S 3936

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IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

February 26, 2026

Mr. Tuberville (for himself and Mr. Husted) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

A BILL

To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to expand eligibility for guaranteed and direct loans to individuals or entity members that hold at least a 50 percent interest and that are or will become qualified operators of the farm real estate acquired, improved, or supported with farm ownership, operating, or emergency loans, 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 “USDA Loan Modernization Act”.

SEC. 2. PERSONS ELIGIBLE FOR REAL ESTATE LOANS.

Section 302(a) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1922(a)) is amended—

(1) in paragraph (1)—

(A) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking “a majority” and inserting “at least a 50 percent”; and

(B) in subparagraph (C), by striking “a majority” and inserting “at least a 50 percent”; and

(2) in paragraph (2), by striking subparagraphs (A) and (B) and inserting the following:

“(A) Eligibility of qualified operators.— Qualified operators, as defined by the Secretary, shall be considered to meet the operator requirement of paragraph (1).

“(B) Eligibility of certain operating-only entities.—An applicant that is or will become only the operator of farm real estate acquired, improved, or supported with funds under this subtitle shall be considered to meet the owner-operator requirements of paragraph (1) if 1 or more of the individuals who is an owner of the farm real estate owns at least 50 percent (or such other percentage as the Secretary determines is appropriate) of the applicant.

“(C) Eligibility of certain embedded entities.—An entity that is an owner-operator described in paragraph

(1), or an operator described in subparagraph (B) of this paragraph that is owned, in whole or in part, by 1 or more other entities, shall be considered to meet the direct ownership requirement imposed under paragraph

(1) if at least 75 percent of the total ownership interests of the embedded entity, or of the other entities, is owned, directly or indirectly, by qualified operators of the farm acquired, improved, or supported with funds under this subtitle.”.

SEC. 3. PERSONS ELIGIBLE FOR OPERATING LOANS.

Section 311(a) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1941(a)) is amended—

(1) in paragraph (1)—

(A) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking “a majority” and inserting “at least a 50 percent”; and

(B) in subparagraph (C), by striking “a majority” and inserting “at least a 50 percent”; and

(2) by amending paragraph (2) to read as follows:

“(2) Special rules.—

“(A) Eligibility of qualified operators.— Qualified operators, as defined by the Secretary, shall be considered to meet the operator requirement of paragraph (1).

“(B) Eligibility of certain operating-only entities.—An entity that is an operator described in paragraph (1) that is owned, in whole or in part, by other entities, shall be considered to meet the direct ownership requirement imposed under paragraph (1) if at least 75 percent of the total ownership interests of the embedded entity, or of the other entities, is owned, directly or indirectly, by qualified operators of the farm improved or supported with funds under this subtitle.”.

SEC. 4. PERSONS ELIGIBLE FOR EMERGENCY LOANS.

Section 321 of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1961) is amended—

(1) in subsection (a)—

(A) in the first sentence—

(i) by striking “(A)” and inserting

“(i)”;

(ii) by striking “(B)” and inserting

“(ii)”;

(iii) by striking “(1)” and inserting

“(A)”;

(iv) by striking “(2)” and inserting

“(B)”; and

(v) by striking “a majority” each place it appears and inserting “at least a 50 percent”;

(B) in the second sentence, by striking “this subsection” and inserting “this paragraph”;

(C) by striking the fifth sentence; and

(D) by adding at the end the following:

“(2) Special rules.—

“(A) Eligibility of qualified operators.— Qualified operators, as defined by the Secretary, shall be considered to meet the operator requirement of paragraph (1).

“(B) Eligibility of certain operating-only entities.—An applicant that is or will become only the operator of farm real estate acquired, improved, or supported with funds under this subtitle shall be considered to meet the owner-operator requirements of paragraph (1) if 1 or more of the individuals who is an owner of the real estate owns at least 50 percent (or such other percentage as the Secretary determines is appropriate) of the applicant.

“(C) Eligibility of certain embedded entities.—An entity that is an owner-operator described in paragraph

(1), or an operator described in subparagraph (B) of this paragraph that is owned, in whole or in part, by 1 or more other entities, shall be considered to meet the direct ownership requirement imposed under paragraph

(1) if at least 75 percent of the total ownership interests of the embedded entity, or of the other entities, is owned, directly or indirectly, by qualified operators of the farm acquired, improved, or supported with funds under this subtitle.”; and

(2) by striking the section designation and all that follows through “shall make and insure” in the first sentence of the matter preceding paragraph (2) of subsection (a) and inserting the following:

“SEC. 321. ELIGIBILITY FOR LOANS.

“(a) In General.—

“(1) Eligibility requirements.—The Secretary shall make and insure”. <all>