Council on Rural Community Innovation and Economic Development

The purpose of this section is to enhance the efforts of the Federal Government to address the needs of rural areas in the United States by— The membership of the Council shall be composed of the heads of the following executive branch departments, agencies, and offices: The Secretary shall serve as the Chair of the Council. A member of the Council may designate, to perform the Council functions of the member, a senior-level official who is— The Council shall coordinate policy development through the rural development mission area. The Secretary shall provide funding and administrative support for the Council to the extent permitted by law and within existing appropriations. The Council shall work across executive departments, agencies, and offices to coordinate development of policy recommendations— The Council shall— identify common economic and social challenges faced by rural communities that could be served through— The heads of executive departments and agencies shall assist and provide information to the Council, consistent with applicable law, as may be necessary to carry out the functions of the Council. Each executive department or agency shall be responsible for paying any expenses of the executive department or agency for participating in the Council. The Council may establish, in addition to the working groups established under paragraph (3), such other working groups as necessary. The Secretary shall include as members of each working group such Council members, other heads of Federal agencies (or their designees as defined in (d)(3) 11 So in original. Probably should be “subsection (c)(3)”. ), and non-Federal partners as determined appropriate to the subject matter. The working groups specified in this paragraph are each of the following: The Council shall establish a Rural Smart Communities Working Group. The Rural Smart Communities Working Group shall— For the purposes of this subparagraph, the term “smart community” means a community that has the ability to integrate multiple technological solutions, in a secure fashion, to manage a community’s assets, including local government information systems, schools, libraries, transportation systems, hospitals, power plants, law enforcement, and other community services with the goal of promoting quality of life through the use of technology in ways that improve the efficiency of services and meet residents’ needs. The Council shall establish a Jobs Accelerator Working Group. The Jobs Accelerator Working Group shall support rural jobs accelerators (as defined in section 2008w(a)(4) of this title)— The Jobs Accelerator Working Group shall—