| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 484 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to make grants to States to support |
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| 6 | 6 | | the establishment and operation of grocery stores in underserved commu- |
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| 7 | 7 | | nities, and for other purposes. |
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| 8 | 8 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 9 | 9 | | JANUARY16, 2025 |
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| 10 | 10 | | Mr. C |
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| 11 | 11 | | ARSON(for himself, Mr. CARTERof Louisiana, Mr. CASTEN, Mrs. |
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| 12 | 12 | | C |
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| 13 | 13 | | HERFILUS-MCCORMICK, Mr. COHEN, Mrs. WATSONCOLEMAN, Mrs. |
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| 14 | 14 | | D |
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| 15 | 15 | | INGELL, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr. GOLDMANof New York, Ms. NORTON, |
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| 16 | 16 | | Mr. H |
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| 17 | 17 | | ORSFORD, Mr. JOHNSONof Georgia, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. |
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| 18 | 18 | | L |
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| 19 | 19 | | ARSONof Connecticut, Mr. LYNCH, Mrs. MCIVER, Mr. MOULTON, Mr. |
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| 20 | 20 | | M |
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| 21 | 21 | | RVAN, Mr. MULLIN, Ms. ROSS, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. SCHOLTEN, Mr. |
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| 22 | 22 | | S |
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| 23 | 23 | | OTO, Ms. STANSBURY, Ms. STEVENS, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. |
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| 24 | 24 | | T |
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| 25 | 25 | | ONKO, Ms. TOKUDA, and Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ) introduced the following bill; |
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| 26 | 26 | | which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture |
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| 27 | 27 | | A BILL |
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| 28 | 28 | | To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to make grants to |
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| 29 | 29 | | States to support the establishment and operation of |
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| 30 | 30 | | grocery stores in underserved communities, and for other |
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| 31 | 31 | | purposes. |
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| 32 | 32 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 33 | 33 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 34 | 34 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 35 | 35 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Food Deserts Act’’. 4 |
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| 36 | 36 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:22 Feb 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H484.IH H484 |
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| 37 | 37 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 38 | 38 | | •HR 484 IH |
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| 39 | 39 | | SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM TO ESTABLISH GROCERY STORES 1 |
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| 40 | 40 | | IN UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES. 2 |
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| 41 | 41 | | (a) E |
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| 42 | 42 | | STABLISHMENT OF GRANTPROGRAM.—The 3 |
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| 43 | 43 | | Secretary shall establish a program to provide capitaliza-4 |
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| 44 | 44 | | tion grants to States for the purpose of establishing re-5 |
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| 45 | 45 | | volving funds to support the establishment and operation 6 |
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| 46 | 46 | | of grocery stores in underserved communities. 7 |
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| 47 | 47 | | (b) A |
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| 48 | 48 | | DMINISTRATION.—A State receiving funds 8 |
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| 49 | 49 | | under this Act shall administer the revolving fund of the 9 |
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| 50 | 50 | | State through an instrumentality of the State with such 10 |
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| 51 | 51 | | powers and limitations as may be required to operate such 11 |
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| 52 | 52 | | fund in accordance with the requirements of this Act. 12 |
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| 53 | 53 | | (c) P |
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| 54 | 54 | | ROJECTS ANDACTIVITIESELIGIBLE FORAS-13 |
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| 55 | 55 | | SISTANCE.—Amounts in a revolving fund shall be used for 14 |
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| 56 | 56 | | the purpose of making loans— 15 |
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| 57 | 57 | | (1) to open a grocery store in an underserved 16 |
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| 58 | 58 | | community, except that such loan may not be used 17 |
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| 59 | 59 | | for the purpose of new construction; 18 |
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| 60 | 60 | | (2) to support the operations of an existing gro-19 |
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| 61 | 61 | | cery store in an underserved community; 20 |
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| 62 | 62 | | (3) to provide access to healthy food; or 21 |
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| 63 | 63 | | (4) to support the operations of a program par-22 |
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| 64 | 64 | | ticipant that is located in a community that would 23 |
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| 65 | 65 | | be an underserved community if the program partici-24 |
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| 66 | 66 | | pant was not located in such community. 25 |
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| 67 | 67 | | (d) G |
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| 68 | 68 | | ROCERYSTORESELIGIBLE FORASSISTANCE.— 26 |
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| 70 | 70 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 |
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| 71 | 71 | | •HR 484 IH |
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| 72 | 72 | | (1) REQUIRED CRITERIA.—A State receiving a 1 |
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| 73 | 73 | | capitalization grant under this Act may only make 2 |
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| 74 | 74 | | a loan from the revolving fund of the State to an en-3 |
