Title: AG RESEARCH Act
Policy area: Agriculture and Food

Summary:
Augmenting Research and Educational Sites to Ensure Agriculture Remains Cutting-Edge and Helpful Act or the AG RESEARCH Act
This bill amends the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 to provide funding for maintenance at agricultural research facilities.
The bill requires the Department of Agriculture to: (1) establish a grant program within the National Institute of Food and Agriculture to provide agricultural research facilities with a federal share of the cost for the alteration, modernization, renovation, or remodeling of the research facilities or the equipment necessary for agricultural research; and (2) use specified Commodity Credit Corporation funds to provide direct payments to research facilities of the Agricultural Research Service for addressing deferred maintenance.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2479 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Augmenting Research and Educational 
Sites to Ensure Agriculture Remains Cutting-Edge and Helpful Act'' or 
the ``AG RESEARCH Act''.

SEC. 2. AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH FACILITIES.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) in 2015, agriculture and related industries--
                    (A) contributed $992,000,000,000 to the gross 
                domestic product of the United States (5.5 percent of 
                the total gross domestic product of the United States); 
                and
                    (B) provided 21,000,000 jobs domestically (11 
                percent of total employment in the United States);
            (2) the Department of Agriculture funds more than 
        $1,500,000,000 in research funding each year to schools of 
        agriculture;
            (3) a study published in 2015 found that deferred 
        maintenance at 91 schools of agriculture across the United 
        States totaled $8,200,000,000, with a total replacement cost of 
        $29,000,000,000; and
            (4) infrastructure investments must be made at schools of 
        agriculture to ensure that United States agricultural research 
        remains globally competitive.
    (b) Grants for Agricultural Research Facilities.--Title IV of the 
Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 is 
amended by inserting before section 404 (7 U.S.C. 7624) the following:

``SEC. 401. GRANTS FOR AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH FACILITIES.

    ``(a) Purpose.--The purpose of this section is to assist 
agricultural research facilities in efforts to alter or repair those 
facilities or equipment of the facilities necessary for conducting 
agricultural research.
    ``(b) Definition of Agricultural Research Facility.--In this 
section, the term `agricultural research facility' has the meaning 
given the term in section 2 of the Research Facilities Act (7 U.S.C. 
390).
    ``(c) Grant Program.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall establish in the 
        National Institute of Food and Agriculture a competitive grant 
        program to provide to agricultural research facilities the 
        Federal share of the cost of the alteration, modernization, 
        renovation, or remodeling of--
                    ``(A) the agricultural research facilities; or
                    ``(B) equipment of the agricultural research 
                facilities necessary for conducting agricultural 
                research.
            ``(2) Federal share.--The Federal share referred to in 
        paragraph (1) shall be not greater than 50 percent.
    ``(d) Requirements.--
            ``(1) Amount; terms and conditions.--Grants awarded under 
        this section shall be in such amounts and under such terms and 
        conditions as the Secretary determines are necessary to carry 
        out the purpose of this section.
            ``(2) Geographic distribution.--To the maximum extent 
        practicable, grants shall be awarded under this section to 
        ensure an equitable geographic distribution of funds.
            ``(3) Limitation.--Not greater than 20 percent of amounts 
        made available to carry out this section shall be awarded to 
        projects in any 1 State.
            ``(4) Administration.--In carrying out this section, the 
        Secretary shall establish procedures for--
                    ``(A) the submission of proposals for competitive 
                grants; and
                    ``(B) in consultation with representatives of 
                National Institute of Food and Agriculture grantmaking 
                peer review panels, the review and selection of 
                proposals submitted under subparagraph (A).
            ``(5) Priority.--In selecting proposals under paragraph 
        (4)(B), the Secretary shall give priority to proposals that--
                    ``(A) are--
                            ``(i) ready to proceed quickly; and
                            ``(ii) included in the facilities master 
                        plan or capital improvement plan of the 
                        college, university, or nonprofit institution; 
                        or
                    ``(B) incorporate--
                            ``(i) renewable energy;
                            ``(ii) energy- or water-efficient 
                        technology; or
                            ``(iii) both energy and technology 
                        described in clauses (i) and (ii).
    ``(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section $1,000,000,000 for each of 
fiscal years 2018 through 2028.''.

SEC. 3. AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH CENTERS.

    (a) Finding.--Congress finds that the Agricultural Research Service 
Capital Investment Strategy dated April 2012 indicates that research 
facilities of the Agricultural Research Services have more than 
$1,000,000,000 in deferred maintenance.
    (b) Direct Funding for Deferred Maintenance at ARS Research 
Facilities.--Title IV of the Agricultural Research, Extension, and 
Education Reform Act of 1998 (7 U.S.C. 7624 et seq.) is amended by 
inserting after section 401 (as added by section 2(b)) the following:

``SEC. 402. DIRECT FUNDING FOR DEFERRED MAINTENANCE AT ARS RESEARCH 
              FACILITIES.

    ``(a) In General.--Using amounts made available under subsection 
(c), the Secretary shall provide direct payments to research facilities 
of the Agricultural Research Service for the purpose of addressing 
deferred maintenance.
    ``(b) Priority.--In providing direct payments under subsection (a), 
the Secretary shall give priority to the most critical structures in 
accordance with the Agricultural Research Service Capital Investment 
Strategy dated April 2012.
    ``(c) Funding.--Of the funds of the Commodity Credit Corporation, 
the Secretary shall use to carry out this section $100,000,000 for each 
of fiscal years 2018 through 2028.''.
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