110th CONGRESS
1st Session

S. 195

To amend the Federal Crop Insurance Act to establish permanent authority for the Secretary of Agriculture to quickly provide disaster relief to agricultural producers that incur crop or livestock losses as a result of damaging weather or related condition in federally declared disaster areas, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

January 8, 2007

Mr. DORGAN (for himself, Mr. CONRAD, Mr. THUNE, and Ms. LANDRIEU) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

A BILL

To amend the Federal Crop Insurance Act to establish permanent authority for the Secretary of Agriculture to quickly provide disaster relief to agricultural producers that incur crop or livestock losses as a result of damaging weather or related condition in federally declared disaster areas, 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 `Reliable Farm Safety Net Act'.

SEC. 2. CROP DISASTER ASSISTANCE FOR FUTURE CROP YEARS.

    The Federal Crop Insurance Act is amended by inserting after section 518 (7 U.S.C. 1518) the following:

`SEC. 519. PERMANENT AUTHORITY TO PROVIDE EMERGENCY AGRICULTURAL ASSISTANCE.

    `(a) Definition of Federally Declared Disaster Area- In this section, the term `federally declared disaster area' means--

      `(1) a county covered by--

        `(A) a Presidential declaration of major disaster issued under section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170); or

        `(B) a declaration by the Secretary of a disaster area under subpart A of part 1945 of title 7, Code of Federal Regulations (or successor regulations); and

      `(2) each county contiguous to a county described in paragraph (1).

    `(b) Crop Disaster Assistance-

      `(1) AUTHORITY TO PROVIDE EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE- The Secretary shall use the funds of the Commodity Credit Corporation to make emergency financial assistance available to producers on a farm that incur qualifying crop losses for an insurable crop due to damaging weather or related condition, as determined by the Secretary, that results in the designation of the county in which the farm or ranch is located as a federally declared disaster area.

      `(2) ADMINISTRATION- Except as provided in paragraphs (3) and (4), the Secretary shall make assistance available under this subsection in the same manner as provided under section 815 of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001 (Public Law 106-387; 114 Stat. 1549A-55), including using the same loss thresholds for the quantity and quality losses as were used in administering that section.

      `(3) PAYMENT RATE- The Secretary shall make assistance available to producers on a farm for a crop under this subsection at a rate equal to 65 percent of the established price for the crop for any deficiency in production of 35 percent or more for the crop.

      `(4) INELIGIBILITY FOR ASSISTANCE-

        `(A) IN GENERAL- Except as provided in subparagraph (B), the producers on a farm shall not be eligible for assistance under this subsection with respect to losses to an insurable commodity or noninsurable commodity if the producers on the farm--

          `(i) in the case of an insurable commodity, did not obtain a policy or plan of insurance for the insurable commodity under this Act for the crop incurring the losses;

          `(ii) in the case of a noninsurable commodity, did not file the required paperwork, and pay the administrative fee by the applicable State filing deadline, for the noninsurable commodity under section 196 of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 7333) for the crop incurring the losses;

          `(iii) had adjusted gross incomes, as defined by section 1001D of the Food Security Act of 1985 (7 U.S.C. 1308-3a), of greater than $2,500,000 in 2003; or

          `(iv) were not in compliance with highly erodible land conservation and wetland conservation provisions.

        `(B) CONTRACT WAIVER- The Secretary may waive subparagraph (A) with respect to the producers on a farm if the producers enter into a contract with the Secretary under which the producers agree--

          `(i) in the case of an insurable commodity, to obtain a policy or plan of insurance under this Act providing additional coverage for the insurable commodity for each of the next 2 crops, at a level of coverage equal to or greater than 60 percent; and

          `(ii) in the case of a noninsurable commodity, to file the required paperwork and pay the administrative fee by the applicable State filing deadline, for the noninsurable commodity for each of the next 2 crops under section 196 of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 7333).

        `(C) EFFECT OF VIOLATION- In the event of the violation of a contract under subparagraph (B) by a producer, the producer shall reimburse the Secretary for the full amount of the assistance provided to the producer under this subsection.

    `(c) Livestock Assistance Program-

      `(1) EMERGENCY FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE- The Secretary shall use such sums as are necessary of funds of the Commodity Credit Corporation to make and administer payments for livestock losses of eligible applicants due to a disaster, as determined by the Secretary.

      `(2) ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS- In carrying out the program described in paragraph (1), the Secretary shall provide assistance to any applicant that--

        `(A)(i) conducts a livestock operation that is located in a federally declared disaster area, including any applicant conducting a livestock operation with eligible livestock (within the meaning of the livestock assistance program under section 101(b) of division B of Public Law 108-324 (118 Stat. 1234)); or

        `(ii) produces an animal described in section 10806(a)(1) of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (21 U.S.C. 321d(a)(1)); and

        `(B) meets all other eligibility requirements established by the Secretary for the program.

      `(3) ADMINISTRATION- The Secretary shall make assistance available under this subsection in the same manner as provided under section 806 of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001 (Public Law 106-387; 114 Stat. 1549A-51).

      `(4) MITIGATION- In determining the eligibility for or amount of payments for which a producer is eligible under the livestock assistance program, the Secretary shall not penalize a producer that takes actions (recognizing disaster conditions) that reduce the average number of livestock the producer owned for grazing during the production year for which assistance is being provided.

    `(d) Livestock Indemnity Program-

      `(1) IN GENERAL- The Secretary shall use such sums as are necessary of funds of the Commodity Credit Corporation to carry out a livestock indemnity program for livestock losses of eligible applicants in federally declared disaster areas, as determined by the Secretary.

      `(2) ADMINISTRATION- The Secretary shall make assistance available under this subsection in the same manner as provided under section 3012(b) of the Emergency Agricultural Disaster Assistance Act of 2006 (Public Law 109-234; 120 Stat. 476).

      `(3) LIMITATION ON ASSISTANCE- A producer may apply for assistance under this subsection or subsection (c), but not both.

    `(e) Authorization of Appropriations- There is authorized to be appropriated such amounts as are necessary to reimburse the Commodity Credit Corporation for funds expended by the Secretary under this section.

    `(f) Effective Date- This section applies to the 2007 and subsequent crop years.'.

END