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| 75 | 75 | | tity that the State determines— 4 |
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| 76 | 76 | | (A) is a grocery store or will be a grocery 5 |
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| 77 | 77 | | store after opening; 6 |
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| 78 | 78 | | (B) emphasizes or will emphasize unproc-7 |
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| 79 | 79 | | essed, healthful foods; 8 |
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| 80 | 80 | | (C) provides or will provide a variety of 9 |
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| 81 | 81 | | raw fruits and vegetables; 10 |
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| 82 | 82 | | (D) provides or will provide staple foods; 11 |
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| 83 | 83 | | (E) has a plan to keep such foods in stock 12 |
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| 84 | 84 | | to the extent possible; 13 |
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| 85 | 85 | | (F) charge affordable at or below market 14 |
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| 86 | 86 | | values; 15 |
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| 87 | 87 | | (G) either— 16 |
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| 88 | 88 | | (i) is demonstrably qualified to oper-17 |
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| 89 | 89 | | ate a grocery store; or 18 |
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| 90 | 90 | | (ii) at the time of such application, 19 |
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| 91 | 91 | | has existing partnerships with organiza-20 |
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| 92 | 92 | | tions that provide technical assistance on 21 |
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| 93 | 93 | | business operations of food services; and 22 |
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| 94 | 94 | | (H) will match no less than 20 percent, 23 |
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| 95 | 95 | | from non-Federal funds, of the amount of such 24 |
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| 96 | 96 | | loan. 25 |
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| 98 | 98 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 |
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| 99 | 99 | | •HR 484 IH |
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| 100 | 100 | | (2) PRIORITY CRITERIA .—A State shall 1 |
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| 101 | 101 | | prioritize an application for a loan from the revolv-2 |
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| 102 | 102 | | ing fund of the State from an entity that the State 3 |
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| 103 | 103 | | determines— 4 |
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| 104 | 104 | | (A) hires or plans to hire workers who re-5 |
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| 105 | 105 | | side within the underserved community that 6 |
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| 106 | 106 | | would be served by the entity; 7 |
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| 107 | 107 | | (B) provides or plans to provide classes or 8 |
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| 108 | 108 | | other educational information about a healthful 9 |
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| 109 | 109 | | diet; 10 |
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| 110 | 110 | | (C) sources or plans to source food from 11 |
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| 111 | 111 | | local urban farms and gardens; and 12 |
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| 112 | 112 | | (D) demonstrates existing supply chain re-13 |
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| 113 | 113 | | lationships in the grocery industry. 14 |
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| 114 | 114 | | (e) A |
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| 115 | 115 | | PPLICATION.—An entity that desires a loan 15 |
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| 116 | 116 | | from a revolving fund of a State shall submit an applica-16 |
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| 117 | 117 | | tion to the State at such time, in such manner, and con-17 |
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| 118 | 118 | | taining such information as the State may require. 18 |
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| 119 | 119 | | (f) L |
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| 120 | 120 | | OANCONDITIONS.— 19 |
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| 121 | 121 | | (1) I |
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| 122 | 122 | | N GENERAL.—A loan distributed from a 20 |
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| 123 | 123 | | revolving fund by a State may be used by a program 21 |
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| 124 | 124 | | participant only for the purposes specified in sub-22 |
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| 125 | 125 | | section (c). 23 |
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| 126 | 126 | | (2) I |
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| 127 | 127 | | NTEREST RATES.—A loan distributed by a 24 |
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| 128 | 128 | | State from a revolving fund— 25 |
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| 130 | 130 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5 |
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| 131 | 131 | | •HR 484 IH |
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| 132 | 132 | | (A) shall be made at or below market in-1 |
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| 133 | 133 | | terest rates; and 2 |
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| 134 | 134 | | (B) may be an interest free loan, at terms 3 |
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| 135 | 135 | | not to exceed the lesser of 30 years or the pro-4 |
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| 136 | 136 | | jected useful life (as determined by the State) 5 |
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| 137 | 137 | | of the project to be financed with the proceeds 6 |
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| 138 | 138 | | of the loan. 7 |
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| 139 | 139 | | (3) S |
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| 140 | 140 | | TRUCTURE OF LOAN .—A loan may be dis-8 |
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| 141 | 141 | | tributed from a revolving fund by a State to a pro-9 |
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| 142 | 142 | | gram participant in— 10 |
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| 143 | 143 | | (A) a lump sum; or 11 |
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| 144 | 144 | | (B) in multiple distributions over a period 12 |
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| 145 | 145 | | of years, if the State determines multiple dis-13 |
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| 146 | 146 | | tributions are necessary to carry out the 14 |
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| 147 | 147 | | project. 15 |
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| 148 | 148 | | (4) L |
