§ 343 — Appropriations; Distribution; Allotment And Apportionment; Secretary Of Agriculture; Matching Funds; Cooperative Extension Activities

(a) There are authorized to be appropriated for the purposes of this subchapter such sums as Congress may from time to time determine to be necessary. (1) Out of such sums, each State and the Secretary of Agriculture shall be entitled to receive annually a sum of money equal to the sums available from Federal cooperative extension funds for the fiscal year 1962, and subject to the same requirements as to furnishing of equivalent sums by the State, except that amounts heretofore made available to the Secretary for allotment on the basis of special needs shall continue available for use on the same basis. (2) There is authorized to be appropriated for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1971, and for each fiscal year thereafter, for payment to the Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands, $100,000 each, which sums shall be in addition to the sums appropriated for the several States of the United States and Puerto Rico under the provisions of this section. The amount paid by the Federal Government to the Virgin Islands and Guam pursuant to this paragraph shall not exceed during any fiscal year, except the fiscal years ending June 30, 1971, and June 30, 1972, when such amount may be used to pay the total cost of providing services pursuant to this subchapter, the amount available and budgeted for expenditure by the Virgin Islands and Guam for the purposes of this subchapter. (3) There are authorized to be appropriated for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1996, and for each fiscal year thereafter, for payment on behalf of the 1994 Institutions (as defined in section 532 of the Equity in Educational Land-Grant Status Act of 1994), such sums as are necessary for the purposes set forth in section 342 of this title. The balance of any annual funds provided under the preceding sentence for a fiscal year that remains unexpended at the end of that fiscal year shall remain available without fiscal year limitation. Such sums shall be in addition to the sums appropriated for the several States and Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam under the provisions of this section. Such sums shall be distributed on the basis of a competitive application process to be developed and implemented by the Secretary and paid by the Secretary to 1994 Institutions (in accordance with regulations that the Secretary may promulgate) and may be administered by the 1994 Institutions through cooperative agreements with colleges and universities eligible to receive funds under subchapters I and II of this chapter, including Tuskegee University, located in any State. (A) There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary for payments to Hispanic-serving agricultural colleges and universities (as defined in section 3103 of this title) such sums as are necessary to carry out this paragraph for fiscal year 2008 and each fiscal year thereafter, to remain available until expended. (B) Amounts made available under this paragraph shall be in addition to any other amounts made available under this section to States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, or the United States Virgin Islands. (C) Amounts made available under this paragraph shall be— (i) distributed on the basis of a competitive application process to be developed and implemented by the Secretary; (ii) paid by the Secretary to the State institutions established in accordance with the Act of July 2, 1862 (commonly known as the “First Morrill Act”) (7 U.S.C. 301 et seq.); and (iii) administered by State institutions through cooperative agreements with the Hispanic-serving agricultural colleges and universities in the State in accordance with regulations promulgated by the Secretary. (c) Any sums made available by the Congress for further development of cooperative extension work in addition to those referred to in subsection (b) of this section shall be distributed as follows: (1) Four per centum of the sum so appropriated for each fiscal year shall be allotted to the Secretary of Agriculture for administrative, technical, and other services, and for coordinating the extension work of the Department and the several States, Territories, and possessions. (2) Of the remainder so appropriated for each fiscal year 20 per centum shall be paid to the several States in equal proportions, 40 per centum shall be paid to the several States in the proportion that the rural population of each bears to the total rural population of the several States as determined by the census, and the balance shall be paid to the several States in the proportion that the farm population of each bears to the total farm population of the several States as determined by the census. Any appropriation made hereunder shall be allotted in the first and succeeding years on the basis of the decennial census current at the time such appropriation is first made, and as to any increase, on the basis of decennial census current at the time such increase is first appropriated. (d) The Secretary of Agriculture shall receive such additional amounts as