient of a modern society and devel15 opment of a prosperous economy with minimal

16 environmental impacts;

17 ‘‘(B) the Nation’s rural areas face critical

18 social, economic, and environmental problems,

19 arising in significant measure from the growing

20 cost of infrastructure development in rural

21 areas that suffer from low per capita income

22 and high rates of outmigration and are not ade23 quately addressed by existing Federal assist24 ance programs; and
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1 ‘‘(C) the future welfare of the Nation and

2 the well-being of its citizens depend on the es3 tablishment and maintenance of viable rural

4 areas as social, economic, and political entities.

5 ‘‘(2) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is

6 to provide for the development and maintenance of

7 viable rural areas through the provision of affordable

8 housing and community development assistance to

9 eligible units of general local government and eligible

10 Native American groups in rural areas with exces11 sively high rates of outmigration and low per capita

12 income levels.

13 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

14 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE UNIT OF GENERAL LOCAL GOV15 ERNMENT.—The term ‘eligible unit of general local

16 government’ means a unit of general local govern17 ment that is the governing body of a rural recovery

18 area.

19 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘eligi20 ble Indian tribe’ means the governing body of an In21 dian tribe that is located in a rural recovery area.

22 ‘‘(3) GRANTEE.—The term ‘grantee’ means an

23 eligible unit of general local government or eligible

24 Indian tribe that receives a grant under this section.
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1 ‘‘(4) NATIVE AMERICAN GROUP.—The term

2 ‘Native American group’ means any Indian tribe,

3 band, group, and nation, including Alaska Indians,

4 Aleuts, and Eskimos, and any Alaskan Native Vil5 lage, of the United States, which is considered an el6 igible recipient under the Indian Self-Determination

7 and Education Assistance Act (Public Law 93–638)

8 or was considered an eligible recipient under chapter

9 67 of title 31, United States Code, prior to the re10 peal of such chapter.

11 ‘‘(5) RURAL RECOVERY AREA.—The term ‘rural

12 recovery area’ means any geographic area rep13 resented by a unit of general local government or a

14 Native American group—

15 ‘‘(A) the borders of which are not adjacent

16 to a metropolitan area;

17 ‘‘(B) in which—

18 ‘‘(i) the population outmigration level

19 equals or exceeds 1 percent over the most

20 recent five year period, as determined by

21 the Secretary of Agriculture, and,

22 ‘‘(ii) the per capita income is less than

23 that of the national nonmetropolitan aver24 age; and
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1 ‘‘(C) that does not include a city with a

2 population of more than 15,000.

3 ‘‘(6) UNIT OF GENERAL LOCAL GOVERN4 MENT.—

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘unit of gen6 eral local government’ means any city, county,

7 town, township, parish, village, borough (orga8 nized or unorganized), or other general purpose

9 political subdivision of a State; Guam, the

10 Northern Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands,

11 Puerto Rico, and American Samoa, or a general

12 purpose political subdivision thereof; a combina13 tion of such political subdivisions that, except

14 as provided in section 106(d)(4), is recognized

15 by the Secretary; the District of Columbia; and

16 the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.

17 ‘‘(B) OTHER ENTITIES INCLUDED.—The

18 term also includes a State or a local public body

19 or agency (as defined in section 711 of the

20 Housing and Urban Development Act of 1970),

21 community association, or other entity, that is

22 approved by the Secretary for the purpose of

23 providing public facilities or services to a new

24 community as part of a program meeting the

25 eligibility standards of section 712 of the Hous-
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1 ing and Urban Development Act of 1970 or

2 title IV of the Housing and Urban Development

3 Act of 1968.

4 ‘‘(c) GRANT AUTHORITY.—The Secretary may make

5 grants in accordance with this section to eligible units of

6 general local government, Native American groups and eli7 gible Indian tribes that meet the requirements of sub8 section (d) to carry out eligible activities described in sub9 section (f).

10 ‘‘(d) ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS.—

11 ‘‘(1) STATEMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT OB12 JECTIVES.—In order to receive a grant under this

13 section for a fiscal year, an eligible unit of general

14 local government, Native American group or eligible

15 Indian tribe—

16 ‘‘(A) shall—

17 ‘‘(i) publish a proposed statement of

18 rural development objectives and a descrip19 tion of the proposed eligible activities de20 scribed in subsection (f) for which the

21 grant will be used; and

22 ‘‘(ii) afford residents of the rural re23 covery area served by the eligible unit of

24 general local government, Native American

25 groups or eligible Indian tribe with an op-
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1 portunity to examine the contents of the

2 proposed statement and the proposed eligi3 ble activities published under clause (i),

4 and to submit comments to the eligible

5 unit of general local government, Native

6 American group or eligible Indian tribe, as

7 applicable, on—

8 ‘‘(I) the proposed statement and

9 the proposed eligible activities; and

10 ‘‘(II) the overall community de11 velopment performance of the eligible

12 unit of general local government, Na13 tive American groups or eligible In14 dian tribe, as applicable; and

15 ‘‘(B) based on any comments received

16 under subparagraph (A)(ii), prepare and submit

17 to the Secretary—

18 ‘‘(i) a final statement of rural develop19 ment objectives;

20 ‘‘(ii) a description of the eligible ac21 tivities described in subsection (f) for

22 which a grant received under this section

23 will be used; and

24 ‘‘(iii) a certification that the eligible

25 unit of general local government, Native
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1 American groups or eligible Indian tribe,

2 as applicable, will comply with the require3 ments of paragraph (2).

