119-hr484

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 484 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 484

 To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to make grants to States to 
 support the establishment and operation of grocery stores in 
 underserved communities, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 January 16, 2025

 Mr. Carson (for himself, Mr. Carter of Louisiana, Mr. Casten, Mrs. 
Cherfilus-McCormick, Mr. Cohen, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Mrs. Dingell, Mr. 
 Garamendi, Mr. Goldman of New York, Ms. Norton, Mr. Horsford, Mr. 
Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Mr. Larson of Connecticut, Mr. 
 Lynch, Mrs. McIver, Mr. Moulton, Mr. Mrvan, Mr. Mullin, Ms. Ross, Ms. 
 Schakowsky, Ms. Scholten, Mr. Soto, Ms. Stansbury, Ms. Stevens, Ms. 
Tlaib, Mr. Takano, Mr. Tonko, Ms. Tokuda, and Ms. Velazquez) introduced 
 the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to make grants to States to 
 support the establishment and operation of grocery stores in 
 underserved communities, and for other purposes.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Food Deserts Act''.

SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM TO ESTABLISH GROCERY STORES IN UNDERSERVED 
 COMMUNITIES.

    (a) Establishment of Grant Program.--The Secretary shall establish 
a program to provide capitalization grants to States for the purpose of 
establishing revolving funds to support the establishment and operation 
of grocery stores in underserved communities.

    (b) Administration.--A State receiving funds under this Act shall 
administer the revolving fund of the State through an instrumentality 
of the State with such powers and limitations as may be required to 
operate such fund in accordance with the requirements of this Act.
            (c) Projects and Activities Eligible for Assistance.--Amounts in a 
revolving fund shall be used for the purpose of making loans--

    (1) to open a grocery store in an underserved community, 
 except that such loan may not be used for the purpose of new 
 construction;

    (2) to support the operations of an existing grocery store 
 in an underserved community;

    (3) to provide access to healthy food; or

    (4) to support the operations of a program participant that 
 is located in a community that would be an underserved 
 community if the program participant was not located in such 
 community.
            (d) Grocery Stores Eligible for Assistance.--

    (1) Required criteria.--A State receiving a capitalization 
 grant under this Act may only make a loan from the revolving 
 fund of the State to an entity that the State determines--
        (A) is a grocery store or will be a grocery store 
 after opening;
        (B) emphasizes or will emphasize unprocessed, 
 healthful foods;
            (C) provides or will provide a variety of raw 
 fruits and vegetables;
            (D) provides or will provide staple foods;
        (E) has a plan to keep such foods in stock to the 
 extent possible;
        (F) charge affordable at or below market values;
        (G) either--
            (i) is demonstrably qualified to operate a 
 grocery store; or
            (ii) at the time of such application, has 
 existing partnerships with organizations that 
 provide technical assistance on business 
 operations of food services; and
        (H) will match no less than 20 percent, from non-
 Federal funds, of the amount of such loan.

    (2) Priority criteria.--A State shall prioritize an 
 application for a loan from the revolving fund of the State 
 from an entity that the State determines--
        (A) hires or plans to hire workers who reside 
 within the underserved community that would be served 
 by the entity;
        (B) provides or plans to provide classes or other 
 educational information about a healthful diet;
            (C) sources or plans to source food from local 
 urban farms and gardens; and
            (D) demonstrates existing supply chain 
 relationships in the grocery industry.

    (e) Application.--An entity that desires a loan from a revolving 
fund of a State shall submit an application to the State at such time, 
in such manner, and containing such information as the State may 
require.

    (f) Loan Conditions.--

    (1) In general.--A loan distributed from a revolving fund 
 by a State may be used by a program participant only for the 
 purposes specified in subsection
            (c) .

    (2) Interest rates.--A loan distributed by a State from a 
 revolving fund--
        (A) shall be made at or below market interest 
 rates; and
        (B) may be an interest free loan, at terms not to 
 exceed the lesser of 30 years or the projected useful 
 life (as determined by the State) of the project to be 
 financed with the proceeds of the loan.

