S. 3965

II  119th CONGRESS  2d Session  S. 3965  IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES   March 3, 2026   Mr. Barrasso  (for himself,  Mr. Kelly ,  Ms. Alsobrooks ,  Mr. Bennet ,  Ms. Cortez Masto ,  Mr. Daines ,  Mr. Fetterman ,  Mr. Hawley ,  Ms. Klobuchar ,  Ms. Lummis ,  Mr. Moran ,  Mr. Ossoff ,  Mr. Schatz , and  Ms. Smith ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the  Committee on Environment and Public Works    A BILL
To require the establishment and use of short form applications for rural communities applying for economic development grant programs, and for other purposes.
1.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the   EDA Short Form Application Act  .
2.
Short form applications for rural communities in economic development programs
(a)
Definitions
In this section:
(1)
Assistant Secretary
The term  Assistant Secretary  means the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development.
(2)
Rural community
The term  rural community  means an incorporated municipality, Tribal area, or territory—
(A)
with a population of not more than 10,000 individuals, as determined by the Bureau of the Census in the most recent decennial census; or
(B)
that, as determined by the Assistant Secretary, is not located in a metropolitan statistical area, as designated by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
(b)
Short form applications
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Assistant Secretary shall establish a short form application for rural communities that may be used by applicants in rural communities for any grant program administered by the Economic Development Administration.
(c)
Rural stakeholder input
In establishing a short form application under subsection (b), the Assistant Secretary shall solicit input from a representative group of stakeholders in rural communities on ways to improve the application process for grants from the Economic Development Administration, including—
(1)
the length of the applications;
(2)
the information and documentation required or requested to be submitted as part of the applications;
(3)
the possibility of standardizing base materials, such as budget templates, forms, and required attachments, across grant programs administered by the Economic Development Administration;
(4)
the possibility of reducing repetitive sections of the applications that ask for information already provided to the Federal Government, such as information provided through SAM.gov, the Bureau of the Census, or a comprehensive economic development strategy (as defined in section 3 of the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3122));
(5)
the degree of applicability to rural communities of questions in the applications and information and documentation described in paragraph (2); and
(6)
any other considerations the Assistant Secretary determines to be necessary for the establishment of the short form application.
(d)
Transparency
In carrying out this section, the Assistant Secretary shall make publicly
  available—
(1)
sample successful applications, with personal and sensitive information
  redacted;
(2)
criteria decision guides that explain how applications are reviewed and
  rated; and
(3)
standardized guidance for rural communities to use in applying for grants
  from the Economic Development Administration.