4 ‘‘(2) PUBLIC NOTICE AND COMMENT.—In order

5 to enhance public accountability and facilitate the

6 coordination of activities among different levels of

7 government, an eligible unit of general local govern8 ment, Native American groups or eligible Indian

9 tribe that receives a grant under this section shall,

10 as soon as practicable after such receipt, provide the

11 residents of the rural recovery area served by the eli12 gible unit of general local government, Native Amer13 ican groups or eligible Indian tribe, as applicable,

14 with—

15 ‘‘(A) a copy of the final statement sub16 mitted under paragraph (1)(B);

17 ‘‘(B) information concerning the amount

18 made available under this section and the eligi19 ble activities to be undertaken with that

20 amount;

21 ‘‘(C) reasonable access to records regard22 ing the use of any amounts received by the eli23 gible unit of general local government, Native

24 American groups or eligible Indian tribe under

25 this section in any preceding fiscal year; and
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1 ‘‘(D) reasonable notice of, and opportunity

2 to comment on, any substantial change pro3 posed to be made in the use of amounts re4 ceived under this section from 1 eligible activity

5 to another.

6 ‘‘(e) DISTRIBUTION OF GRANTS.—

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In each fiscal year, the

8 Secretary shall distribute to each eligible unit of

9 general local government, Native American groups

10 and eligible Indian tribe that meets the requirements

11 of subsection (d)(1) a grant in an amount described

12 in paragraph (2).

13 ‘‘(2) AMOUNT.—Of the total amount made

14 available to carry out this section in each fiscal year,

15 the Secretary shall distribute to each grantee the

16 amount equal to the greater of—

17 ‘‘(A) the pro rata share of the grantee, as

18 determined by the Secretary, based on the com19 bined annual population outmigration level (as

20 determined by Secretary of Agriculture) and the

21 per capita income for the rural recovery area

22 served by the grantee; or

23 ‘‘(B) $200,000.

24 ‘‘(f) ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.—Each grantee shall use

25 amounts received under this section for 1 or more of the
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1 following eligible activities, which may be undertaken ei2 ther directly by the grantee, or by any local economic de3 velopment corporation, regional planning district, non4 profit community development corporation, or statewide

5 development organization authorized by the grantee:

6 ‘‘(1) The acquisition, construction, repair, re7 construction, operation, maintenance, or installation

8 of facilities for water and wastewater service or any

9 other infrastructure needs determined to be critical

10 to the further development or improvement of a des11 ignated industrial park.

12 ‘‘(2) The acquisition or disposition of real prop13 erty (including air rights, water rights, and other in14 terests therein) for rural community development ac15 tivities.

16 ‘‘(3) The development of telecommunications in17 frastructure within a designated industrial park that

18 encourages high technology business development in

19 rural areas.

20 ‘‘(4) Activities necessary to develop and imple21 ment a comprehensive rural development plan, in22 cluding payment of reasonable administrative costs

23 related to planning and execution of rural develop24 ment activities.

25 ‘‘(5) Affordable housing initiatives.
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1 ‘‘(g) PERFORMANCE AND EVALUATION REPORT.—

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each grantee shall annu3 ally submit to the Secretary a performance and eval4 uation report, concerning the use of amounts re5 ceived under this section.

6 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—Each report submitted under

7 paragraph (1) shall include a description of—

8 ‘‘(A) the eligible activities carried out by

9 the grantee with amounts received under this

10 section, and the degree to which the grantee

11 has achieved the rural development objectives

12 included in the final statement submitted under

13 subsection (d)(1);

14 ‘‘(B) the nature of and reasons for any

15 change in the rural development objectives or

16 the eligible activities of the grantee after sub17 mission of the final statement under subsection

18 (d)(1); and

19 ‘‘(C) any manner in which the grantee

20 would change the rural development objectives

21 of the grantee as a result of the experience of

22 the grantee in administering amounts received

23 under this section.

24 ‘‘(h) RETENTION OF INCOME.—A grantee may retain

25 any income that is realized from the grant, if—
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1 ‘‘(1) the income was realized after the initial

2 disbursement of amounts to the grantee under this

3 section; and

4 ‘‘(2) the—

5 ‘‘(A) grantee agrees to utilize the income

6 for 1 or more eligible activities; or

7 ‘‘(B) amount of the income is determined

8 by the Secretary to be so small that compliance

9 with subparagraph (A) would create an unrea10 sonable administrative burden on the grantee.

11 ‘‘(i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is

12 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section

13 $50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2000 through 2006.’’.

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