Strengthening Rural Cooperatives and Communities Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1951 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1951

To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to reauthorize
                 rural cooperative development grants.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 6, 2025

  Mr. Riley of New York (for himself and Mr. Valadao) introduced the
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to reauthorize
                 rural cooperative development grants.

    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 ``Strengthening Rural Cooperatives and
Communities Act''.

SEC. 2. REAUTHORIZATION OF RURAL COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT GRANTS.

    Section 310B(e) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act
(7 U.S.C. 1932(e)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1), by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(C) Cooperative development.--The term
                `cooperative development' means activities including
                outreach, education, training, and technical
                assistance, to support the startup, expansion, or
                ongoing sustainability of new and existing
                cooperatives.'';
            (2) in paragraph (4), by inserting ``, and award maximum
        points in scoring criteria to applicants that satisfy the
        requirements of paragraph (5)(F),'' before ``if the plan'';
            (3) in paragraph (5), by striking subparagraph (D) and
        inserting the following:
                    ``(D) commit to providing technical assistance and
                other services to socially vulnerable, underserved, or
                distressed communities;'';
            (4) in paragraph (6)(B), by striking ``If the Secretary
        determines it to be in the best interest of the program, the''
        and inserting ``The'';
            (5) in paragraph (10), by adding at the end the following:
        ``The Secretary shall analyze the data resulting from the
        research, and include the data and the analysis in the annual
        report submitted by the interagency working group under
        paragraph (12).'';
            (6) in paragraph (12), by adding at the end the following:
        ``Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of
        this sentence and annually thereafter, the interagency working
        group shall submit to the Congress a report describing the
        activities carried out by the working group.''; and
            (7) in paragraph (13), by striking ``2014 through 2023''
        and inserting ``2025 through 2029''.
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