S. 2618 — MORE USDA Grants Act

This section defines terms for purposes of the Act, including— (1) high-density public land county, as a county (or equivalent jurisdiction) with a population of not more than 100,000 (per the most recent Census Bureau estimates) in which more than 50% of the land is owned or managed by the federal government; (2) qualifying grant program, as specified USDA rural development programs such as Rural Business Development Grants (7 U.S.C. 1932(c)), community facilities grants (7 U.S.C. 1926(a)(19)), Economic Impact Initiative grants (7 U.S.C. 1926(a)(20)(B)), Telemedicine and Distance Learning grants (7 U.S.C. 950aaa et seq.), Community Connect Grants (7 U.S.C. 950bb–3), Rural eConnectivity Pilot Program grants (P.L. 115-141), and certain other discretionary rural grant programs awarded to counties, local governments, or Tribal governments; (3) Secretary, as the Secretary of Agriculture; and (4) Tribal government, as the recognized governing body of any Indian or Alaska Native tribe, band, nation, pueblo, village, community, component band, or component reservation individually identified in the list published most recently as of enactment pursuant to the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 5131).

This section reduces by 50 percent any local matching fund requirements under qualifying grant programs for High-Density Public Land Counties and units of local or Tribal government within them. The section further directs the Secretary to provide technical assistance on request before and during annual application periods for such programs; prioritize applications from entities without support under the program in the prior 10 years and, for technical assistance and other support, Tribal governments within those counties; and offer additional support, including flexibility on barriers such as scoring criteria disadvantaging small communities, partnering requirements, public land-related financial constraints, or overly complex applications.