A bill to support nutrition, farmers, the seafood industry, agricultural research, wood energy and innovation, and indigenous self-determination, and for other purposes.
Sponsored By: Senator Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK]
Introduced
Summary
Expand access to healthy foods and strengthen local food systems by funding school microgrants, frontier food distribution, small-scale processing, and new seafood and seaweed programs to help rural, tribal, and coastal communities build local supply chains. This bill would also add labeling rules for wild, cultivated, and genetically engineered seafood and expand tribal and procurement authorities.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
8 provisions identified: 7 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.
More food help for remote communities
If enacted, the bill would authorize $100 million to help open food banks and pantries in remote noncontiguous frontier communities that currently lack them. Emergency feeding groups in the official program would be able to use program funds to buy locally produced food. The bill would also let public and Tribal K–12 schools get microgrants or other financial help up to $25,000 each to support locally grown food for food-insecure students, and it would loosen some federal monitoring rules for long-lived building projects funded by those awards.
SNAP online rules and protections
If enacted, stores would need an approved plan to accept SNAP for online orders that shows how only eligible foods can be bought and how shoppers are protected. The Agriculture Secretary would consult stakeholders, report within 120 days, and issue rules within 1 year. SNAP could pay delivery and ordering fees only for food that must be delivered to a rural hub or outlying village in a noncontiguous State. The bill would also raise an alternative error-tolerance for some regions to 20% of the one-person maximum allotment and stop double Federal penalties for certain State SNAP liabilities.
Grants and research for coastal seafood
If enacted, USDA (with Commerce) would deliver a seafood processing action plan in 180 days and pick 5 coastal communities for competitive pilot grants. The bill would authorize $15 million in 2027 and $15 million in 2028 for processing projects, cap indirect costs at 10 percent and admin at 5 percent, and require an evaluation report within one year. It would also create grants to reuse or recycle marine products with half the money reserved for States with the longest coastlines, define coastal seaweed farming and require a joint USDA/NOAA report within 2 years, and fund seaweed research (2027–2031) to study cold-water seaweed as a methane-reducing livestock feed with at least 50 percent of funds to high-coastline States.
More agricultural research and training
If enacted, the bill would authorize $5 million each year starting in 2027 for agricultural research at land-grant colleges and state agriculture agencies in States without an ARS facility. It would allow national agricultural research grants to run up to 5 years, permit buying or leasing lab equipment and renovating instructional facilities, and extend program authorization through 2050. The urban and indoor agriculture initiative would expand to cover preservation work and include circumpolar, frontier, and remote areas.
Seafood labels and EEZ limits
If enacted, fish sold as "Wild USA" or "Wild American" would have to be born in the wild or released to the wild, caught in U.S. federal or navigable waters, and, if by vessel, taken on a U.S. vessel. Fish made from harvested fish cells would need the word "Cultivated" before the market name. Fish changed by recombinant DNA would need "Genetically Engineered" or "GE" before the market name. The bill would also stop federal agencies from permitting commercial finfish farming in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone and bar NOAA grant funding for such farming until Congress authorizes it. Willful mislabeling could lead to notice, a 30-day compliance window, and fines up to $10,000 per violation.
Community woody biomass grants expanded
If enacted, the Community Wood Energy and Wood Innovation Program would be allowed to fund processing and distribution services and equipment for woody biomass. Grants could cover processing and distribution projects and new types of wood product facilities. Schools or hospitals in low-income communities could qualify for an exception to do processing or distribution under the program.
Federal cut-flower buy rules changed
If enacted, one year after enactment certain federal agencies would only be allowed to buy cut flowers and greens grown in a qualifying U.S. area (State, DC, territory, or tribal area) for procurements made in the United States. Agencies could accept a non‑qualifying gift for display only if the origin is shown at delivery and the agency also procures a qualifying-area product to display during that time. The rule covers the Executive Office of the President, the Department of Defense, and the Department of State.
Tribal self-governance at USDA
If enacted, the Secretary of Agriculture would study a Tribal self-governance demonstration and, within 18 months, send Congress a report and plan to create a USDA Office of Self-Governance and implement the plan. USDA could enter self-determination contracts with Tribes to carry out Forest Service and NRCS functions and, if a Tribe adopts a Secretary-approved food and agriculture code, FSIS authorities. The bill also adds USDA to Buy Indian Act procurement notices and adds the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium to certain water system provisions. The term "Secretary" in the Act would mean the Secretary of Agriculture.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK]
AK • R
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
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