[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6593 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 6593

   To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to establish the 
      Domestic Organic Investment Program, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 10, 2025

 Ms. Salinas (for herself and Mr. Van Orden) introduced the following 
        bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to establish the 
      Domestic Organic Investment Program, 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 ``Domestic Organic Investment Act of 
2025''.

SEC. 2. DOMESTIC ORGANIC INVESTMENT PROGRAM.

    Subtitle A of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1621 
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 210B. DOMESTIC ORGANIC INVESTMENT PROGRAM.

    ``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Certified organic product.--The term `certified 
        organic product' means an agricultural product (as defined in 
        section 2103 of the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 (7 
        U.S.C. 6502)) that is organically produced (as defined in that 
        section).
            ``(2) Eligible entity.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The term `eligible entity' means 
                an entity described in subparagraph (B) that--
                            ``(i) is owned and operated within--
                                    ``(I) a State;
                                    ``(II) the District of Columbia;
                                    ``(III) any territory or possession 
                                of the United States; or
                                    ``(IV) the jurisdiction of an 
                                Indian Tribe; and
                            ``(ii)(I) is certified in accordance with 
                        subpart E of part 205 of title 7, Code of 
                        Federal Regulations (or successor regulations); 
                        or
                            ``(II) is in transition to certification, 
                        as defined by the Secretary.
                    ``(B) Entities described.--An entity referred to in 
                subparagraph (A) is--
                            ``(i) a producer, producer cooperative, or 
                        other commercial entity that produces or 
                        handles certified organic products;
                            ``(ii) a unit of Tribal government; or
                            ``(iii) such other entity as the Secretary 
                        may designate.
                    ``(C) Exclusion.--The term `eligible entity' does 
                not include an entity described in subparagraph (B) the 
                operations of which are suspended or revoked under 
                section 205.662 of title 7, Code of Federal Regulations 
                (or a successor regulation).
            ``(3) Indian tribe.--The term `Indian Tribe' has the 
        meaning given the term in section 4 of the Indian Self-
        Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304).
            ``(4) Secretary.--The term `Secretary' means the Secretary 
        of Agriculture, acting through the Administrator of the 
        Agricultural Marketing Service.
            ``(5) Tribal government.--The term `Tribal government' 
        means the governing body of an Indian Tribe.
    ``(b) Establishment and Purpose.--The Secretary shall establish a 
program, to be known as the `Domestic Organic Investment Program', 
that--
            ``(1) increases the capacity of the domestic organic 
        product supply chain for producers, handlers, suppliers, and 
        processors of certified organic products;
            ``(2) modernizes manufacturing, tracking, storage, and 
        information technology systems specific to the purposes 
        described in this subsection, such as process control or 
        organic product ingredient tracking systems;
            ``(3) improves the capacity of eligible entities to comply 
        with applicable regulatory requirements or quality standards 
        required to access markets, such as requirements and standards 
        relating to food safety and organic product certification;
            ``(4) expands capacity for storage, processing, 
        aggregation, and distribution of certified organic products to 
        create more and better markets for producers of certified 
        organic products;
            ``(5) facilitates market development for domestically 
        produced certified organic products currently being serviced by 
        organic imports; and
            ``(6) addresses additional barriers and bottlenecks in the 
        domestic organic product supply chain for producers, handlers, 
        suppliers, and processors of certified organic products, as 
        determined by the Secretary.
    ``(c) Grants.--For each fiscal year for which amounts are made 
available to carry out this section under subsection (j), the Secretary 
shall provide grants to support eligible entities in conducting 
activities in accordance with the purposes of the program described in 
subsection (b).
    ``(d) Applications.--
            ``(1) In general.--To be eligible to receive a grant under 
        this section, an eligible entity shall submit to the Secretary 
        an application at such time, in such manner, and containing 
        such information as the Secretary may require.
            ``(2) Simplified process.--The Secretary shall implement a 
        simplified application and award process under this section for 
        use by any eligible entity seeking to carry out an equipment-
        only project.
            ``(3) Priority.--The Secretary may establish an annual 
        priority for grants under this section based in part on--
                    ``(A) imbalance of trade and reliance on organic 
                imports;
                    ``(B) National Organic Standards Board 
                recommendations; and
                    ``(C) identified organic processing and supply 
                chain bottlenecks inhibiting market growth and 
                efficiency.
            ``(4) Competitive process.--The Secretary--
                    ``(A) shall conduct a competitive process to select 
                applications submitted under this subsection;
                    ``(B) may assess and rank applications with similar 
                purposes as a group; and
                    ``(C) before accepting any application under this 
                subsection, shall make publicly available the criteria 
                to be used in evaluating the applications.
    ``(e) Project Types.--An eligible entity may use amounts received 
under this section to carry out, in accordance with such goals and 
deadlines for completion as the Secretary may establish, the following 
types of projects:
            ``(1) Certified organic product storage (including cold 
        storage), aggregation, processing, and distribution capacity 
        expansion.
            ``(2) Equipment-only.
    ``(f) Term.--Unless otherwise determined by the Secretary, a grant 
provided under this section shall have a term of not longer than 3 
years.
    ``(g) Maximum Amount.--
            ``(1) In general.--The amount of a grant provided under 
        this section for a project described in subsection (e)(1) shall 
        be not more than $2,000,000.
            ``(2) Equipment-only projects.--The amount of a grant 
        provided under this section for a project described in 
        subsection (e)(2) shall be not more than $100,000.
    ``(h) Matching Funds.--
            ``(1) In general.--An eligible entity that receives a grant 
        under this section to carry out a project described in 
        subsection (e)(1) shall provide a non-Federal share equal to 
        not less than 50 percent of the cost of the project.
            ``(2) Equipment-only projects.--An eligible entity that 
        receives a grant under this section to carry out a project 
        described in subsection (e)(2) shall provide a non-Federal 
        share equal to not less than 25 percent of the cost of the 
        project.
            ``(3) Rule for certain applications.--The Secretary may 
        waive or lower the non-Federal share required under this 
        subsection for beginning farmers and ranchers and veterans 
        applying for a grant under this section.
    ``(i) Technical Assistance.--The Secretary may provide to eligible 
entities technical assistance under this section, directly or through 1 
or more cooperative agreements.
    ``(j) Authorization of Appropriations.--In addition to amounts 
otherwise available, there are authorized to be appropriated to the 
Secretary such sums as are necessary to carry out this section for each 
of fiscal years 2026 through 2030, to remain available until 
expended.''.
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