I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5134 

To amend the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 to improve 

the biobased markets program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 4, 2023 

Mr. ALFORD (for himself and Ms. CRAIG) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the 

Committee on Oversight and Accountability, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 

provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act 

of 2002 to improve the biobased markets program, 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 ‘‘Biomanufacturing and 

5 Jobs Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSES. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 


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1 (1) biobased products provide additional mar2 kets for farm commodities, reducing the reliance of 

3 the United States on petroleum and increasing the 

4 use of renewable agricultural resources while driving 

5 rural economic development and growth; 

6 (2) United States farmers produce feedstock 

7 used to produce a variety of biobased products, in8 cluding personal care products, industrial paints sol9 vents, construction materials, and apparels and tex10 tiles; 

11 (3) the BioPreferred Program of the Depart12 ment of Agriculture is designed to increase the pur13 chase and use of biobased products through a man14 datory Federal purchasing initiative and a voluntary 

15 labeling initiative, thereby supporting additional 

16 markets for agricultural commodities and rural eco17 nomic development; 

18 (4) according to the Department of Agriculture, 

19 there are approximately 15,000 biobased products 

20 participating in the BioPreferred Program, with ap21 proximately 2,600 biobased products authorized to 

22 display the ‘‘USDA Certified Biobased Product’’ 

23 label under the voluntary labeling initiative; and 

24 (5) the Department of Agriculture has esti25 mated that— 


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1 (A) as of 2008, there were more than 

2 17,000 biobased products in the United States; 

3 and 

4 (B) as of 2014, there were more than 

5 40,000 biobased products in the United States, 

6 demonstrating an increase in biobased products 

7 in the United States of 135 percent in 6 years. 

8 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are— 

9 (1) to recognize the value that biobased prod10 ucts bring to agriculture in the United States; 

11 (2) to support domestic manufacturing of 

12 biobased products made from agricultural commod13 ities, including corn and soybeans; 

14 (3) to expand the role of the Department of Ag15 riculture in the promotion of biobased products; 

16 (4) to build on procurement programs adminis17 tered by the Department of Agriculture to increase 

18 Federal purchasing of biobased products; 

19 (5) to strengthen domestic manufacturing of 

20 biobased products; and 

21 (6) to make a national commitment to the rural 

22 and agricultural economies of the United States. 

23 SEC. 3. BIOBASED MARKETS PROGRAM. 

24 Section 9002 of the Farm Security and Rural Invest25 ment Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C. 8102) is amended— 


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1 (1) in subsection (a)— 

2 (A) in paragraph (2)— 

3 (i) in subparagraph (A)(i)— 

4 (I) in subclause (II)(bb), by 

5 striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

6 (II) in subclause (III), by strik7 ing the period at the end and insert8 ing ‘‘; and’’; and 

9 (III) by adding at the end the 

10 following: 

11 ‘‘(IV) on an annual basis, update 

12 the procurement requirement de13 scribed in subclause (III) by increas14 ing the number of biobased-only con15 tracts or the volume purchased under 

16 those contracts from the previous 

17 year.’’; 

18 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

19 clause (iii) and inserting the following: 

20 ‘‘(iii) are available only at a price that 

21 exceeds the price premium established 

22 under paragraph (3)(B)(viii) for those 

23 items.’’; and 

24 (iii) by adding at the end the fol25 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘(G) GUIDANCE.—The Secretary, in co2 ordination with the Office of Federal Procure3 ment Policy, shall issue guidance to procuring 

4 agencies to consider product lifespan, savings, 

5 and efficacy when making procurement deci6 sions under this subsection.’’; 

7 (B) in paragraph (3)(B)— 

8 (i) in clause (vii), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

9 the end; 

10 (ii) by redesignating clause (viii) as 

11 clause (ix); and 

12 (iii) by inserting after clause (vii) the 

13 following: 

14 ‘‘(viii) establish price premiums for 

15 different types of biobased products; and’’; 

16 and 

17 (C) in paragraph (4)— 

18 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 

19 (I) by striking clause (ii); and 

20 (II) by redesignating clauses (iii) 

21 and (iv) as clauses (ii) and (iii), re22 spectively; 

23 (ii) in subparagraph (B)(i)— 

24 (I) in the matter preceding sub25 clause (I)— 


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1 (aa) by inserting ‘‘and the 

2 Secretary’’ after ‘‘Policy’’; and 

3 (bb) by striking ‘‘informa4 tion concerning—’’ and inserting 

5 ‘‘a report that describes, for the 

6 year covered by the report—’’; 

7 (II) in subclause (I), by inserting 

8 ‘‘, including the actions taken by the 

9 procuring agency to establish and im10 plement the biobased procurement 

11 program of the procuring agency 

12 under that paragraph’’ before the 

13 semicolon; 

14 (III) in subclause (IV), by strik15 ing ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

16 (IV) in subclause (V), by striking 

17 ‘‘and’’ at the end; and 

18 (V) by adding at the end the fol19 lowing: 

20 ‘‘(VI)(aa) the specific categories 

21 of biobased products that are unavail22 able to meet the procurement needs of 

23 the procuring agency; and 


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1 ‘‘(bb) the desired performance 

2 standards and other relevant speci3 fications for those products; and 

4 ‘‘(VII) if applicable, the procure5 ment requirement or updated procure6 ment requirement established under 

7 paragraph (2)(A)(i) that the pro8 curing agency failed to meet and rea9 sons for the failure; and’’; and 

10 (iii) by adding at the end the fol11 lowing: 

12 ‘‘(D) VERIFICATION.—The Office of Fed13 eral Procurement Policy, in consultation with 

14 the Secretary, shall— 

15 ‘‘(i) annually collect the information 

16 required to be reported under subpara17 graph (B) and make the information pub18 licly available; and 

19 ‘‘(ii) annually verify, using the infor20 mation collected under subparagraph (B), 

21 that each procuring agency under para22 graph (2)(A)(i), as applicable, has estab23 lished a procurement program in accord24 ance with subclause (I) of that paragraph. 

25 ‘‘(E) TRAINING.— 


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1 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 

2 years after the date of enactment of this 

3 subparagraph, each procuring agency shall 

4 have completed training on biobased prod5 uct purchasing for the appropriate staff of 

6 the procuring agency, including contracting 

7 officers, purchase card managers, and pur8 chase card holders. 

9 ‘‘(ii) MATERIALS.—The Office of Fed10 eral Procurement Policy, in cooperation 

11 with the Secretary, shall provide training 

12 materials for procuring agencies con13 ducting training pursuant to clause (i). 

14 ‘‘(F) FEDERAL CATALOG UPDATES.—Not 

15 later than 2 years after the date of the enact16 ment of this subparagraph, the Administrator 

17 for Federal Procurement Policy, in cooperation 

18 with the Secretary, shall— 

19 ‘‘(i) direct the Administrator of Gen20 eral Services to update the Federal Pro21 curement Data System described in section 

22 1122(a)(4) of title 41, United States Code, 

23 or any successor system, to include 

24 biobased product designations; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) direct that the System for Award 

2 Management collect biobased product pur3 chasing data; 

4 ‘‘(iii) direct that Federal online pro5 curement systems, including GSA Advan6 tage! and FedMall, include designations for 

7 products that meet the guidelines under 

8 paragraph (3); 

9 ‘‘(iv) require, to the maximum extent 

10 practicable, that Federal online procure11 ment systems, including GSA Advantage! 

12 and FedMall, use North American Indus13 try Classification System codes, North 

14 American Product Classification System15 based product codes, and other product 

16 codes, as determined in consultation with 

17 the Secretary, when identifying products 

18 that meet the guidelines under paragraph 

19 (3); and 

20 ‘‘(v) require agencies with online Fed21 eral sales platforms to include reporting of 

22 these purchases in their reporting on prod23 ucts that meet the guidelines under para24 graph (3).’’; 

25 (2) in subsection (b)— 


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1 (A) in paragraph (3), by adding at the end 

2 the following: 

3 ‘‘(C) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall 

4 promulgate such regulations as the Secretary 

5 determines to be appropriate to ensure the in6 tegrity of the label described in paragraph (1), 

7 including regulations to define additional terms 

8 necessary to avoid or reduce public confusion 

9 relating to the label. 

10 ‘‘(D) UNAUTHORIZED USE.—Not later 

11 than 120 days after the date of enactment of 

12 this subparagraph, the Secretary shall, in co13 ordination with the Inspector General of the 

14 Department of Agriculture, notify the public of 

15 how to report an instance of unauthorized use 

16 of the label described in paragraph (1).’’; and 

17 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(5) PUBLIC MARKETING AND EDUCATION.— 

19 The Secretary may conduct outreach to educate the 

20 public on and promote the use of biobased products, 

21 including by— 

22 ‘‘(A) conducting outreach to small busi23 nesses producing biobased products that seek a 

24 label under this subsection; 


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1 ‘‘(B) providing information about biobased 

2 product procurement preferences to State pro3 curement agencies; and 

4 ‘‘(C) establishing public-private partner5 ships to further increase awareness and use of 

6 biobased products. 

7 ‘‘(6) ACCEPTANCE AND USE OF CONTRIBU8 TIONS.— 

9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may es10 tablish an account to accept contributions of 

11 non-Federal funds to carry out public mar12 keting and education under paragraph (5). 

13 ‘‘(B) DEPOSIT AND USE OF CONTRIBU14 TIONS.—Contributions of non-Federal funds re15 ceived to carry out the activities under para16 graph (5) shall— 

17 ‘‘(i) be deposited into the account es18 tablished under this paragraph for those 

19 activities; 

20 ‘‘(ii) be available to and subject to the 

21 control of the Secretary, without further 

22 appropriation and until expended, to carry 

23 out those activities; and 


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1 ‘‘(iii) supplement any funding made 

2 available under subsection (k) and allo3 cated by the Secretary for those activities. 

4 ‘‘(7) REPORT.—Not later than December 31, 

5 2024, and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall 

6 make publicly available on the website of the De7 partment of Agriculture and submit to the Com8 mittee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of 

9 the Senate and the Committee on Agriculture of the 

10 House of Representatives a report that includes— 

11 ‘‘(A) a list of the biobased products that 

12 were authorized to use the label described in 

13 paragraph (1) during the preceding fiscal year; 

14 ‘‘(B) a description of the audit and compli15 ance activities conducted under paragraph 

16 (3)(B) during the preceding fiscal year, includ17 ing any findings of noncompliance and any ac18 tions taken by the Secretary to address the 

19 noncompliance; 

20 ‘‘(C)(i) a description of the public mar21 keting and education conducted by the Sec22 retary under paragraph (5); and 

23 ‘‘(ii) a plan for conducting public mar24 keting and education under that paragraph for 

25 the following two fiscal years that is designed to 


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1 increase the use of the label described in para2 graph (1) and the purchase of biobased prod3 ucts; and 

4 ‘‘(D) the total amount of contributions of 

5 non-Federal funds accepted into the account es6 tablished under paragraph (6).’’; 

7 (3) in subsection (f)(1), in the matter preceding 

8 subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘The Secretary and 

9 the Secretary of Commerce shall jointly’’ and insert10 ing ‘‘The Secretary of Commerce, in consultation 

11 with the Secretary, shall’’; 

12 (4) in subsection (j)(3)— 

13 (A) in subparagraph (A)— 

14 (i) in clause (v), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 

15 and inserting ‘‘, including greenhouse gas 

16 emissions reduced and avoided;’’; 

17 (ii) in clause (vi), by striking the pe18 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

19 (iii) by adding at the end the fol20 lowing: 

21 ‘‘(vii) identifying available industry 

22 methodologies to establish a lifecycle 

23 greenhouse gas emissions assessment 

24 methodology for biobased products.’’; and 


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1 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘this 

2 subparagraph’’ and inserting ‘‘the Biomanufac3 turing and Jobs Act and every 5 years there4 after’’; 

5 (5) in subsection (k), by striking ‘‘2023’’ each 

6 place it appears and inserting ‘‘2028’’; and 

7 (6) in subsection (l)— 

8 (A) by striking ‘‘In this section’’ and in9 serting the following: 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In this section’’; and 

11 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(2) STANDARD.—The Secretary shall use the 

13 most recent version of the ASTM–D–6866 standard 

14 of ASTM International to determine the contents of 

15 biobased products.’’. 