    (3) Structure of loan.--A loan may be distributed from a 
 revolving fund by a State to a program participant in--
        (A) a lump sum; or
        (B) in multiple distributions over a period of 
 years, if the State determines multiple distributions 
 are necessary to carry out the project.

    (4) Loan amount.--A State may not provide a loan to a 
 program participant from the revolving fund of the State in a 
 fiscal year that exceeds 10 percent of the amount available 
 from the fund for making distributions in that fiscal year.

    (5) Payments.--Annual principal and interest payments on a 
 loan received from a revolving fund of a State shall commence 
 not later than 1 year after the loan is disbursed to the 
 program participant and all loans will be fully amortized upon 
 the expiration of the term of the loan.

    (6) Revenue for repayment.--A program participant shall 
 establish a dedicated source of revenue for repayment of a loan 
 received from a revolving fund of a State.

    (7) Crediting revolving fund.--A revolving fund of a State 
 shall be credited with all payments of principal and interest 
 on all loans made from the revolving fund.

    (g) Administration Costs.--A State shall charge a program 
participant an administrative fee of not more than 4 percent of the 
loan amount. The State shall use the fees to administer the revolving 
fund and conduct administration activities under this Act.

    (h) Technical Assistance.--The Secretary shall provide technical 
assistance to program participants to assist with sourcing of food, 
food storage, and other operational requirements.
            (i) Bankruptcy.--In the case of the bankruptcy of a program 
participant, amounts owed on a loan from a revolving fund shall be 
afforded precedence over other debt.

    (j) Change in Underserved Status.--In the case of a community that 
qualified as underserved during a period in which loans were made by a 
State pursuant to this section and no longer qualifies as underserved, 
recipients of loans under this section in such community--

    (1) shall not be eligible for further loans under this 
 section; and

    (2) may not have their loan agreements altered.

    (k) Grocery Store Earnings.--Earnings of a nonprofit organization 
or municipally owned program participant that are attributable to a 
loan received from a revolving fund of a State shall be used for 
reinvestment into the program participant or to support the continuity 
of operations of the program participant.

SEC. 3. CAPITALIZATION GRANTS TO FUND STATE REVOLVING FUNDS.

    (a) Eligibility of State for Capitalization Grant.--To be eligible 
for a capitalization grant, a State shall--

    (1) establish a revolving fund that complies with the 
 requirements of this Act; and

    (2) establish a process for applications and criteria for 
 making loans from the revolving fund, subject to the 
 requirements in 

section 2
            (d) .

    (b) Upon Receipt of Capitalization Grant.--Upon the receipt of a 
capitalization grant, a State shall deposit such capitalization grant 
into the revolving fund of the State.
            (c) Distribution.--For a fiscal year, the Secretary shall apportion 
amounts made available for capitalization grants under this section 
among the States eligible under subsection

    (a) in the ratio that--

    (1) the population of underserved communities in each State 
 eligible under subsection

    (a) , bears to

    (2) the population of underserved communities in all States 
 eligible under subsection

    (a) .

SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act 
$150,000,000 for fiscal year 2026.

SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

 In this Act:

    (1) Capitalization grant.--The term ``capitalization 
 grant'' means a grant made to a State under the program.

    (2) Healthful food.--The term ``healthful food'' means food 
 that reflects the most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

    (3) Grocery store.--The term ``grocery store'' means a 
 retail store that derives income primarily from the sale of 
 food for home preparation and consumption.

    (4) Program.--The term ``program'' means the program 
 described in 

section 2

    (a) .

    (5) Program participant.--The term ``program participant'' 
 means an entity that has received a loan under the program.

    (6) Revolving fund.--The term ``revolving fund'' means a 
 fund established by a State for use as a depository for a 
 capitalization grant.

    (7) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
 of Agriculture.

    (8) Staple food.--The term ``staple food'' has the meaning 
 given the term in 

section 243

    (b) of the of the Department of 
 Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 6953

    (b) ).

    (9) State.--The term ``State'' means States of the Union, 
 the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, 
 Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands.

    (10) Underserved community.--The term ``underserved 
 community'' has the meaning given the term in 

section 310B

    (g)

    (9)
        (A) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development 
 Act (7 U.S.C. 1932

    (g)

    (9)
        (A) ).
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