Shown Here:
Introduced in House (04/20/2016)

Safe Water and Nutrition Access Act

This bill requires the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to take the following actions regarding eligible states (states in which there is a community with respect to which the President has declared an emergency under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act relating to public health threats associated with the presence of lead or other contaminants in a public drinking water supply):

• guarantee loans to entities to process, distribute, aggregate, store, and market locally or regionally produced food under the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (CFRDA) for projects in underserved communities in an eligible state, using specified Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) funds for FY2016;
• provide grants under the CFRDA's emergency and imminent community water assistance grant program to nonprofit entities in an eligible state, notwithstanding maximum population and income requirements or maximum grant limitations under such Act, using specified CCC funds for FY2016;
• use specified CCC funds for water and waste disposal technical assistance and training grants, and for the rural water and wastewater circuit rider program, in FY2016-FY2017; and
• use specified CCC funds for eligible projects or partnerships under USDA's healthy food financing initiative, with priority given to eligible projects and partnerships to be carried out in an eligible state.

The bill allows such amounts to be obligated during the five-year period beginning with the date the amount is first made available, after which the provision under which such amount is provided shall expire. No funds may be used to carry out a provision of this bill unless completely offset by a corresponding reduction in mandatory funds available for another program.