I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5061 

To amend the Specialty Crops Competitiveness Act of 2004 to direct the 

Secretary of Agriculture to establish a program under which the Secretary will award grants to eligible organizations to encourage the development, maintenance, and expansion of commercial domestic market 

for domestically produced specialty crop commodities. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 27, 2023 

Mr. VALADAO (for himself, Mr. SOTO, Mr. COSTA, and Mr. LAMALFA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To amend the Specialty Crops Competitiveness Act of 2004 

to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a program under which the Secretary will award grants to 

eligible organizations to encourage the development, 

maintenance, and expansion of commercial domestic market for domestically produced specialty crop commodities. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Specialty Crop Domes3 tic Market Promotion and Development Program Act of 

4 2023’’. 

5 SEC. 2. SPECIALTY CROP DOMESTIC MARKET PROMOTION 

6 AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM. 

7 Title II of the Specialty Crops Competitiveness Act 

8 of 2004 (7 U.S.C. 7712a et seq.) is amended by adding 

9 at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 204. SPECIALTY CROP DOMESTIC MARKET PRO11 MOTION AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM. 

12 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of encouraging the 

13 development, maintenance, and expansion of the commer14 cial domestic market for domestically produced specialty 

15 crop commodities, the Secretary of Agriculture, acting 

16 through the Administrator of the Agricultural Marketing 

17 Service, shall establish a program under which the Sec18 retary will award grants to eligible organizations to imple19 ment a domestic market development program for spe20 cialty crops. 

21 ‘‘(b) APPLICATION.—An eligible organization seeking 

22 a grant under this section shall submit to the Secretary— 

23 ‘‘(1) an application at such time, in such man24 ner, and containing such information as the Sec25 retary may require; 


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1 ‘‘(2) a marketing plan that meets the require2 ments of subsection (c); and 

3 ‘‘(3) a certification that any Federal funds re4 ceived by such organization under this section will 

5 supplement, but not supplant, funds from non-Fed6 eral sources (including a private entity) to carry out 

7 a domestic market development program for spe8 cialty crops. 

9 ‘‘(c) MARKETING PLAN.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A marketing plan sub11 mitted under subsection (b) shall— 

12 ‘‘(A) describe the advertising or other de13 mand-oriented, generic domestic promotion ac14 tivities to be carried out by the eligible organi15 zation using funds awarded through a grant 

16 under this section; and 

17 ‘‘(B) contain— 

18 ‘‘(i) a description of the manner in 

19 which funds received by the eligible organi20 zation through a grant under this section, 

21 in conjunction with funds and services pro22 vided by the eligible organization, will be 

23 expended in implementing the marketing 

24 plan; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) the market goals to be achieved 

2 under the marketing plan; and 

3 ‘‘(iii) such additional information as 

4 may be required by the Secretary. 

5 ‘‘(2) AMENDMENTS.—A marketing plan ap6 proved under this section may be amended by the el7 igible organization submitting such plan at any time, 

8 subject to the approval of the Secretary. 

9 ‘‘(d) AMOUNT OF GRANT.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall justify, 

11 in writing, the level of funds awarded through a 

12 grant to an eligible organization and the level of 

13 matching funds to be required of the organization. 

14 ‘‘(2) MATCHING FUNDS.—The recipient of a 

15 grant under this section shall provide non-Federal 

16 matching funds equal to not less than 25 percent of 

17 the amount of the grant, or such other amount de18 termined by the Secretary pursuant to paragraph 

19 (1). 

20 ‘‘(3) IN-KIND SUPPORT.—Non-Federal match21 ing funds described in paragraph (2) may include in22 kind support. 

23 ‘‘(e) MULTIYEAR BASIS.—The Secretary may provide 

24 assistance under this section on a multiyear basis. The 

25 Secretary shall conduct an annual review of any grant 


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1 awarded on a multiyear basis to ensure that the eligible 

2 organization has complied with the marketing plan sub3 mitted under subsection (c). 

4 ‘‘(f) TERMINATION.—The Secretary may terminate 

5 any grant made, or to be made, under this section if the 

6 Secretary determines that the eligible organization receiv7 ing such grant— 

8 ‘‘(1) is not adhering to the terms and condi9 tions applicable to the grant; 

10 ‘‘(2) is not implementing the marketing plan 

11 submitted under subsection (b) or is not adequately 

12 meeting the established goals of the plan; or 

13 ‘‘(3) is not adequately contributing its own re14 sources to the implementation of the plan. 

15 ‘‘(g) EVALUATIONS.—Beginning not later than 15 

16 months after the first grant is awarded under this section 

17 to an eligible organization, the Secretary shall monitor the 

18 expenditures by eligible organizations made using grant 

19 funds, including the following: 

20 ‘‘(1) A thorough accounting of such expendi21 tures. 

22 ‘‘(2) An evaluation of the effectiveness of the 

23 marketing plan of the eligible organization in devel24 oping, maintaining, or expanding the commercial do25 mestic market for specialty crops. 


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1 ‘‘(h) LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS.—Funds re2 ceived through a grant under this section may not be 

3 used— 

4 ‘‘(1) to provide direct assistance to any domes5 tic or foreign for-profit corporation for the corpora6 tion’s use in promoting foreign-produced products; 

7 or 

8 ‘‘(2) to provide direct assistance to any for9 profit corporation that is not recognized as a small 

10 business concern (as described in section 3(a) of the 

11 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(a))), other 

12 than— 

13 ‘‘(A) a cooperative; 

14 ‘‘(B) an association described in the Act of 

15 February 18, 1922 (7 U.S.C. 291); or 

16 ‘‘(C) a nonprofit trade association. 

17 ‘‘(i) AUDITS.—If, as a result of an evaluation or audit 

18 of activities of an eligible organization using funds made 

19 available through a grant under this section, the Secretary 

20 determines that a further review is justified in order to 

21 ensure compliance with the requirements of this section, 

22 the Secretary shall require the eligible organization to con23 tract for an independent audit of the activities carried out 

24 using funds awarded under a grant under this section, inVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:49 Aug 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5061.IH H5061

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1 cluding activities of any subcontractor of an eligible orga2 nization. 

3 ‘‘(j) ELIGIBLE ORGANIZATION DEFINED.—In this 

4 section, the term ‘eligible organization’ means— 

5 ‘‘(1) a United States agricultural trade organi6 zation or regional State-related organization that 

7 promotes the sale of United States produced and 

8 grown specialty crops and that does not profit di9 rectly from specific sales of United States specialty 

10 crops; 

11 ‘‘(2) a cooperative organization or State agency 

12 that promotes the sale of United States produced 

13 and grown specialty crops; 

14 ‘‘(3) a private organization that promotes the 

15 sale of United States produced and grown specialty 

16 crop commodities if the Secretary determines that 

17 such organization would significantly contribute to 

18 increased domestic purchases of United States pro19 duced specialty crop commodities; or 

20 ‘‘(4) specialty crop organizations operating 

21 under Federal marketing orders. 

22 ‘‘(k) FUNDING.— 

23 ‘‘(1) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

24 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 


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1 this section $75,000,000 for fiscal year 2024 and 

2 each fiscal year thereafter. 

3 ‘‘(2) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—The Sec4 retary may use funds made available under para5 graph (1) to carry out this section for a fiscal year 

6 for expenses related to administering the program 

7 under this section.’’. 

Æ 


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