16 SEC. 4. BIOBASED TASK FORCE. 

17 Title IX of the Farm Security and Rural Investment 

18 Act of 2002 is amended by inserting after section 9003 

19 (7 U.S.C. 8103) the following: 

20 ‘‘SEC. 9004. BIOBASED TASK FORCE. 

21 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall estab22 lish a task force (referred to in this section as the ‘task 

23 force’)— 

24 ‘‘(1) to coordinate programs and activities with25 in the Department of Agriculture relating to the reVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:24 Aug 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5134.IH H5134

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1 search, development, promotion, marketing, and 

2 analysis of biobased products, including to support 

3 the use of agricultural commodities and forest prod4 ucts in biobased products; 

5 ‘‘(2) to maximize the resources allocated to6 wards the research, development, promotion, mar7 keting, and analysis of biobased products by the De8 partment of Agriculture; 

9 ‘‘(3) to determine the effectiveness of the pro10 grams and activities described in paragraph (1); and 

11 ‘‘(4) to make recommendations for improve12 ments to those programs and activities. 

13 ‘‘(b) MEMBERSHIP.—The task force shall be com14 posed of not less than 1 representative from each of the 

15 following mission areas or offices of the Department of 

16 Agriculture: 

17 ‘‘(1) The rural development mission area. 

18 ‘‘(2) The National Institute of Food and Agri19 culture. 

20 ‘‘(3) The Economic Research Service. 

21 ‘‘(4) The Agricultural Research Service. 

22 ‘‘(5) The National Agricultural Statistics Serv23 ice. 

24 ‘‘(6) The Office of the Chief Scientist. 

25 ‘‘(7) The Office of the Chief Economist. 


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1 ‘‘(8) The Office of Energy Policy and New 

2 Uses. 

3 ‘‘(9) Any other mission area or office with re4 sponsibilities relating to the research, development, 

5 promotion, marketing, or analysis of biobased prod6 ucts. 

7 ‘‘(c) LEAD MISSION AREA.—The rural development 

8 mission area of the Department of Agriculture shall be 

9 the lead mission area for the task force. 

10 ‘‘(d) PROCESS FOR PUBLIC INPUT.—The task force 

11 shall establish a process for public input to help inform 

12 the determination of the task force under subsection 

13 (a)(3) of the effectiveness of the programs and activities 

14 described in subsection (a)(1). 

15 ‘‘(e) STUDY AND REPORT.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The task force shall con17 duct a study that— 

18 ‘‘(A) identifies any existing programs and 

19 activities of the Department of Agriculture that 

20 may offer new opportunities to advance the re21 search, development, promotion, marketing, and 

22 analysis of biobased products; and 

23 ‘‘(B) describes those new opportunities and 

24 how those programs and activities may be used 

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1 ment, promotion, marketing, and analysis of 

2 biobased products. 

3 ‘‘(2) REPORT.—Not later than 3 years after the 

4 date of enactment of the Biomanufacturing and 

5 Jobs Act, the task force shall submit to the Com6 mittee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of 

7 the Senate and the Committee on Agriculture of the 

8 House of Representatives a report that describes— 

9 ‘‘(A) a summary of the work conducted by 

10 the task force; 

11 ‘‘(B) the findings of the study conducted 

12 under paragraph (1); and 

13 ‘‘(C) recommendations for improvements 

14 to the programs and activities described in sub15 section (a)(1) and identified under paragraph 

16 (1)(A). 

17 ‘‘(f) TERMINATION.—The task force shall terminate 

18 on the date that is 4 years after the date of enactment 

19 of the Biomanufacturing and Jobs Act. 

20 ‘‘(g) NONAPPLICABILITY.—Chapter 10 of title 5, 

21 United States Code, shall not apply to the task force.’’. 

Æ 


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