Empowering Rural Communities Act

More technical help for rural communities

If enacted, the bill would require the Secretary of Agriculture to reserve at least 2.5% of each Rural Development discretionary grant program's appropriations for technical assistance. The reserved funds would pay for training, application development help, pre‑development engineering and environmental review work, outreach, and making project-ready applications for broadband, water and wastewater, housing, community facilities, and business development. The Secretary would deliver funds by cooperative agreements, grants or subgrants, or contracts with eligible entities such as local governments, Tribal governments, nonprofits, rural cooperatives, colleges and cooperative extensions, or private firms with rural experience. Priority would go to low-capacity places (20,000 people or fewer or lacking full-time grant staff), persistent poverty counties (20%+ in poverty for 30 years), underserved areas, and other high-need communities. State Rural Development offices would identify high-need places, ensure geographic balance, and the Secretary would publish an annual public report to Congress describing amounts, communities helped, measurable outcomes, and recommendations. Reserved funds would not count toward a program's statutory administrative expense limit, and the bill would not authorize new or additional appropriations.