[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 914 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 914
To simplify the grant process for nonurbanized areas, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 9, 2023
Mr. C. Scott Franklin of Florida (for himself, Mr. Rogers of Kentucky,
Ms. Letlow, Mr. Griffith, Mr. Moolenaar, Mr. Finstad, Mr. Aderholt,
Mrs. Chavez-DeRemer, Mr. Guest, Mr. Carter of Texas, Mr. LaMalfa, Mrs.
Houchin, Mr. Sessions, Mrs. Miller-Meeks, Mr. Tiffany, Ms. Mace, Mr.
Fallon, Ms. Tenney, Mr. McCormick, Mrs. Steel, Mr. Valadao, Mr. Ezell,
Mr. Kelly of Pennsylvania, Mr. Stauber, Mr. Kustoff, Mrs. Cammack, Mr.
Feenstra, Ms. Stefanik, Mr. Flood, Mr. Higgins of Louisiana, Mr. Mann,
Mr. Rutherford, Mr. Ellzey, Mr. Joyce of Ohio, and Mr. Carter of
Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Oversight and Accountability
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To simplify the grant process for nonurbanized areas, 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 ``Simplifying Grants Act of 2023''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Agency.--The term ``agency'' means an Executive
department or independent establishment, as such terms are
defined in sections 101 and 104 of title 5, United States Code,
respectively.
(2) Covered local government.--The term ``covered local
government'' means a local government located in an area of
which the population is less than the population required to be
an urbanized area.
(3) Director.--The term ``Director'' means the Director of
the Office of Management and Budget.
(4) Local government.--The term ``local government'' means
a county, municipality, city, town, township, or other general
purpose political subdivision of a State.
(5) State.--The term ``State'' means any State of the
United States, the District of Columbia, and any commonwealth,
territory, or possession of the United States.
(6) Urbanized area.--The term ``urbanized area'' means an
urbanized area, as determined by the Bureau of the Census for
purposes of the most recent decennial census of population.
SEC. 3. GRANT PROCESS SIMPLIFICATION.
(a) Existing Grant Programs.--For each grant program of an agency
in existence on the date of enactment of this Act under which covered
local governments are eligible to receive grants, not later than 180
days after the date of enactment of this Act--
(1) the Director shall--
(A) conduct a review of the complexity of the
requirements for a covered local government to receive
funds under a grant under the program; and
(B) provide to the head of the agency instructions
on how to simplify such requirements; and
(2) the head of the agency, in consultation with the
Director, shall simplify such requirements.
(b) New Grant Programs.--For each grant program of an agency
established after the date of enactment of this Act under which covered
local governments are eligible to receive grants, before the
application for grants under the program becomes available--
(1) the Director shall--
(A) conduct a review of the complexity of the
proposed requirements for a covered local government to
receive funds under a grant under the program; and
(B) provide to the head of the agency instructions
on how to simplify such requirements; and
(2) the head of each agency, in consultation with the
Director, shall simplify such requirements.
(c) Checklists.--
(1) In general.--In accordance with paragraph (2), the head
of each agency shall make publicly available a checklist for
covered local governments with respect to each grant program of
the agency for which covered local governments are otherwise
eligible that includes each requirement for each step of the
grant process for a grant under the grant program.
(2) Deadline.--The head of an agency shall make publicly
available a checklist under paragraph (1)--
(A) with respect to a grant program in existence on
the date of enactment of this Act, not later than 180
days after the date of enactment of this Act; and
(B) with respect to a grant program established
after the date of enactment of this Act, on the date on
which the application for the grant program becomes
available.
SEC. 4. REPORTING.
(a) One-Time Report.--Not later than 270 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Director shall submit to Congress a report
evaluating, as of the date of submission of the report--
(1) the extent to which agencies have simplified the
requirements for covered local governments under section 3(a);
and
(2) the extent to which agencies made available checklists
under section 3(c)(1) for each grant program in existence on
the date of enactment of this Act.
(b) Ongoing Report.--Not later than April 1 of the first year after
the year during which this Act is enacted, and every April 1
thereafter, the Director shall submit to Congress a report evaluating--
(1) the amount of technical assistance provided to covered
local governments during the previous fiscal year by agencies
relating to the preaward, award, implementation, and closeout
stages of grants awarded by the agencies; and
(2) the amount of funds that were awarded by agencies
during the previous fiscal year to--
(A) covered local governments; and
(B) local governments that are not covered local
governments.
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