“A bill to amend the Research Facilities Act to address deferred maintenance at agricultural research facilities, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section adds congressional findings on agriculture's economic contributions ($1.53 trillion to U.S. GDP in 2023, 22 million jobs in 2022), annual National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) research funding ($1.7 billion), and escalating deferred maintenance needs at schools of agriculture ($11.5 billion as of 2021, up from $8.4 billion in 2015). This section requires the Secretary, prior to evaluating proposals for agricultural research facilities under the Research Facilities Act (7 U.S.C. 390 et seq.), to review them in consultation with NIFA peer review panel representatives. This section revises the Act's grant authority to establish a competitive NIFA grant program providing the federal share of costs to construct, alter, acquire, modernize, renovate, remodel, or equip agricultural research facilities (previously limited to construction grants). The Secretary may waive the Act's 50 percent nonfederal matching requirement to cover up to 100 percent of costs on a case-by-case basis; requires equitable geographic, institutional, disciplinary, and size-based distribution of grants; limits awards to any one state to no more than 20 percent of funds; and directs procedures for proposal submission, review, and selection in consultation with NIFA peer review panels. This section provides mandatory funding of $1 billion on October 1, 2025, and each October 1 thereafter through 2029 (totaling $5 billion), transferred from the Treasury without further appropriation to carry out the grant program and remain available until expended; authorizes additional appropriations for FY2026 through 2030 for planning and related costs; and specifies that administrative costs are subject to federal limits.