Rural Development Provisions in the 2014 Farm Bill (P.L. 113-79)

Summary

While many legislative proposals introduced in a given Congress may have implications for rural America, Congress has generally expressed concern with economic development of rural communities within the context of periodic omnibus farm bills, most recently in Title VI of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (P.L. 113-79). Congress uses farm bills to address emerging rural issues as well as to reauthorize and/or amend a wide range of rural programs administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) three rural development mission agencies: Rural Housing Service, Rural Business-Cooperative Service, and Rural Utilities Service.

Title VI of the 2014 farm bill addresses a wide range of policy issues concerning rural America, many of which were also addressed in the 2008 farm bill. These issues included provisions such as equity capital development in rural areas, regional economic planning and development, essential community facilities, water and wastewater infrastructure needs, value-added agricultural development, and broadband telecommunications development. The 2014 farm bill expands high-speed broadband access in rural areas through a new rural gigabit network pilot program, establishes new criteria for prioritizing broadband loans, creates a new rural energy savings program, establishes a program for strategic economic and community development, and consolidates several existing business development grants into a broader program of business development grants. The bill also authorizes $150 million in mandatory spending for pending rural development loans and grants, primarily water and wastewater infrastructure projects. A side-by-side comparison of the final bill with the House- and Senate-passed provisions is provided at the end of the report.

The 2014 farm bill authorizes USDA to prioritize otherwise eligible applications that support multijurisdictional strategic economic and community development. The provision reserves 20% of a fiscal year’s appropriation for community facilities, water and wastewater projects, and rural business development for such strategic economic development projects. The bill authorizes a new Rural Energy Savings Program that will provide 0% interest rate loans to eligible borrowers to implement energy efficiency measures. The bill also authorizes appropriations of $10 million annually (FY2014-FY2018) for a new Rural Gigabit Network Pilot program for “ultra-high speed” broadband connectivity, and amends through FY2018 many long-standing programs funded through annual appropriations—water and waste disposal grants, technical assistance for rural water systems, emergency community water assistance, business opportunity grants, water assistance to Native villages in Alaska, community facilities for tribal colleges, and distance learning and telemedicine, to name a few. Most of these programs received authorized funding at levels generally lower than authorized by the 2008 farm bill.