I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3402

To establish permanent authority for the Secretary of Agriculture to quickly 

assist agricultural producers who incur crop losses as a result of damaging weather or related condition in federally declared disaster areas, 

to provide emergency disaster assistance to agricultural producers for 

qualifying crop losses for the 2001, 2002, or 2003 crops, to continue 

the livestock assistance program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 29, 2003

Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota (for himself, Mr. JANKLOW, and Mr. MCINTYRE) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL

To establish permanent authority for the Secretary of Agriculture to quickly assist agricultural producers who incur 

crop losses as a result of damaging weather or related 

condition in federally declared disaster areas, to provide 

emergency disaster assistance to agricultural producers 

for qualifying crop losses for the 2001, 2002, or 2003 

crops, to continue the livestock assistance program, 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 ‘‘Permanent Emergency 

3 Agricultural Assistance Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. CROP DISASTER ASSISTANCE FOR 2001, 2002, AND 

5 2003 CROP LOSSES. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture shall 

7 make emergency financial assistance available to pro8 ducers on a farm who have incurred qualifying crop losses 

9 for the 2001, 2002, or 2003 crop, or any combination of 

10 those crops, due to damaging weather or related condition, 

11 as determined by the Secretary. 

12 (b) ADMINISTRATION.—Except as provided in sub13 section (c), the Secretary shall make assistance available 

14 under this section in the same manner as provided under 

15 section 815 of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food 

16 and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appro17 priations Act, 2001 (Public Law 106–387; 114 Stat. 

18 1549A–55), including using the same loss thresholds for 

19 the quantity and quality losses as were used in admin20 istering that section. 

21 (c) PAYMENT RATES.—The Secretary shall make a 

22 disaster payment available to producers on a farm for a 

23 crop under this section at a rate equal to—

24 (1) 40 percent of the established price for the 

25 crop for any deficiency in production greater than 
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1 20 percent, but less than 35 percent, for the crop; 

2 and 

3 (2) 65 percent of the established price for the 

4 crop for any deficiency in production of 35 percent 

5 or more for the crop. 

6 (d) CROP INSURANCE.—In carrying out this section, 

7 the Secretary shall not discriminate against or penalize 

8 producers on a farm that have purchased crop insurance 

9 under the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1501 et 

10 seq.). 

11 (e) OTHER ASSISTANCE.—Subject to subsection (d), 

12 the amount of assistance that producers on a farm would 

13 otherwise receive under this section shall be reduced by 

14 the amount of assistance provided to the producers on the 

15 farm for crop losses described in subsection (a) under any 

16 other Federal law. 

17 SEC. 3. CROP DISASTER ASSISTANCE FOR FUTURE CROP 

18 YEARS. 

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

20 make emergency financial assistance available to pro21 ducers on a farm who incur qualifying crop losses for an 

22 insurable crop due to damaging weather or related condi23 tion, as determined by the Secretary, which results in the 

24 designation of the county in which the farm is located as 

25 a federally declared disaster area. 
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1 (b) ADMINISTRATION.—Except as provided in sub2 sections (c) and (d), the Secretary shall make assistance 

3 available under this section in the same manner as pro4 vided under section 815 of the Agriculture, Rural Develop5 ment, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agen6 cies Appropriations Act, 2001 (Public Law 106–387; 114 

7 Stat. 1549A–55), including using the same loss thresholds 

8 for the quantity and quality losses as were used in admin9 istering that section. 

10 (c) PAYMENT RATE.—Subject to subsection (e), the 

11 Secretary shall make assistance available to producers on 

12 a farm for a crop under this section at a rate equal to 

13 65 percent of the established price for the crop for any 

14 deficiency in production of 35 percent or more for the 

15 crop. 

16 (d) RECEIPT CONDITIONED ON HAVING CROP IN17 SURANCE.—The producers on a farm shall not be eligible 

18 for assistance under subsection (a) with respect to losses 

19 to a crop unless the producers obtained, before the losses 

20 were incurred, a policy or plan of insurance for the crop 

21 under the Federal Crop Insurance Act that provided a 

22 level of coverage equal to or greater than 60 percent. 

