Congress·In Committee·H.R. 8389

Rural Area Population Act

USDA: New Definition for Rural Areas

Apr 20·View on Congress.gov·Read full text

This bill is one vehicle in a longer effort. See the full story across every version.View effort →

Next up: A house committee

The Rural Area Population Act is currently in the early stages of the legislative process. Since April 19, 2026, the bill has been sitting with the House Committee on Agriculture and the House Committee on Financial Services for review. No further action has taken place, and it is common for bills to stall at this stage without receiving a committee vote.

Legislative Progress

House

Senate

President

Law

Unlikely to pass

While rural development often has support from both parties, this bill is in the very early stages and must pass through multiple committees before it can be voted on.

How we got here

This bill’s path across every version that has carried it.

Reintroduced
Reintroduced from H.R. 9019 (118th), which died when its Congress ended.
H.R. 9019 (118th) →

Key Points

This bill creates one standard definition for what counts as a rural area across all Department of Agriculture programs. This includes programs for housing, electricity, and farm development.
The government could label areas with fewer than 35,000 people as rural even if they are near cities. To qualify, these areas must face long term poverty, have many farmworker families, or lack basic services like clean water and electricity.
The plan specifically helps small settlements, tribal lands, and farmworker communities that are surrounded by urban areas but do not have access to city services like trash or sewage.
Areas that are currently considered rural will keep that status until at least 2030. This prevents communities from suddenly losing access to federal grants or loans while the new rules are put in place.
If passed, the new rules would take effect about six months after becoming law. The Department of Agriculture would then be responsible for writing the specific details on how to apply these changes.

Impact Analysis

Govbase has not yet run an impact analysis on this legislation.

Milestones

2 milestones2 actions

Apr 20, 2026House

Referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

Sent to a congressional committee for expert review. The committee decides whether this bill moves forward.

Apr 20, 2026

Introduced in House

The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.

No votes, news coverage, or related bills recorded for this bill yet.

Source Information

Document Type

Congressional Bill

Official Title

Rural Area Population Act

Bill NumberHR 8389

Congress119th Congress

ChamberHouse of Representatives

Latest ActionReferred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

Data Sources

Congress.gov

Official legislative information

Read Full Bill Text

Sponsor

Analysis generated by AI. Always verify with official sources.