Federal
Enabling Legislation
The land-grant college system as we know it today is the result
of several pieces of legislation, including the following. (Reference
is made to titles of acts setting up the land-grant college system.
Details of these acts can be found in any library.)
First Morrill Act (1862)-- An
act donating public lands to the several states and territories
which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and
mechanic arts.
Amendment to the First Morrill Act (1866)-- An
act to extend the time within which the provisions of said
act shall be accepted and such colleges established.
Hatch Act (1887)-- Provided
for establishing experiment stations at the land-grant colleges
to add to scientific knowledge of agriculture. The resulting
accumulation of knowledge through this act--along with the
observation that
knowledge was not being “disseminated” and used--led
to the need for creating the Extension Service.
Second Morril Act (1890)-- An act to apply a portion of the
proceeds of the public lands to the more complete endowment and support
of the Black
colleges for the benefit of agriculture and mechanic arts established
under the provisions
of an act of Congress approved July 1862.
Nelson Amendment to Morril Act (1907)-- An
act making appropriations for the United States Department of Agriculture
for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1908.
Smith-Lever Act (May 8, 1914)-- Provided
for Cooperative Extension work between the U.S. Department of Agriculture
and the agricultural colleges benefitting from the Morrill Act of
1862. See text
of Smith-Lever Act, as amended.
Capper-Ketchum Act (May 22, 1928)-- An
act to further develop the Cooperative Extension system as inaugurated
under the
Smith-Lever Act.
Additional Federal Cooperative Fund (July 1, 1930)-- An
act providing for additional Cooperative Agricultural Extension
work including the employment of specialists in economics and marketing.
Bankhead-Jones Act (June 29, 1935)-- An
act to provide for research into basic laws and principles relating
to agriculture and to provide for further development of Cooperative
Agricultural
Extension
work and more complete endowment and support of land-grant colleges.
Clarke-McNary (Cooperative Farm Forestry) (1924 amended
1949)-- The Secretary of Agriculture is hereby authorized
and directed in cooperation with appropriate officials of the various
states
in his discretion
with other suitable agencies to assist the owners of farms in establishing,
improving, and renewing wood lots, shelter belts, windbreaks, and
other valuable forest
growth and in growing, harvesting, utilizing, and marketing useful
timber crops.
Bankhead-Flannigan (Passed as an added section of Bankhead-Jones
Act)-- An act providing additional funds for Cooperative
Extension work in agriculture and home economics including technical
and educational
assistance to farm people in improving their standards of living,
in developing individual
farm and home plans, better marketing and distribution of farm
products, work with rural youth and 4-H club work and older out-of-school
youth,
guidance of farm people in improving farm and home buildings,
development of effective
programs
in canning, food preservation, nutrition, and for the necessary
printing and
distribution of information in connection with the foregoing.
Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 -- Provided
for further research into basic laws and principles relating
to agriculture and to improve and facilitate the marketing
and distribution
of agricultural
products.
Rural Development Act of 1972 -- Fostered
a balanced national development that provides opportunities
for increased numbers of the people of the United States
to work
and enjoy a high
quality of life
dispersed throughout our Nation by providing the essential
knowledge necessary for successful
programs of rural development.
National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching
Policy Act of 1977 -- Improve the coordination and
planning of agricultural research, extension, and teaching
programs, identify
needs and
establish priorities
for these programs, assure that national agricultural research,
extension, and teaching objectives are fully achieved,
and assure that the results
of agricultural
research are effectively communicated and demonstrated
to farmers, processors, handlers, consumers, and all other users
who can
benefit therefrom.
Renewable Resources Extension Act of 1978– The
State Director of Cooperative Extension programs and
the administrative heads of extension for eligible colleges
and universities in
each State shall jointly
develop by mutual agreement, a single comprehensive and
coordinated renewable resources extension program in
which the role of
each eligible college
and university is well-defined.
Food Security Act (1985), Miscellaneous Provisions–Revision
of language in the Smith-Lever Act of 1914.
Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (Public
Law 101-624-Title XVI, XXIV, XXV) Repeals some provisions
of previous acts and gives authorization for appropriation
for
research and
extension efforts
related
to sustainable and alternative agriculture, environmental
issues (weather, water quality, global climate change),
genetics, agricultural product
processing and
storage, and rural revitalization through forestry.
Requires training of all agricultural agents in sustainable
agriculture.
Smith-Lever Act as
amended. Several preceding acts contained amending
language. P.L.
360, approved August
11, 1955 and
P.L. 87-749, approved October 6, 1962 are examples.
