The Secretary shall use $300,000,000 of the funds of the Commodity Credit Corporation for each of fiscal years 2019 through 2023 to carry out the program.

Funds made available under subsection (a) shall remain available until expended.

Of the funds made available for the program under subsection (a), the Secretary shall allocate—

(1) 50 percent of the funds to projects based on a State or multistate competitive process administered by the Secretary at the local level with the advice of the applicable State technical committees established under subchapter VI; and

(2) 50 percent of the funds to projects for critical conservation areas designated under section 3871f of this title.

Under a partnership agreement that is not funded through an alternative funding arrangement or grant agreement under section 3871c(d) of this title, the Secretary may advance reasonable amounts of funding for not longer than 90 days for technical assistance to eligible partners to conduct project development and outreach activities in a project area, including—

(1) In general Except as provided in paragraph (2), none of the funds made available for the program, including for a partnership agreement funded through an alternative funding arrangement or grant agreement under section 3871c(d) of this title, may be used to pay for the administrative expenses of eligible partners.

Under a partnership agreement that is not funded through an alternative funding arrangement or grant agreement under section 3871c(d) of this title, the Secretary may advance reasonable amounts of funding for not longer than 90 days for technical assistance to eligible partners to conduct project development and outreach activities in a project area, including—

(A) providing outreach and education to producers for potential participation in the project;

(B) establishing baseline metrics to support the development of the assessment required under section 3871b(c)(1)(E) of this title; or

(C) providing technical assistance to producers.

At the time of project selection, the Secretary shall identify and make publicly available the amount that the Secretary shall use to provide technical assistance under the terms of the partnership agreement.

(1) In general At the time of project selection, the Secretary shall identify and make publicly available the amount that the Secretary shall use to provide technical assistance under the terms of the partnership agreement.

(2) Limitation The Secretary shall limit costs of the Secretary for technical assistance to costs specific and necessary to carry out the objectives of the program.

(3) Third-party providers The Secretary shall develop and implement strategies to encourage third-party technical service providers to provide technical assistance to eligible partners pursuant to a partnership agreement.

(Pub. L. 99–198, title XII, § 1271D, as added Pub. L. 113–79, title II, § 2401, Feb. 7, 2014, 128 Stat. 749; amended Pub. L. 115–334, title II, § 2705, Dec. 20, 2018, 132 Stat. 4598.)