I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 257

To provide emergency disaster assistance to agricultural producers that incurred 2002 crop losses due to damaging weather or related condition 

and to provide emergency disaster assistance to livestock producers in 

counties that received a primary disaster designation by the Secretary 

of Agriculture in calendar year 2001 or 2002, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 8, 2003

Mr. BURNS (for himself, Mr. HAYES, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. PICKERING, Mr. 

KINGSTON, Mr. ROGERS of Alabama, Mr. GOODE, Mr. CRAMER, and Mr. 

BISHOP of Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL

To provide emergency disaster assistance to agricultural producers that incurred 2002 crop losses due to damaging 

weather or related condition and to provide emergency 

disaster assistance to livestock producers in counties that 

received a primary disaster designation by the Secretary 

of Agriculture in calendar year 2001 or 2002, and for 

other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Emergency Agricul3 tural Disaster Assistance Act of 2003’’. 

4 SEC. 2. CROP DISASTER ASSISTANCE. 

5 (a) ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE.—Notwithstanding sec6 tion 508(b)(7) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 

7 U.S.C. 1508(b)(7)), the Secretary of Agriculture shall use 

8 such sums as are necessary of funds of the Commodity 

9 Credit Corporation to make emergency financial assist10 ance available to producers on a farm that have incurred 

11 qualifying crop losses for the 2002 crop due to damaging 

12 weather or related condition, as determined by the Sec13 retary. 

14 (b) ADMINISTRATION.—The Secretary shall make as15 sistance available under this section in the same manner 

16 as provided under section 815 of the Agriculture, Rural 

17 Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Re18 lated Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001 (as enacted into 

19 law by Public Law 106–387; 114 Stat. 1549A–55), includ20 ing using the same loss thresholds for the quantity and 

21 quality losses as were used in administering that section. 

22 SEC. 3. ASSISTANCE FOR LIVESTOCK PRODUCERS. 

23 (a) ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE.—The Secretary of Agri24 culture shall use such sums as are necessary of funds of 

25 the Commodity Credit Corporation to make and admin26 ister payments to livestock producers for losses in a county 
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1 that received a primary disaster designation by the Sec2 retary in calendar year 2001 or 2002. 

3 (b) ADMINISTRATION.—The Secretary shall make as4 sistance available under this section using the criteria es5 tablished to carry out the 2002 Livestock Compensation 

6 Program. 

7 (c) APPLICATION.—During the 30-day period begin8 ning on the date of the enactment of this Act, livestock 

9 producers in a county described in subsection (a) may sub10 mit an application for assistance under this section or 

11 renew an application previously submitted under the 2002 

12 Livestock Compensation Program. 

13 (d) CHOICE OF PAYMENTS.—

14 (1) MULTIYEAR DESIGNATION.—If a producer 

15 is on a farm located in a county that received an 

16 emergency designation described in subsection (a) in 

17 each of calendar years 2001 and 2002, the producer 

18 may receive payments under this section for losses 

19 associated with the declaration in either calendar 

20 year 2001 or calendar year 2002, but not both. 

21 (2) PRIOR PAYMENTS.—A producer may not re22 ceive a payment under this section and under the 

23 2002 Livestock Compensation Program. 

24 SEC. 4. INELIGIBILITY FOR PAYMENTS. 

25 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
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1 (1) ADDITIONAL COVERAGE.—The term ‘‘addi2 tional coverage’’ has the meaning given the term in 

3 section 502(b)(1) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act 

4 (7 U.S.C. 1502(b)(1)). 

5 (2) INSURABLE COMMODITY.—The term ‘‘insur6 able commodity’’ means an agricultural commodity 

7 (excluding livestock) for which the producers on a 

8 farm are eligible to obtain a policy or plan of insur9 ance under the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 

10 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.). 

11 (3) NONINSURABLE COMMODITY.—The term 

12 ‘‘noninsurable commodity’’ means an eligible crop 

13 for which the producers on a farm are eligible to ob14 tain assistance under section 196 of the Federal Ag15 riculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (7 

16 U.S.C. 7333). 

17 (b) INELIGIBILITY.—Except as provided in sub18 section (c), the producers on a farm shall not be eligible 

19 for a payment under section 2 with respect to 2002 losses 

20 to an insurable commodity or noninsurable commodity if 

21 the producers on the farm—

22 (1) in the case of an insurable commodity, did 

23 not obtain a policy or plan of insurance for the in24 surable commodity for the crop under the Federal 

25 Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.); and 
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1 (2) in the case of a noninsurable commodity, 

2 did not file the required paperwork, and pay the ad3 ministrative fee by the applicable State filing dead4 line, for the noninsurable commodity under section 

5 196 of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and 

6 Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 7333). 

7 (c) WAIVERS.—The Secretary of Agriculture may 

8 waive the application of subsection (b) to the producers 

9 on a farm if—

10 (1) in the case of an insurable commodity, the 

11 producers on the farm enter into a contract with the 

12 Secretary under which the producers on the farm 

13 agree—

14 (A) to obtain additional coverage for the 

15 insurable commodity for each of the next three 

16 crops under the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 

17 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.); and 

18 (B) on violation of the contract, to forfeit 

19 the right to receive any payment, loan, or ben20 efit under title I of the Farm Security and 

21 Rural Investment Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C. 7901 

22 et seq.) for each of such crops; and 

23 (2) in the case of a noninsurable commodity, 

24 the producers on the farm enter into a contract with 
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1 the Secretary under which the producers on the 

2 farm agree—

3 (A) to file the required paperwork, and pay 

4 the administrative fee by the applicable State 

5 filing deadline, for the noninsurable commodity 

6 for each of the next three crops under section 

7 196 of the Federal Agriculture Improvement 

8 and Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 7333); and 

9 (B) on violation of the contract, to forfeit 

10 the right to receive any payment, loan, or ben11 efit under title I of the Farm Security and 

12 Rural Investment Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C. 7901 

13 et seq.) for each of such crops. 

14 SEC. 5. COMMODITY CREDIT CORPORATION. 

15 The Secretary of Agriculture shall use the funds, fa16 cilities, and authorities of the Commodity Credit Corpora17 tion to carry out this Act. 

18 SEC. 6. REGULATIONS. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture may 

20 promulgate such regulations as are necessary to imple21 ment this Act. 

22 (b) PROCEDURE.—The promulgation of the regula23 tions and administration of this Act shall be made without 

24 regard to—
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1 (1) the notice and comment provisions of sec2 tion 553 of title 5, United States Code; 

3 (2) the Statement of Policy of the Secretary of 

4 Agriculture effective July 24, 1971 (36 Fed. Reg. 

5 13804), relating to notices of proposed rulemaking 

6 and public participation in rulemaking; and 

7 (3) chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code 

8 (commonly known as the ‘‘Paperwork Reduction 

9 Act’’). 

10 (c) CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW OF AGENCY RULE11 MAKING.—In carrying out this section, the Secretary shall 

12 use the authority provided under section 808 of title 5, 

13 United States Code. 

14 SEC. 7. EMERGENCY DESIGNATION. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—The entire amount made available 

16 under this Act shall be available only to the extent that 

17 the President submits to Congress an official budget re18 quest for a specific dollar amount that includes designa19 tion of the entire amount of the request as an emergency 

20 requirement for the purposes of the Balanced Budget and 

21 Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 900 et 

22 seq.). 

23 (b) DESIGNATION.—The entire amount made avail24 able under this section is designated by Congress as an 
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1 emergency requirement under sections 251(b)(2)(A) and 

2 252(e) of that Act (2 U.S.C. 901(b)(2)(A), 902(e)).

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