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| 149 | 149 | | OAN AMOUNT.—A State may not provide 16 |
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| 150 | 150 | | a loan to a program participant from the revolving 17 |
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| 151 | 151 | | fund of the State in a fiscal year that exceeds 10 18 |
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| 152 | 152 | | percent of the amount available from the fund for 19 |
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| 153 | 153 | | making distributions in that fiscal year. 20 |
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| 154 | 154 | | (5) P |
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| 155 | 155 | | AYMENTS.—Annual principal and interest 21 |
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| 156 | 156 | | payments on a loan received from a revolving fund 22 |
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| 157 | 157 | | of a State shall commence not later than 1 year 23 |
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| 158 | 158 | | after the loan is disbursed to the program partici-24 |
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| 159 | 159 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:22 Feb 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H484.IH H484 |
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| 160 | 160 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6 |
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| 161 | 161 | | •HR 484 IH |
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| 162 | 162 | | pant and all loans will be fully amortized upon the 1 |
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| 163 | 163 | | expiration of the term of the loan. 2 |
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| 164 | 164 | | (6) R |
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| 165 | 165 | | EVENUE FOR REPAYMENT .—A program 3 |
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| 166 | 166 | | participant shall establish a dedicated source of rev-4 |
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| 167 | 167 | | enue for repayment of a loan received from a revolv-5 |
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| 168 | 168 | | ing fund of a State. 6 |
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| 169 | 169 | | (7) C |
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| 170 | 170 | | REDITING REVOLVING FUND .—A revolving 7 |
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| 171 | 171 | | fund of a State shall be credited with all payments 8 |
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| 172 | 172 | | of principal and interest on all loans made from the 9 |
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| 173 | 173 | | revolving fund. 10 |
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| 174 | 174 | | (g) A |
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| 175 | 175 | | DMINISTRATIONCOSTS.—A State shall charge 11 |
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| 176 | 176 | | a program participant an administrative fee of not more 12 |
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| 177 | 177 | | than 4 percent of the loan amount. The State shall use 13 |
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| 178 | 178 | | the fees to administer the revolving fund and conduct ad-14 |
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| 179 | 179 | | ministration activities under this Act. 15 |
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| 180 | 180 | | (h) T |
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| 181 | 181 | | ECHNICALASSISTANCE.—The Secretary shall 16 |
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| 182 | 182 | | provide technical assistance to program participants to as-17 |
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| 183 | 183 | | sist with sourcing of food, food storage, and other oper-18 |
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| 184 | 184 | | ational requirements. 19 |
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| 185 | 185 | | (i) B |
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| 186 | 186 | | ANKRUPTCY.—In the case of the bankruptcy of 20 |
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| 187 | 187 | | a program participant, amounts owed on a loan from a 21 |
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| 188 | 188 | | revolving fund shall be afforded precedence over other 22 |
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| 189 | 189 | | debt. 23 |
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| 190 | 190 | | (j) C |
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| 191 | 191 | | HANGE INUNDERSERVEDSTATUS.—In the case 24 |
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| 192 | 192 | | of a community that qualified as underserved during a pe-25 |
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| 194 | 194 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 7 |
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| 195 | 195 | | •HR 484 IH |
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| 196 | 196 | | riod in which loans were made by a State pursuant to this 1 |
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| 197 | 197 | | section and no longer qualifies as underserved, recipients 2 |
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| 198 | 198 | | of loans under this section in such community— 3 |
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| 199 | 199 | | (1) shall not be eligible for further loans under 4 |
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| 200 | 200 | | this section; and 5 |
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| 201 | 201 | | (2) may not have their loan agreements altered. 6 |
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| 202 | 202 | | (k) G |
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| 203 | 203 | | ROCERYSTOREEARNINGS.—Earnings of a non-7 |
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| 204 | 204 | | profit organization or municipally owned program partici-8 |
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| 205 | 205 | | pant that are attributable to a loan received from a revolv-9 |
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| 206 | 206 | | ing fund of a State shall be used for reinvestment into 10 |
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| 207 | 207 | | the program participant or to support the continuity of 11 |
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| 208 | 208 | | operations of the program participant. 12 |
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| 209 | 209 | | SEC. 3. CAPITALIZATION GRANTS TO FUND STATE REVOLV-13 |
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| 210 | 210 | | ING FUNDS. 14 |
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| 211 | 211 | | (a) E |
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| 212 | 212 | | LIGIBILITY OFSTATE FORCAPITALIZATION 15 |
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| 213 | 213 | | G |
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| 214 | 214 | | RANT.—To be eligible for a capitalization grant, a State 16 |
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| 215 | 215 | | shall— 17 |
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| 216 | 216 | | (1) establish a revolving fund that complies 18 |
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| 217 | 217 | | with the requirements of this Act; and 19 |