The 1990 amendment added new
language to minimize conflicts of interest among
employees paid in whole or in part by
Smith-Lever funds. All preceding amendments still
in force are incorporated into the following:
Chapter 79. -- AN ACT to provide for cooperative
agriculture extension work between the agricultural
colleges in
the several States receiving
the benefits
of an
Act of Congress approved July second, eighteen
hundred and sixty-two, and of Acts supplementary
thereto,
and the United
States Department
of Agriculture.
SECTION 1. In
order to aid in diffusing among people of the
United States
useful and
practical
information on
subjects relating to agriculture, home economics,
and rural energy, and to encourage
the application same, there may be continued
or inaugurated in connection
with the
college of the or colleges in each State, Territory,
or possession, now receiving, or which may hereafter
receive,
the benefits
of the Act of
Congress approved
July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two,
entitled “ An Act donating
public lands to the several States and Territories which may provide college
for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts” and the Act of Congress
approved August thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety, agriculture extension
work which shall be carried on in cooperation with the United States Department
of Agriculture: Provided, That in any State, Territory, or possession in which
two or more such colleges have been or hereafter may be established, the appropriations
hereinafter made to such State, Territory, or possession shall be administered
by such college or colleges as the legislature of such State, Territory, or possession
may direct.
SECTION 2. Cooperative
agricultural extension work shall consist of
the development of practical
applications of research
knowledge and giving of instruction and practical
demonstrations of existing or improved
practices or technologies in agriculture, home
economics, and rural energy, and subjects relating
thereto to
persons not
attending or resident in
said colleges
in the several communities, and imparting information
on said subjects
through demonstrations, publications, and otherwise
and for the necessary printing
and distribution of the information in connection
with the foregoing; and this work
shall be carried on in such manner as may be
mutually agreed upon by the Secretary of Agriculture
and
the State agriculture
college
or colleges
or Territory or
possession receiving the benefits of this Act.
SECTION 3. (a)
There are hereby authorized to be appropriated
for the purpose
of this
ACT such
sums as Congress
may from time to time determine to be necessary.
(b)
(1) Out of such sums, each State and Federal Extension Service
shall be entitled to receive
annually a sum
of money equal to
the sums available
from
the 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.
(b)(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
Act, the amount available and budgeted for expenditure
by the Virgin
Islands and Guam
for the purposes
of this
Act.
(c)
Any sums made available by Congress for further development of
cooperative
extension
work in
addition to those referred
to in subsection
(b) hereof
shall be distributed as follows:
1.
Four per centum of the sum so appropriated for each fiscal year
shall be allotted
to the Federal
Extension
Service 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
proportion that the
farm population of each bears to the
total farm population of the several
States as
determined by the census: Provided,
That payments out of the additional appropriations
for further
development
of
extension
work authorized
herein may be made subject
to the making available of such sums
of public funds by the States from
non-Federal funds
for the maintenance
of
cooperative
agricultural
extension
work provided
for in this Act, as may be provided
by the Congress at the time of such additional
appropriations
are made: Provided further, That any
appropriations
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 Federal Extension Service 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.
(e)
Insofar as the provisions of the subsections (b) and (c) of this
section,
which require
or permit Congress
to
require
matching
of
Federal funds,
apply to the Virgin Islands of
the
United States and Guam, such provisions
shall
be deemed to have been satisfied,
for the fiscal years ending September
30,
1978,
and September 30, 1979, only, if
the amounts budgeted and available
for
expenditure by the Virgin Islands
of the
United States
and Guam in such
years equal the
amounts budgeted and available
for expenditure by the Virgin Islands
of the United States
and Guam in the fiscal year ending
September 30, 1977.
(f)(1)
The Secretary of Agriculture may conduct educational, instructional,
demonstration
and publication distribution
programs through the
Federal Extension Service 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.
(f)(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.
SECTION 4. On
or about the first day of
October in each year after the
passage
of this Act,
the Secretary
of
Agriculture shall
ascertain as to each State
wether it is entitled to
receive its
share if
the annual appropriation
for cooperative agricultural
extension work under this
Act and the amount which it is
entitled to receive.
Before the
funds herein
provided
shall become available to
any college
for any fiscal year, plans
for the work
to
be carried
on under
this Act shall
be submitted
by the
proper officials
of each college and approved
by the Secretary of Agriculture.
The
Secretary
shall
ensure that each college
seeking to receive funds under this
Act has in
place appropriate
guidelines,
as determined
by
the Secretary,
to
minimize actual
or potential conflicts of
interest among employees of such college
whose salaries
are funded in whole or in
part with such funds. Such sums
shall be paid
in equal
quarterly payments in or
about October, January, and April
and July of each
year to the treasurer
or other
officer
of the State
duly
authorized by the
laws of
the State to receive the
same, and such officer shall be required
to
report to the Secretary of
Agriculture on
or
about the first day of April
of each year,
a detailed statement of the
amount so received during
the previous
fiscal year
and its
disbursement, on
forms prescribed
by the
Secretary of Agriculture.
