[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3965 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3965

  To require the establishment and use of short form applications for 
rural communities applying for economic development grant programs, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 3, 2026

 Mr. Barrasso (for himself, Mr. Kelly, Ms. Alsobrooks, Mr. Bennet, Ms. 
Cortez Masto, Mr. Daines, Mr. Fetterman, Mr. Hawley, Ms. Klobuchar, Ms. 
 Lummis, Mr. Moran, Mr. Ossoff, Mr. Schatz, and Ms. Smith) introduced 
the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 
                    on Environment and Public Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To require the establishment and use of short form applications for 
rural communities applying for economic development grant programs, 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 ``EDA Short Form Application Act''.

SEC. 2. SHORT FORM APPLICATIONS FOR RURAL COMMUNITIES IN ECONOMIC 
              DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Assistant secretary.--The term ``Assistant Secretary'' 
        means the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic 
        Development.
            (2) Rural community.--The term ``rural community'' means an 
        incorporated municipality, Tribal area, or territory--
                    (A) with a population of not more than 10,000 
                individuals, as determined by the Bureau of the Census 
                in the most recent decennial census; or
                    (B) that, as determined by the Assistant Secretary, 
                is not located in a metropolitan statistical area, as 
                designated by the Director of the Office of Management 
                and Budget.
    (b) Short Form Applications.--Notwithstanding any other provision 
of law, the Assistant Secretary shall establish a short form 
application for rural communities that may be used by applicants in 
rural communities for any grant program administered by the Economic 
Development Administration.
    (c) Rural Stakeholder Input.--In establishing a short form 
application under subsection (b), the Assistant Secretary shall solicit 
input from a representative group of stakeholders in rural communities 
on ways to improve the application process for grants from the Economic 
Development Administration, including--
            (1) the length of the applications;
            (2) the information and documentation required or requested 
        to be submitted as part of the applications;
            (3) the possibility of standardizing base materials, such 
        as budget templates, forms, and required attachments, across 
        grant programs administered by the Economic Development 
        Administration;
            (4) the possibility of reducing repetitive sections of the 
        applications that ask for information already provided to the 
        Federal Government, such as information provided through 
        SAM.gov, the Bureau of the Census, or a comprehensive economic 
        development strategy (as defined in section 3 of the Public 
        Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3122));
            (5) the degree of applicability to rural communities of 
        questions in the applications and information and documentation 
        described in paragraph (2); and
            (6) any other considerations the Assistant Secretary 
        determines to be necessary for the establishment of the short 
        form application.
    (d) Transparency.--In carrying out this section, the Assistant 
Secretary shall make publicly available--
            (1) sample successful applications, with personal and 
        sensitive information redacted;
            (2) criteria decision guides that explain how applications 
        are reviewed and rated; and
            (3) standardized guidance for rural communities to use in 
        applying for grants from the Economic Development 
        Administration.
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