Referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, Natural Resources, and Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
The Rural Development Modernization Act harmonizes and increases population thresholds used to define "rural" across federal agricultural and rural development programs. The bill raises the population limit from various lower thresholds (ranging from 2,500 to 20,000) to a standard 25,000 inhabitants for programs involving broadband, telemedicine, housing loans, water and wastewater facilities, and emergency community assistance. The legislation also eliminates caps on excluding military base populations from rural area calculations and expands eligibility to U.S. territories and freely associated states. Additionally, the bill requires the Secretary of Agriculture to annually reassess and adjust the 25,000-person threshold based on Census data and other demographic trends to ensure the definition remains current. These changes expand the geographic reach and number of communities eligible for federal rural development funding and support.
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