Congress shall determine for administration, technical, and other services and for coordinating the extension work of the Department and the several States, Territories, and possessions. A college or university eligible to receive funds under subchapter II of this chapter, including Tuskegee University, may compete for and receive funds directly from the Secretary of Agriculture. A 1994 Institution (as defined in section 532 of the Equity in Educational Land-Grant Status Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 301 note; Public Law 103–382)) may compete for and receive funds directly from the Secretary of Agriculture for the Children, Youth, and Families at Risk funding program and the Federally Recognized Tribes Extension Program. (1) Except as provided in paragraph (4) and subsection (f), no allotment shall be made to a State under subsection (b) or (c), and no payments from the allotment shall be made to a State, in excess of the amount that the State makes available out of non-Federal funds for cooperative extension work. (2) If a State fails to comply with the requirement to provide matching funds for a fiscal year under paragraph (1), the Secretary of Agriculture shall withhold from payment to the State for that fiscal year an amount equal to the difference between— (A) the amount that would be allotted and paid to the State under subsections (b) and (c) (if the full amount of matching funds were provided by the State); and (B) the amount of matching funds actually provided by the State. (A) The Secretary of Agriculture shall reapportion amounts withheld under paragraph (2) for a fiscal year among the States satisfying the matching requirement for that fiscal year. (B) Any reapportionment of funds under this paragraph shall be subject to the matching requirement specified in paragraph (1). (A) Effective beginning for fiscal year 2003, in lieu of the matching funds requirement of paragraph (1), the insular areas of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands of the United States shall provide matching funds from non-Federal sources in an amount equal to not less than 50 percent of the formula funds distributed by the Secretary to each of the insular areas, respectively, under this section. (B) The Secretary may waive the matching fund requirement of subparagraph (A) for any fiscal year if the Secretary determines that the government of the insular area will be unlikely to meet the matching requirement for the fiscal year. (f) There shall be no matching requirement for funds made available to a 1994 Institution or Hispanic-serving agricultural colleges and universities in accordance with paragraphs (3) and (4) of subsection (b). (1) The Secretary of Agriculture may conduct educational, instructional, demonstration, and publication distribution programs and enter into cooperative agreements with private nonprofit and profit organizations and individuals to share the cost of such programs through contributions from private sources as provided in this subsection. (2) The Secretary may receive contributions under this subsection from private sources for the purposes described in paragraph (1) and provide matching funds in an amount not greater than 50 percent of such contributions. (1) Not less than the applicable percentage specified under paragraph (2) of the amounts that are paid to a State under subsections (b) and (c) during a fiscal year shall be expended by States for cooperative extension activities in which 2 or more States cooperate to solve problems that concern more than 1 State (referred to in this subsection as “multistate activities”). (A) Of the Federal formula funds that were paid to each State for fiscal year 1997 under subsections (b) and (c), the Secretary of Agriculture shall determine the percentage that the State expended for multistate activities. (B) Of the Federal formula funds that are paid to each State for fiscal year 2000 and each subsequent fiscal year under subsections (b) and (c), the State shall expend for the fiscal year for multistate activities a percentage that is at least equal to the lesser of— (i) 25 percent; or (ii) twice the percentage for the State determined under subparagraph (A). (C) The Secretary may reduce the minimum percentage required to be expended for multistate activities under subparagraph (B) by a State in a case of hardship, infeasibility, or other similar circumstance beyond the control of the State, as determined by the Secretary. (3) This subsection does not apply to funds provided— (A) by a State or local government pursuant to a matching requirement; (B) to a 1994 Institution (as defined in section 532 of the Equity in Educational Land-Grant Status Act of 1994 (Public Law 103–382; 7 U.S.C. 301 note)); or (C) to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, or Guam. (1) Effective October 1, 1999, extension activity carried out under subsection (h) shall be subject to merit review. (2) An extension activity for which merit review is conducted under paragraph (1) shall be considered to have satisfied the requirements for review under section 7613(e) of this title. (j) Section 361c(i) of this title shall apply to amounts made available to carry out this subchapter.