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| 218 | 218 | | (2) establish a process for applications and cri-20 |
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| 219 | 219 | | teria for making loans from the revolving fund, sub-21 |
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| 220 | 220 | | ject to the requirements in section 2(d). 22 |
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| 221 | 221 | | (b) U |
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| 222 | 222 | | PONRECEIPT OFCAPITALIZATIONGRANT.— 23 |
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| 223 | 223 | | Upon the receipt of a capitalization grant, a State shall 24 |
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| 225 | 225 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 8 |
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| 226 | 226 | | •HR 484 IH |
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| 227 | 227 | | deposit such capitalization grant into the revolving fund 1 |
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| 228 | 228 | | of the State. 2 |
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| 229 | 229 | | (c) D |
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| 230 | 230 | | ISTRIBUTION.—For a fiscal year, the Secretary 3 |
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| 231 | 231 | | shall apportion amounts made available for capitalization 4 |
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| 232 | 232 | | grants under this section among the States eligible under 5 |
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| 233 | 233 | | subsection (a) in the ratio that— 6 |
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| 234 | 234 | | (1) the population of underserved communities 7 |
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| 235 | 235 | | in each State eligible under subsection (a), bears to 8 |
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| 236 | 236 | | (2) the population of underserved communities 9 |
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| 237 | 237 | | in all States eligible under subsection (a). 10 |
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| 238 | 238 | | SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 11 |
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| 239 | 239 | | There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 12 |
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| 240 | 240 | | this Act $150,000,000 for fiscal year 2026. 13 |
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| 241 | 241 | | SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 14 |
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| 242 | 242 | | In this Act: 15 |
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| 243 | 243 | | (1) C |
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| 244 | 244 | | APITALIZATION GRANT.—The term ‘‘cap-16 |
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| 245 | 245 | | italization grant’’ means a grant made to a State 17 |
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| 246 | 246 | | under the program. 18 |
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| 247 | 247 | | (2) H |
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| 248 | 248 | | EALTHFUL FOOD .—The term ‘‘healthful 19 |
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| 249 | 249 | | food’’ means food that reflects the most recent Die-20 |
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| 250 | 250 | | tary Guidelines for Americans. 21 |
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| 251 | 251 | | (3) G |
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| 252 | 252 | | ROCERY STORE .—The term ‘‘grocery 22 |
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| 253 | 253 | | store’’ means a retail store that derives income pri-23 |
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| 254 | 254 | | marily from the sale of food for home preparation 24 |
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| 255 | 255 | | and consumption. 25 |
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| 257 | 257 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 9 |
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| 258 | 258 | | •HR 484 IH |
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| 259 | 259 | | (4) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘program’’ means 1 |
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| 260 | 260 | | the program described in section 2(a). 2 |
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| 261 | 261 | | (5) P |
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| 262 | 262 | | ROGRAM PARTICIPANT .—The term ‘‘pro-3 |
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| 263 | 263 | | gram participant’’ means an entity that has received 4 |
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| 264 | 264 | | a loan under the program. 5 |
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| 265 | 265 | | (6) R |
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| 266 | 266 | | EVOLVING FUND.—The term ‘‘revolving 6 |
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| 267 | 267 | | fund’’ means a fund established by a State for use 7 |
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| 268 | 268 | | as a depository for a capitalization grant. 8 |
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| 269 | 269 | | (7) S |
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| 270 | 270 | | ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 9 |
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| 271 | 271 | | the Secretary of Agriculture. 10 |
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| 272 | 272 | | (8) S |
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| 273 | 273 | | TAPLE FOOD.—The term ‘‘staple food’’ 11 |
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| 274 | 274 | | has the meaning given the term in section 243(b) of 12 |
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| 275 | 275 | | the of the Department of Agriculture Reorganization 13 |
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| 276 | 276 | | Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 6953(b)). 14 |
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| 277 | 277 | | (9) S |
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| 278 | 278 | | TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means States of 15 |
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| 279 | 279 | | the Union, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, 16 |
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| 280 | 280 | | the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the 17 |
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| 281 | 281 | | Northern Mariana Islands. 18 |
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| 282 | 282 | | (10) U |
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| 283 | 283 | | NDERSERVED COMMUNITY .—The term 19 |
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| 284 | 284 | | ‘‘underserved community’’ has the meaning given 20 |
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| 285 | 285 | | the term in section 310B(g)(9)(A) of the Consoli-21 |
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| 286 | 286 | | dated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 22 |
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| 287 | 287 | | 1932(g)(9)(A)). 23 |
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| 288 | 288 | | Æ |
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