Community College Agriculture Advancement Act of 2023

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1740 To amend the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 to authorize capacity building grants for community college agriculture and natural resources programs. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 18, 2023 Mr. HICKENLOOPER (for himself, Mrs. FISCHER, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. WICKER, and Ms. BALDWIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nu- trition, and Forestry A BILL To amend the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 to authorize capacity building grants for community college agriculture and natural resources programs. 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 ‘‘Community College 4 Agriculture Advancement Act of 2023’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:37 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1740.IS S1740 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1740 IS SEC. 2. CAPACITY BUILDING GRANTS FOR COMMUNITY 1 COLLEGE AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RE- 2 SOURCES PROGRAMS. 3 Subtitle K of the National Agricultural Research, Ex- 4 tension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3310 5 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 6 ‘‘SEC. 1473I. CAPACITY BUILDING GRANTS FOR COMMUNITY 7 COLLEGE AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RE- 8 SOURCES PROGRAMS. 9 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 10 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en- 11 tity’ means— 12 ‘‘(A) a junior or community college sup- 13 porting agriculture advancement; and 14 ‘‘(B) a consortium or alliance of 2-year 15 public colleges supporting agriculture advance- 16 ment. 17 ‘‘(2) JUNIOR OR COMMUNITY COLLEGE.—The 18 term ‘junior or community college’ has the meaning 19 given the term in section 312 of the Higher Edu- 20 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1058). 21 ‘‘(b) COMPETITIVE GRANTS.—The Secretary shall 22 make competitive grants to eligible entities to assist the 23 eligible entities in maintaining and expanding the capacity 24 of the eligible entities to conduct workforce training, edu- 25 cation, research, and outreach activities relating to— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:37 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1740.IS S1740 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1740 IS ‘‘(1) agriculture; and 1 ‘‘(2) other similar disciplines. 2 ‘‘(c) PRIORITY.—In making grants under subsection 3 (b), the Secretary shall give priority to an eligible entity 4 coordinating with a local agriculture industry operator to 5 provide experiential training and other opportunities for 6 students. 7 ‘‘(d) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity that receives 8 a grant under subsection (b) may use the funds made 9 available through the grant to expand and maintain the 10 capacity of the eligible entity— 11 ‘‘(1) to successfully compete for funds from 12 Federal grants and other sources to carry out edu- 13 cational, research, and outreach activities that ad- 14 dress priority concerns of national, regional, State, 15 and local interest; 16 ‘‘(2) to offer educational programming on agri- 17 cultural industry jobs, including farm business man- 18 agement-related subjects, such as accounting, para- 19 legal studies, and finance; 20 ‘‘(3) to disseminate information relating to the 21 priority concerns described in paragraph (1) to in- 22 terested members of the agriculture and other rel- 23 evant communities and to the public; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:37 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1740.IS S1740 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1740 IS ‘‘(4) to encourage members of those commu- 1 nities to participate in priority education, research, 2 and outreach activities through providing matching 3 funding from sources other than funds received 4 through the grant; and 5 ‘‘(5) through— 6 ‘‘(A) the purchase or other acquisition of 7 equipment and other infrastructure (not includ- 8 ing the alteration, repair, renovation, or con- 9 struction of buildings); 10 ‘‘(B) the professional growth and develop- 11 ment of faculty; and 12 ‘‘(C) the development of apprenticeships 13 and other work-based learning opportunities. 14 ‘‘(e) CENTERS OF AGRICULTURE ADVANCEMENT.— 15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity may sub- 16 mit to the Secretary an application for designation 17 and funding as a center of excellence for agriculture 18 advancement. 19 ‘‘(2) USE OF FUNDS.—A center of excellence 20 for agriculture advancement designated under para- 21 graph (1) shall use funding received as a result of 22 that designation— 23 ‘‘(A) to demonstrate best practices relating 24 to agriculture; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:37 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1740.IS S1740 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1740 IS ‘‘(B) to provide leadership in capacity 1 building at a regional or national level. 2 ‘‘(f) EVALUATION AND REPORT.—Not later than 3 3 years after the date of enactment of this section, the Sec- 4 retary shall— 5 ‘‘(1) conduct an evaluation of activities carried 6 out under this section; and 7 ‘‘(2) submit a report describing the evaluation 8 conducted under paragraph (1) to— 9 ‘‘(A) the Committee on Agriculture of the 10 House of Representatives; 11 ‘‘(B) the Committee on Agriculture, Nutri- 12 tion, and Forestry of the Senate; 13 ‘‘(C) the Committee on Appropriations of 14 the House of Representatives; and 15 ‘‘(D) the Committee on Appropriations of 16 the Senate. 17 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 18 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 19 $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2029.’’. 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:37 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1740.IS S1740 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS