I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3678 

To amend the Plant Protection Act to direct the Secretary of Agriculture 

to provide assistance to certain owners as compensation for economic 

losses due to quarantine, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 15, 2011 

Mr. MCNERNEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To amend the Plant Protection Act to direct the Secretary 

of Agriculture to provide assistance to certain owners 

as compensation for economic losses due to quarantine, 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fairness for Family 

5 Farmers Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PAYMENTS FOR PRODUCTION LOSSES DUE TO 

2 QUARANTINE. 

3 (a) PAYMENTS.—Subtitle A of the Plant Protection 

4 Act (7 U.S.C. 7111 et seq.) is amended by inserting after 

5 section 416 the following new section: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 416A. PAYMENTS FOR PRODUCTION LOSSES DUE TO 

7 QUARANTINE. 

8 ‘‘(a) PAYMENTS.—Notwithstanding section 415(e), 

9 for each covered article quarantined by the Secretary 

10 under section 412, 414, or 415, the Secretary shall provide 

11 a payment to the owner of such covered article as com12 pensation for economic losses (as defined by the Secretary) 

13 incurred by the owner due to the quarantine of such cov14 ered article. 

15 ‘‘(b) REGULATIONS: APPLICATION AND PAYMENT

16 AMOUNTS.—The Secretary shall issue regulations to carry 

17 out this section, including regulations describing— 

18 ‘‘(1) the form, time, and manner in which the 

19 owner of a covered article shall submit an applica20 tion to receive a payment under this section; 

21 ‘‘(2) the payment amount the owner of a cov22 ered article shall receive under this section for such 

23 covered article; and 

24 ‘‘(3) the maximum total amount of payments 

25 an owner of covered articles may receive under this 

26 section. 


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1 ‘‘(c) DEFINITION.—In this section the term ‘covered 

2 article’ means a plant, plant biological control organism, 

3 plant product, plant pest, noxious weed, article, or means 

4 of conveyance quarantined under section 412, 414, or 415. 

5 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

6 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

7 such sums as may be necessary, to be available until ex8 pended.’’. 

9 (b) EFFECT ON MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF EMERGENCY

10 LOANS.—Section 324(a)(1) of the Consolidated Farm and 

11 Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1964(a)(1)) is amended 

12 by inserting ‘‘less the total amount of any payments re13 ceived under section 416A of the Plant Protection Act’’ 

14 before the semicolon. 

15 (c) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 120 days after 

16 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 

17 Agriculture shall issue regulations to carry out the amend18 ments made by this section. 

19 SEC. 3. ELIMINATION OF REQUIREMENT OF DEMONSTRA20 TION OF INABILITY TO OBTAIN CREDIT FOR 

21 EMERGENCY LOANS. 

22 (a) ELIMINATION OF REQUIREMENT OF DEM23 ONSTRATION OF INABILITY TO OBTAIN CREDIT.—Section 

24 321(a) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development 

25 Act (7 U.S.C. 1961(a)) is amended in the proviso of the 


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1 first sentence by striking ‘‘and are not able to obtain suffi2 cient credit elsewhere’’. 

3 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

4 (1) DEFINITION.—Section 321(d) of the Con5 solidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 

6 U.S.C. 1961(d)) is amended— 

7 (A) by striking ‘‘subtitle’’ and all that fol8 lows through ‘‘husbandry’’ and inserting ‘‘sub9 title, ‘aquaculture’ means the husbandry’’; 

10 (B) by striking ‘‘; and’’ and inserting a pe11 riod; and 

12 (C) by striking paragraph (2). 

13 (2) DETERMINATION OF CREDITWORTHI14 NESS.—Section 322 of the Consolidated Farm and 

15 Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1962) is amend16 ed— 

17 (A) by striking subsection (b); and 

18 (B) by striking ‘‘(a)’’. 

19 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

20 The amendments made by this Act shall apply with 

21 respect to covered articles quarantined under section 412, 

22 414, or 415 of the Plant Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 7712, 

23 7714, and 7715) on or after January 1, 2011. 

Æ 


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