I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 5495

To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to enhance dairy markets

through dairy product mandatory reporting, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 18, 2000

Mr. SIMPSON (for himself, Mr. KIND, Mr. SHERWOOD, and Mr. PETERSON

of Minnesota) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Agriculture

A BILL

To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to enhance dairy markets through dairy product mandatory

reporting, 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 ‘‘Dairy Market En5 hancement Act of 2000’’.

6 SEC. 2. DAIRY PRODUCT MANDATORY REPORTING.

7 The Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C.

8 1621 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol9 lowing:
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1 ‘‘Subtitle C—Dairy Product

2 Mandatory Reporting

3 ‘‘SEC. 271. PURPOSE.

4 ‘‘The purpose of this subtitle is to establish a pro5 gram of information regarding the marketing of dairy

6 products that—

7 ‘‘(1) provides information that can be readily

8 understood by producers and other market partici9 pants, including information with respect to prices,

10 quantities sold, and inventories of dairy products;

11 ‘‘(2) improves the price and supply reporting

12 services of the Department of Agriculture; and

13 ‘‘(3) encourages competition in the marketplace

14 for dairy products.

15 ‘‘SEC. 272. DEFINITIONS.

16 ‘‘In this subtitle:

17 ‘‘(1) DAIRY PRODUCTS.—The term ‘dairy prod18 ucts’ means manufactured dairy products that are

19 used by the Secretary to establish minimum prices

20 for Class III and Class IV milk under a Federal

21 milk marketing order issued under section 8c of the

22 Agricultural Adjustment Act (7 U.S.C. 608c), reen23 acted with amendments by the Agricultural Mar24 keting Agreement Act of 1937.
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1 ‘‘(2) MANUFACTURER.—The term ‘manufac2 turer’ means any person engaged in the business of

3 buying milk in commerce for the purpose of manu4 facturing dairy products.

5 ‘‘(3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means

6 the Secretary of Agriculture.

7 ‘‘SEC. 273. MANDATORY REPORTING FOR DAIRY PRODUCTS.

8 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall estab9 lish a program of mandatory dairy product information

10 reporting that will—

11 ‘‘(1) provide timely, accurate, and reliable mar12 ket information;

13 ‘‘(2) facilitate more informed marketing deci14 sions; and

15 ‘‘(3) promote competition in the dairy product

16 manufacturing industry.

17 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.—

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In establishing the pro19 gram, the Secretary shall only—

20 ‘‘(A)(i) subject to the conditions described

21 in paragraph (2), require each manufacturer to

22 report to the Secretary information concerning

23 the price, quantity, and moisture content of

24 dairy products sold by the manufacturer; and
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1 ‘‘(ii) modify the format used to provide the

2 information on the day before the date of enact3 ment of this subtitle to ensure that the infor4 mation can be readily understood by market

5 participants; and

6 ‘‘(B) require each manufacturer and other

7 person storing dairy products to report to the

8 Secretary, at a periodic interval determined by

9 the Secretary, information on the quantity of

10 dairy products stored.

11 ‘‘(2) CONDITIONS.—The conditions referred to

12 in paragraph (1)(A)(i) are that—

13 ‘‘(A) the information referred to in para14 graph (1)(A)(i) is required only with respect to

15 those package sizes actually used to establish

16 minimum prices for Class III or Class IV milk

17 under a Federal milk marketing order;

18 ‘‘(B) the information referred to in para19 graph (1)(A)(i) is required only to the extent

20 that the information is actually used to estab21 lish minimum prices for Class III or Class IV

22 milk under a Federal milk marketing order;

23 ‘‘(C) the frequency of the required report24 ing under paragraph (1)(A)(i) does not exceed

25 the frequency used to establish minimum prices
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1 for Class III or Class IV milk under a Federal

2 milk marketing order; and

3 ‘‘(D) the Secretary may exempt from all

4 reporting requirements any manufacturer that

5 processes and markets less than 1,000,000

6 pounds of dairy products per year.

7 ‘‘(c) ADMINISTRATION.—

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall pro9 mulgate such regulations as are necessary to ensure

10 compliance with, and otherwise carry out, this sub11 title.

12 ‘‘(2) CONFIDENTIALITY.—

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise

14 directed by the Secretary or the Attorney Gen15 eral for enforcement purposes, no officer, em16 ployee, or agent of the United States shall

17 make available to the public information, statis18 tics, or documents obtained from or submitted

19 by any person under this subtitle other than in

20 a manner that ensures that confidentiality is

21 preserved regarding the identity of persons, in22 cluding parties to a contract, and proprietary

23 business information.

24 ‘‘(B) RELATION TO OTHER REQUIRE25 MENTS.—Notwithstanding any other provision
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1 of law, no facts or information obtained under

2 this subtitle shall be disclosed in accordance

3 with section 552 of title 5, United States Code.

4 ‘‘(3) VERIFICATION.—The Secretary shall take

5 such actions as the Secretary considers necessary to

6 verify the accuracy of the information submitted or

7 reported under this subtitle.

8 ‘‘(4) ENFORCEMENT.—

9 ‘‘(A) UNLAWFUL ACT.—It shall be unlaw10 ful and a violation of this subtitle for any per11 son subject to this subtitle to willfully fail or

12 refuse to provide, or delay the timely reporting

13 of, accurate information to the Secretary in ac14 cordance with this subtitle.

15 ‘‘(B) ORDER.—After providing notice and

16 an opportunity for a hearing to affected per17 sons, the Secretary may issue an order against

18 any person to cease and desist from continuing

19 any violation of this subtitle.

20 ‘‘(C) APPEAL.—

21 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The order of the

22 Secretary under subparagraph (B) shall be

23 final and conclusive unless an affected per24 son files an appeal of the order of the Sec25 retary in United States district court not
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1 later than 30 days after the date of the

2 issuance of the order.

3 ‘‘(ii) FINDINGS.—A finding of the

4 Secretary under this paragraph shall be set

5 aside only if the finding is found to be un6 supported by substantial evidence.

7 ‘‘(D) NONCOMPLIANCE WITH ORDER.—

8 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—If a person sub9 ject to this subtitle fails to obey an order

10 issued under this paragraph after the

11 order has become final and unappealable,

12 or after the appropriate United States dis13 trict court has entered a final judgment in

14 favor of the Secretary, the United States

15 may apply to the appropriate United

16 States district court for enforcement of the

17 order.

18 ‘‘(ii) ENFORCEMENT.—If the court

19 determines that the order was lawfully

20 made and duly served and that the person

21 violated the order, the court shall enforce

22 the order.

23 ‘‘(iii) CIVIL PENALTY.—If the court

24 finds that the person violated the order,

25 the person shall be subject to a civil pen-
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1 alty of not more than $10,000 for each of2 fense.

3 ‘‘(5) FEES.—The Secretary shall not charge or

4 assess a user fee, transaction fee, service charge, as5 sessment, reimbursement fee, or any other fee under

6 this subtitle for—

7 ‘‘(A) the submission or reporting of infor8 mation;

9 ‘‘(B) the receipt or availability of, or access

10 to, published reports or information; or

11 ‘‘(C) any other activity required under this

12 subtitle.

13 ‘‘(6) RECORDKEEPING.—Each person required

14 to report information to the Secretary under this

15 subtitle shall maintain, and make available to the

16 Secretary, on request, original contracts, agree17 ments, receipts, and other records associated with

18 the sale or storage of any dairy products during the

19 2-year period beginning on the date of the creation

20 of the records.

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

22 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are nec23 essary to carry out this section.’’.

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