Agricultural Fairs Rescue Act

IB Union Calendar No. 93 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2424 [Report No. 117–129] To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a program under which the Secretary awards grants to States or State departments of agri- culture for the purposes of providing support to agricultural fairs for losses sustained due to COVID–19. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 8, 2021 Mr. PANETTA (for himself, Mr. LONG, Mr. LEVIN of California, and Mr. NEWHOUSE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Agriculture SEPTEMBER 27, 2021 Additional sponsors: Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. COSTA, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. KAPTUR, Ms. STEFANIK, Mr. WELCH, Ms. CRAIG, Mr. ROSE, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. FORTENBERRY, Mr. KAHELE, Mr. KIND, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. MANN, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mrs. BICE of Oklahoma, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. JACOBS of New York, Mr. GOHMERT, Mr. TRONE, Mr. MEUSER, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. CARL, Mr. DELGADO, Mr. GIMENEZ, Ms. KUSTER, Mr. O’HALLERAN, Ms. SALAZAR, and Mr. SABLAN SEPTEMBER 27, 2021 Reported with an amendment; committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] [For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on April 8, 2021] VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:25 Sep 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H2424.RH H2424 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2424 RH A BILL To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a program under which the Secretary awards grants to States or State departments of agriculture for the purposes of providing support to agricultural fairs for losses sus- tained due to COVID–19. VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:25 Sep 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H2424.RH H2424 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2424 RH Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This act may be cited as the ‘‘Agricultural Fairs Res- 4 cue Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. AGRICULTURAL FAIR RESCUE GRANTS. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 7 date on which funds are made available to carry out this 8 section, the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Ad- 9 ministrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service, shall 10 award a grant to each State department of agriculture (or 11 other appropriate State agency assigned with the promotion 12 of agricultural fairs) for the purposes of providing support 13 to eligible agricultural fairs for losses sustained by such 14 fairs due to COVID–19. 15 (b) AMOUNT OF GRANT.—The amount of a grant to 16 a State or State department of agriculture under this sec- 17 tion shall be based on the difference between the average 18 attendance at agricultural fairs in the State for a calendar 19 year occurring during the 3-calendar-year period beginning 20 with calendar year 2017 (or over a shorter period, if attend- 21 ance data is not available for the entire 3-calendar-year pe- 22 riod) compared to calendar year 2020. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:25 Sep 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H2424.RH H2424 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2424 RH (c) CONDITIONS.—As a condition on the receipt of a 1 grant under this section, a State or State department of 2 agriculture shall agree— 3 (1) to prioritize supporting eligible agricultural 4 fairs in the State facing the greatest financial hard- 5 ship; and 6 (2) to use not more than 5 percent of grant funds 7 for administrative costs incurred in providing sup- 8 port to eligible agricultural fairs. 9 (d) USE OF FUNDS.—A State or State department of 10 agriculture selected to receive a grant under this section 11 may only use grant funds to assist eligible agricultural fairs 12 that— 13 (1) host annual events that are drivers and pro- 14 moters of agribusiness in the State (as determined by 15 the State); 16 (2) have experienced a closure, stoppage, or can- 17 cellation of a local, county or State fair operations as 18 a direct or indirect result of— 19 (A) the COVID–19 national emergency; or 20 (B) any associated actions taken by any 21 governmental authority at the Federal, State, 22 county, or municipal level in response to that 23 national emergency; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:25 Sep 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H2424.RH H2424 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2424 RH (3) agree to, and demonstrate the intent to, re- 1 establish a fair within 18 months of the termination 2 of the declaration specified in subsection (f)(2); 3 (4) agree to use all grant funds within the 18- 4 month period that begins on the date on which such 5 funds are received; and 6 (5) agree to use funds received pursuant to this 7 section for operating capital expenses, to reimburse 8 operating expenses paid from reserves not originally 9 intended for operating expenses, repay indebtedness 10 incurred to pay operating expenses, or repay other 11 third parties that contributed to funding operating 12 expenses, but not for capital improvements. 13 (e) FUNDING.— 14 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be ap- 15 propriated to make grants under this section 16 $500,000,000 for fiscal year 2022, each succeeding fis- 17 cal year occurring during the COVID–19 national 18 emergency, and the first fiscal year immediately fol- 19 lowing the termination of such national emergency. 20 (2) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—Of the funds 21 made available under paragraph (1) to carry out this 22 section for a fiscal year, not more than 8 percent may 23 be used for expenses related to administering the pro- 24 gram under this section. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:25 Sep 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H2424.RH H2424 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2424 RH (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 1 (1) ELIGIBLE AGRICULTURAL FAIR.—The term 2 ‘‘eligible agricultural fair’’ means a local, county, or 3 State fair that— 4 (A) is a subunit of a government entity, a 5 public corporation organized and existing pursu- 6 ant to State law, or is owned and operated as 7 a not-for-profit organization described in section 8 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and 9 exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of 10 such Code; and 11 (B) helps farmers, ranchers, or foresters— 12 (i) promote their products; or 13 (ii) expand agricultural markets 14 through conservation programs, agricultural 15 research, educational programs, or other 16 events that encourage agriculture, horti- 17 culture, and the domestic arts. 18 (2) COVID–19 NATIONAL EMERGENCY.—The 19 term ‘‘COVID–19 national emergency’’ means the na- 20 tional emergency declared by the President under the 21 National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) on 22 March 13, 2020, with respect to COVID–19. 23 (3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the several 24 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:25 Sep 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H2424.RH H2424 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2424 RH of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the United 1 States Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the 2 Northern Mariana Islands. 3 (4) STATE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.—The 4 term ‘‘State department of agriculture’’ means the 5 agency, commission, or department of a State govern- 6 ment responsible for agriculture in the State. 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:25 Sep 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H2424.RH H2424 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS Union Calendar No. 93 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2424 [Report No. 117–129] A BILL To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a program under which the Secretary awards grants to States or State departments of agri- culture for the purposes of providing support to agricultural fairs for losses sustained due to COVID–19. SEPTEMBER 27, 2021 Reported with an amendment; committed to the Com- mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:25 Sep 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\H2424.RH H2424 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS