II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1018
To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to establish
a cybersecurity circuit rider program to provide cybersecurity-related
technical assistance to certain entities that operate rural water or waste-
water systems.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH13, 2025
Ms. C
ORTEZMASTO(for herself and Mr. ROUNDS) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture,
Nutrition, and Forestry
A BILL
To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development
Act to establish a cybersecurity circuit rider program
to provide cybersecurity-related technical assistance to
certain entities that operate rural water or wastewater
systems.
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 ‘‘Cybersecurity for 4
Rural Water Systems Act’’. 5
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•S 1018 IS
SEC. 2. RURAL WATER AND WASTEWATER CYBERSECURITY 1
CIRCUIT RIDER PROGRAM. 2
Section 306(a) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural 3
Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1926(a)) is amended by in-4
serting after paragraph (22) the following: 5
‘‘(23) R
URAL WATER AND WASTEWATER CY -6
BERSECURITY CIRCUIT RIDER PROGRAM .— 7
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 8
establish a cybersecurity circuit rider program, 9
which shall be structured similarly to the circuit 10
rider program under paragraph (22), to provide 11
technical assistance to associations described in 12
paragraph (1) that operate rural water or 13
wastewater systems— 14
‘‘(i) to provide rapid assessments of 15
the current ability or inability of those as-16
sociations— 17
‘‘(I) to respond to cybersecurity 18
threats; and 19
‘‘(II) to protect the 20
cyberinfrastructure of those associa-21
tions and public health; 22
‘‘(ii) to develop reasonable protocols to 23
enhance cybersecurity protection; 24
‘‘(iii) to provide assistance to address 25
inadequate cyber protection plans; and 26
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‘‘(iv) to document the state of cyber 1
protection with respect to the water sup-2
plies of those associations. 3
‘‘(B) R
EPORT REQUIREMENT .—A circuit 4
rider that receives funding under this para-5
graph shall submit to the Secretary a report 6
documenting— 7
‘‘(i) the associations served by the cir-8
cuit rider under this paragraph; and 9
‘‘(ii) the activities performed by the 10
circuit rider under this paragraph. 11
‘‘(C) R
EQUIREMENTS FOR CIRCUIT RID -12
ERS.—To provide technical assistance under 13
subparagraph (A), a circuit rider shall possess 14
the necessary experience and certification to ef-15
fectively carry out the activities described in 16
that subparagraph, as determined by the Sec-17
retary. 18
‘‘(D) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA -19
TIONS.—There is authorized to be appropriated 20
to carry out this paragraph $10,000,000 for 21
each of fiscal years 2025 through 2029.’’. 22
Æ
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