Farm Women United
A Citizen's Platform of the people, by the people, for the people.
Stress Act
Farm Women United believes that the “Stress Act” is an attempt to cover and “soften” the effect of obviously failed agricultural policy. Rather than address the real cause of farmer suicide, the Stress Act will give money to salaried government employees who will attempt to help farmers feel better about losing their livelihood and private property. There is no substitute for supporting a complete overhaul of agricultural policy which will allow farmers to recover their cost of production.
H. R. 5259
To amend the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 to reauthorize the farm and ranch stress assistance network, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 13, 2018
Mr. Emmer (for himself, Mr. Katko, Mr. Young of Iowa, Mr. O'Halleran, Mr. Rodney Davis of Illinois, Mr. Pocan, Ms. Pingree, Ms. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, Mr. Faso, and Mr. Nolan) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To amend the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 to reauthorize the farm and ranch stress assistance network, 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 “Stemming the Tide of Rural Economic Stress and Suicide Act” or the “STRESS Act”.
SEC. 2. REAUTHORIZATION OF THE FARM AND RANCH STRESS ASSISTANCE NETWORK.
Section 7522 of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 5936) is amended—
(1) in subsection (a), by striking “coordination with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall make competitive grants to support cooperative programs between State cooperative extension services and nonprofit organizations” and inserting “consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall make competitive grants to State cooperative extension services and Indian Tribes to support programs with nonprofit organizations in order”;
(2) in subsection (b)—
(A) in paragraph (1), by inserting “Internet” before “websites”;
(B) by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the following:
“(2) training for individuals who may assist farmers in crisis, including programs and workshops;”; and
(C) in paragraph (4), by inserting “, including the dissemination of information and materials” before the semicolon at the end;
(3) in subsection (c), by striking “to enable the State cooperative extension services” and inserting “or Indian tribes, as applicable, to”;
(4) in subsection (d), by striking “fiscal years” and all that follows and inserting “fiscal years 2019 through 2023”; and
(5) by redesignating subsection (d) as subsection (e) and inserting after subsection (c) the following:
“(d) Oversight And Evaluation.—The Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall review and evaluate the stress assistance programs carried out pursuant to this section.
“(1) PROGRAM REVIEW.—Not later than 2 years after the date on which grants are first provided under this section, and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall—
“(A) review the programs funded under a grant made under this section to evaluate the effectiveness of the services offered through such a program and suggest alternative services not offered by a grant recipient that would be appropriate for behavioral health services; and
“(B) submit to Congress, and make available on the public Internet website of the Department of Agriculture, a report containing the results of the review conducted under subparagraph (A) and a description of the services provided through programs funded under such a grant.
“(2) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—In making the report under paragraph (1) publicly available, the Secretary shall take such steps as may be necessary to ensure that such report does not contain any information that would identify any person who received services under a program funded under a grant made under this section.”.