7 U.S.C. § 361g — Duties of Secretary; ascertainment of entitlement of State to funds; plans of work

(a) Duties of Secretary The Secretary of Agriculture is in charge of running this program (sections 361a through 361i). The Secretary must write the rules needed to carry out the law. The Secretary must also give advice and help so the program works well. This includes helping coordinate research that state agricultural experiment stations start under this law, suggesting which research topics matter most, and encouraging the stations to cooperate with each other and with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. (b) Ascertainment of entitlement By October 1 each year, the Secretary must figure out two things for every state: whether it qualifies for its share of that year's funding, and exactly how much money it should get. (c) Carryover (1) In general: If a state doesn't spend all its yearly funds by the end of the fiscal year, it can carry the leftover money over and spend it the next fiscal year. (2) Failure to expend full allotment: (A) If the state still hasn't spent that leftover money by the end of the second fiscal year, the government subtracts the unspent amount from the state's next yearly allotment. (B) The Secretary then redistributes that subtracted money to other states — using the formula in section 361c(c) — but only to states that did not have money subtracted that year. (d) Plan of work required Before a state can get money under this law for any year, state officials must submit a "plan of work" describing how they will use the funds. The Secretary of Agriculture must approve this plan first. (e) Requirements related to plan of work Each state's plan of work must describe three things: (1) a summary of the projects or programs the state plans to run using formula funds; (2) how the state will meet certain requirements in section 361c — specifically subsections (c)(3) and (i)(2) of that section; and (3) the matching funds the state provided in the previous fiscal year. (f) Research protocols (1) Development: The Secretary of Agriculture must create protocols — standard methods — for judging whether multistate, multi-institution, and multi-subject research projects, and joint research-and-extension activities, are successfully addressing the important farm issues named in states' plans of work. (2) Consultation: The Secretary must develop these protocols together with the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board and with land-grant colleges and universities. (g) Treatment of plans of work for other purposes As much as possible, the Secretary should let a state's plan of work also count toward other federal reporting requirements, so states don't have to write duplicate reports.