SECTION 5. If
any portion of the moneys
received by the designated
officer
of any State,
for the
support
and maintenance
of cooperative agricultural
extension work, as provided
in this Act,
shall by any action
or
contingency be
diminished or lost
be misapplied,
it shall
replaced
by said State, and until
so replaced no subsequent
appropriation
shall
be apportioned
or paid
to said State. No portion
of
said moneys shall
be applied,
directly
or indirectly, to the purchase,
erection, preservation,
or repair of any building
or buildings, or
to purchase or rental
of land,
or in
college-course teaching,
lectures in college, or
any other purpose not specified
in this
Act. It
shall be the duty of said
colleges, annually, on
or about the first
day of January,
to make to the Governor
of the State in which it is
located a full detailed
report
of its operations in the
expenditures from all sources
for this purpose,
a copy of
which
report
shall be
sent to the
Secretary of Agriculture.
SECTION 6. If
the Secretary of Agriculture
finds that a State is
not entitled to receive
its share
of the annual
appropriation, the facts
and reasons therefor
shall be reported
to the
President, and
the amount involved shall
be kept separate in the
Treasury until
the expiration
of the Congress
next succeeding a session
of
the legislature of
the State from which
funds have been withheld in order
that the
State may,
if it should
so desire,
appeal
to
Congress from the determination
of the Secretary of Agriculture.
If
the next
Congress shall
not direct such sum to
be paid, it shall be
covered
into the
Treasury.
SECTION 7. (Repealed)
(Dealt with an annual
report to Congress.)
SECTION 8. (a)
The Congress finds
that there exists special
circumstances in certain
areas which cause
such areas
to be at
a disadvantage insofar
as
agricultural development
is
concerned, which circumstances
include the following:
(1) There is
concentration of
farm families on farms
either too small or
too unproductive or both;
(2)
such farm operators
because of
limited
productivity are unable
to make adjustments
and investments
required
to establish
profitable operations;
(3) the productive
capacity of the existing
farm unit
does not permit profitable
employment of available
labor;
(4) because
of limited resources,
many of these farm
families are
not able
to make full
use of current
extension programs
designed for families operating
economic units
nor are
extension facilities
adequate
to provide
the assistance
needed to produce
desirable results.
(b)
In order to further the purpose of section
2 in such
areas and
to encourage complementary
development
essential
to the
welfare of
such
areas, there
are hereby authorized
to be appropriated
such sums
as the
Congress from
time to time shall
determine to be necessary
for payments to the
States on the
basis of special
needs in such
areas as
determined by the
Secretary of Agriculture.
(c)
In determining that the area has
such special
need,
the Secretary
shall
find
that it has
a substantial number
of disadvantaged
farms or
farm families for
one or more of
the reasons hereto enumerated.
The
Secretary shall
make provisions
for the assistance to
be extended
to include
one or more of
the following: (1) Intensive
on-the-farm
educational
assistance to the
farm family in
appraising and resolving
its problems;
(2) assistance
and counseling
to local groups
in appraising resources
for capability
of improvement
in agriculture
or introduction
of industry designed
to supplement
farm income;
(3) cooperation
with other
agencies
and groups in furnishing
all possible information
as to
existing employment
opportunities,
particularly to
farm families having
underemployed workers;
and (4) in cases
where the farm
family, after analysis of
its opportunities
ans existing
resources, finds
its advisable to
seek a new farming
venture,
the providing of
information, advice,
and counsel
in connection
with making
such change.
(d)
No more than 10 per centum of
the sums
available
under
this section
shall
be allotted
to any one
State. The Secretary
shall
use project
proposals and
plans of work
submitted by the State Extension
directors
as
a basis for
determining the
allocation of
funds appropriated pursuant
to
this section.
(e)
Sums appropriated pursuant to this
section shall
be in addition
to,
and not in
substitution for, appropriations
otherwise available
under
this Act.
The amounts
authorized
to be appropriated
pursuant
to this section
shall not exceed
a sum in any
year equal
to 10 per centum
of
sums otherwise
appropriated
pursuant
to this Act.
SECTION 9. The
Secretary
of Agriculture
is authorized
to
make such
rules and regulations
as
may be necessary
for carrying
out
the provisions
of this
Act.
SECTION 10. The
term “State” means
the States of the Union, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam and the Northern
Mariana Islands. |
