S 3075 · Strengthening Rural Cooperatives and Communities Act
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
- Introduced
- Oct 30, 2025
- Latest action
- Oct 30, 2025
- Sponsor
- Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto [D-NV]
- Policy area
- Agriculture and Food
- Cosponsors
- 1
Summary
Strengthening Rural Cooperatives and Communities Act This bill reauthorizes through FY2029 and modifies the Rural Cooperative Development Grant (RCDG) Program. This Department of Agriculture (USDA) program provides grants to nonprofit institutions to help individuals and businesses start, expand, or improve rural cooperatives and other mutually-owned businesses through Rural Cooperative Development Centers. USDA may give an additional preference to grant applications that commit to providing a 25% matching contribution for the center with private funds and in-kind contributions. Specifically, USDA may award the maximum points in application scoring criteria to applicants that satisfy this requirement. Under the bill, cooperative development includes activities (e.g., outreach, education, training, and technical assistance) to support the startup, expansion, or ongoing sustainability of new and existing cooperatives. Current law does not define cooperative development. The bill directs the RCDG interagency working group to submit an annual report to Congress on its activities. Finally, the program currently includes cooperative research program requirements to collect data on the effects of all types of cooperatives on the national economy. Under the bill, USDA must analyze the data resulting from the research and include the data and analysis in the annual report to Congress.
Recent actions
- Oct 30, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
- Oct 30, 2025 Introduced in Senate
Votes
No recorded votes are available for this bill.