Rural Development Modernization Act
Sponsored By: Representative Costa
Introduced
Summary
Raises and harmonizes rural population thresholds to 25,000 across major USDA and related programs so more communities qualify as "rural". It also expands coverage to U.S. territories and Freely Associated States and excludes military base and incarcerated populations when counting residents.
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- Rural residents and communities: Changes the rural cutoff to 25,000 for programs including broadband, telemedicine, distance learning, housing, water, wastewater, and community facilities so more towns and small cities become eligible.
- Territories and compact partners: Extends grants and housing program eligibility to U.S. territories and the Compact of Free Association partners so territorial communities can access Community Connect, cooperative development, and housing assistance.
- Program rules and management: Removes the cap on the military base population exclusion and explicitly excludes incarcerated populations from rural counts, adds eligibility paths for rural water projects including tribal projects, and requires the Agriculture Secretary to reassess the population threshold annually using Census, OMB, and Rural-Urban Commuting Area data.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
5 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 0 costs, 2 mixed.
More rural and tribal water help
The bill would expand which rural water projects qualify under the Reclamation Rural Water Supply Act. It would add projects that serve areas with military-base or jail populations and add projects authorized under specified federal statutes and tribal authorizations. If enacted, more rural and tribal water projects could seek program support.
More towns qualify as rural
This bill would raise many legal "rural" population cutoffs to 25,000 people. If enacted, towns with up to 25,000 residents could qualify for loans, grants, and services like broadband, water, and rural housing programs. Several updated provisions would still exclude people in jails or on military bases where the text says so.
Annual review of rural threshold
The bill would require the Agriculture Secretary to reassess the rural population threshold every year. The Secretary would use Census population and density trends, OMB metro classifications, and ERS commuting area codes, and could account for regional differences. The numeric threshold could go up or down year to year.
Exclude jails and military bases
The bill would change how rural population is counted so people in jails and on military bases do not count toward a place's total. It would remove the prior numeric cap on the military-base exclusion and replace it with a broader exclusion. The Agriculture Secretary would also be allowed, by regulation, to treat some described areas as not rural for certain programs.
Territories gain access to rural programs
The bill would explicitly include U.S. territories and named Freely Associated States in the listed rural programs. If enacted, communities in those territories and associated states would be eligible for the same grants, loans, and housing authorities cited in the bill.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Costa
CA • D
Cosponsors
Crawford
AR • R
Sponsored 2/20/2026
Riley (NY)
NY • D
Sponsored 2/20/2026
Rep. Valadao, David G. [R-CA-22]
CA • R
Sponsored 2/20/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.gov