23 (e) PAYMENT LIMITATION.—

24 (1) LIMITATION.—Assistance provided under 

25 subsection (a) to a producer for losses to a crop, to-
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1 gether with the amounts specified in paragraph (2) 

2 applicable to the same crop, may not exceed 95 per3 cent of what the value of the crop would have been 

4 in the absence of the losses, as estimated by the Sec5 retary. 

6 (2) OTHER PAYMENTS.—In applying the limita7 tion in paragraph (1), the Secretary shall include the 

8 following: 

9 (A) Crop insurance payments made under 

10 the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1501 

11 et seq.) that the producer receives for losses to 

12 the same crop. 

13 (B) The value of the crop that was not lost 

14 (if any), as estimated by the Secretary. 

15 (f) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘federally 

16 declared disaster area’’ is a county covered by a Presi17 dential declaration of major disaster issued under section 

18 301 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer19 gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170) or determined to 

20 be a disaster area by the Secretary under subpart A of 

21 part 1945 of title 7, Code of Federal Regulations. The 

22 term does not include a contiguous county. 

23 (g) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section applies to crop 

24 years after the 2003 crop year. 
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1 SEC. 4. LIVESTOCK ASSISTANCE PROGRAM. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture shall 

3 make and administer payments for livestock losses to pro4 ducers for 2001, 2002, or 2003, or any combination of 

5 those years, in a county that has received a corresponding 

6 emergency designation by the President or the Secretary, 

7 of which an amount determined by the Secretary shall be 

8 made available for the American Indian livestock program 

9 under section 806 of the Agriculture, Rural Development, 

10 Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Ap11 propriations Act, 2001 (Public Law 106–387; 114 Stat. 

12 1549, 1549A–51). 

13 (b) ADMINISTRATION.—The Secretary shall make as14 sistance available under this section in the same manner 

15 as provided under section 806 of the Agriculture, Rural 

16 Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Re17 lated Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001 (Public Law 

18 106–387; 114 Stat. 1549, 1549A–51). 

19 (c) OTHER ASSISTANCE.—The amount of assistance 

20 that a producer would otherwise receive under this section 

21 shall be reduced by the amount of assistance provided to 

22 the producer for losses described in subsection (a) under 

23 any other Federal law. 
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1 SEC. 5. FUNDING AND REIMBURSEMENT. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture shall 

3 use the funds of the Commodity Credit Corporation to 

4 carry out this Act. 

5 (b) PERMANENT PROGRAM.—There is hereby author6 ized to be appropriated such amounts as may be necessary 

7 to reimburse the Commodity Credit Corporation for funds 

8 expended by the Secretary under section 3. 

9 SEC. 6. EMERGENCY DESIGNATIONS. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—The amounts referred to in sec11 tions 2 and 4 are designated by Congress as an emergency 

12 requirement pursuant to section 502 of H. Con. Res. 95 

13 (108th Congress), the concurrent resolution on the budget 

14 for fiscal year 2004. 

15 (b) PERMANENT PROGRAM.—Amounts appropriated 

16 pursuant to the authorization of appropriations in section 

17 5(b) to reimburse the Commodity Credit Corporation shall 

18 be treated as emergency spending. The allocation for a 

19 fiscal year otherwise made to the Committees on Appro20 priations of the House of Representatives and the Senate 

21 pursuant to section 302(a) of the Congressional Budget 

22 Act of 1974 shall be increased by the amount appropriated 

23 pursuant to such authorization of appropriations for the 

24 same fiscal year. 
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1 SEC. 7. REGULATIONS. 

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

3 promulgate such regulations as are necessary to carry out 

4 this Act. 

5 (b) PROCEDURE.—The promulgation of the regula6 tions and administration of this Act shall be made without 

7 regard to—

8 (1) the notice and comment provisions of sec9 tion 553 of title 5, United States Code; 

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

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

12 13804), relating to notices of proposed rulemaking 

13 and public participation in rulemaking; and 

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

15 (commonly known as the ‘‘Paperwork Reduction 

16 Act’’). 

17 (c) CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW OF AGENCY RULE18 MAKING.—In carrying out this section, the Secretary shall 

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

20 United States Code.

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