Food and Farm Emergency Assistance Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7656 To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to make competitive grants to certain agricultural producers and other food-related businesses to carry out activities to support health and safety, or to adapt production, processing, distribution, and sales systems, in response to COVID–19, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 16, 2020 Ms. SCHRIER (for herself and Mr. LARSEN of Washington) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture A BILL To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to make competitive grants to certain agricultural producers and other food- related businesses to carry out activities to support health and safety, or to adapt production, processing, distribution, and sales systems, in response to COVID– 19, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘Food and Farm Emer- 4 gency Assistance Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:51 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7656.IH H7656 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7656 IH SEC. 2. FOOD BUSINESS INFRASTRUCTURE AND EQUIP- 1 MENT RESPONSE GRANTS. 2 (a) GRANTS.—The Secretary of Agriculture, acting 3 through the Administrator of the Agriculture Marketing 4 Service, shall make grants to eligible entities, on a com- 5 petitive basis, to carry out activities to support worker and 6 public health and safety, or to adapt production, proc- 7 essing, distribution, and sales systems, in response to 8 COVID–19. 9 (b) ELIGIBLE USES.—Amounts received by an eligi- 10 ble entity under a grant under this section shall be used 11 for activities directly relating to COVID–19 response and 12 recovery, including— 13 (1) costs incurred during the COVID–19 emer- 14 gency period that are associated with protecting em- 15 ployee and consumer health and safety, such as for 16 personal protective equipment; 17 (2) costs incurred during such period that are 18 associated with transitioning to a different busi- 19 nesses model, such as direct-to-consumer, online 20 sales, or delivery; 21 (3) costs incurred during such period to pur- 22 chase or lease equipment for food processing, stor- 23 age, or refrigeration; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:51 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7656.IH H7656 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7656 IH (4) other similar costs incurred during such pe- 1 riod that arise from adjusting to the COVID–19 2 pandemic. 3 (c) APPLICATIONS.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity seeking a 5 grant under this section shall submit to the Sec- 6 retary an application in such manner, at such time, 7 and containing such information as the Secretary 8 may require. 9 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary shall en- 10 sure that the application required under paragraph 11 (1) is— 12 (A) as simple as is practicable; 13 (B) accessible online; and 14 (C) also available through all local offices 15 of the Department of Agriculture. 16 (3) DECISIONS.—Not later than 7 days after 17 the date on which the Secretary receives an applica- 18 tion under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall notify 19 the eligible entity that submitted the application— 20 (A) whether the application is approved or 21 denied; 22 (B) if the application is approved, the date 23 on which the eligible entity will receive the 24 grant funds; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:51 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7656.IH H7656 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7656 IH (C) if denied, the reason for denial and 1 whether the application may be revised and re- 2 submitted. 3 (4) PREFERENCES.—In reviewing applications 4 submitted under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall 5 give preference to applications containing proposals 6 intended to— 7 (A) expand access to food for participants 8 in— 9 (i) the supplemental nutrition assist- 10 ance program established under section 4 11 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 12 U.S.C. 2013); and 13 (ii) a program authorized under the 14 Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 15 Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) or Child Nu- 16 trition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et 17 seq.), including the national school lunch 18 program, the national school breakfast pro- 19 gram, the summer food service program 20 for children, the special supplemental nu- 21 trition program for women, infants, and 22 children, and the child and adult care food 23 program; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:51 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7656.IH H7656 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7656 IH (B) enhance food distribution in high-need 1 or underserved areas; 2 (C) address local agricultural product over- 3 supply issues and reduce food waste; or 4 (D) benefit young farmers or ranchers, be- 5 ginning farmers of ranchers (as defined in sec- 6 tion 2501(a) of the Food, Agriculture, Con- 7 servation, and Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 8 2279(a))), or socially disadvantaged farmers or 9 ranchers (as defined in such section 2501(a)). 10 (d) LIMITATIONS ON AMOUNTS.—The amount of a 11 grant under this section shall not exceed— 12 (1) in the case of an eligible entity described in 13 subsection (f)(1), $15,000; and 14 (2) in the case of any other eligible entity, 15 $35,000. 16 (e) OUTREACH.—The Secretary shall conduct out- 17 reach to States and eligible entities with respect to the 18 availability of grants under this section. 19 (f) ELIGIBLE ENTITY DEFINED.—In this section, the 20 term ‘‘eligible entity’’ means— 21 (1) an individual agricultural producer; 22 (2) a group of agricultural producers, includ- 23 ing— 24 (A) a cooperative; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:51 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7656.IH H7656 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 7656 IH (B) a network or association of individual 1 farms; 2 (3) a small or very small processor of agricul- 3 tural products with less than 150 employees, as de- 4 termined by the Secretary; 5 (4) a local distributor, including a food hub and 6 a farmers market; and 7 (5) any other business that is critical to main- 8 taining a resilient agricultural supply chain in the 9 United States, as determined by the Secretary. 10 (g) FUNDING.—Of the funds of the Commodity Cred- 11 it Corporation, the Secretary shall use $100,000,000 to 12 carry out this section for fiscal year 2020, to remain avail- 13 able until expended. 14 (h) COVID–19 EMERGENCY PERIOD.—The term 15 ‘‘COVID–19 emergency period’’ has the meaning given 16 the term ‘‘emergency period’’ in section 1135(g)(1)(B) of 17 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320b–5(g)(1)(B)). 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:51 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7656.IH H7656 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS