II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1592 

To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to expand 

eligibility for Farm Service Agency loans. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 21, 2011 

Mrs. GILLIBRAND introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development 

Act to expand eligibility for Farm Service Agency loans. 

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 ‘‘Agricultural Credit Ex5 pansion Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ELIGIBILITY FOR FARM LOANS. 

7 (a) FARM OWNERSHIP LOANS.—Section 302(a) of 

8 the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 

9 U.S.C. 1922(a)) is amended— 


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1 (1) by striking ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The’’ and 

2 inserting the following: 

3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 

4 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS.—The’’; 

5 (2) in paragraph (1) (as designated by para6 graph (1))— 

7 (A) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘and 

8 limited liability companies’’ and inserting ‘‘lim9 ited liability companies, and such other legal 

10 entities that the Secretary determines to be ap11 propriate,’’; and 

12 (B) in the second sentence— 

13 (i) by striking ‘‘and limited liability 

14 companies’’ each place it appears and in15 serting ‘‘limited liability companies, and 

16 such other legal entities that the Secretary 

17 determines to be appropriate’’; 

18 (ii) by striking ‘‘(1)’’ and inserting 

19 ‘‘(A)’’; 

20 (iii) by striking ‘‘(2)’’ and inserting 

21 ‘‘(B)’’; 

22 (iv) by striking ‘‘(3)’’ and inserting 

23 ‘‘(C)’’; and 

24 (v) by striking ‘‘(4)’’ and inserting 

25 ‘‘(D)’’; 


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1 (3) in the third sentence— 

2 (A) by striking ‘‘and limited liability com3 panies’’ each place it appears and inserting 

4 ‘‘limited liability companies, and such other 

5 legal entities that the Secretary determines to 

6 be appropriate’’; 

7 (B) by striking ‘‘(3)’’ and inserting ‘‘(C)’’; 

8 and 

9 (C) by striking ‘‘(4)’’ and inserting ‘‘(D)’’; 

10 and 

11 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(2) SPECIAL RULES REGARDING DETERMINA13 TIONS.— 

14 ‘‘(A) ELIGIBILITY OF CERTAIN OPER15 ATING-ONLY ENTITIES.—An entity that is, or 

16 will become, only the operator of a family farm 

17 shall be determined by the Secretary to meet 

18 each owner-operator requirement described in 

19 paragraph (1) if the 1 or more individuals who 

20 are the owners of the family farm own— 

21 ‘‘(i) a percentage of the family farm 

22 that exceeds 50 percent; or 

23 ‘‘(ii) such other percentage that the 

24 Secretary determines to be appropriate. 


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1 ‘‘(B) ELIGIBILITY OF CERTAIN EMBEDDED

2 ENTITIES.—An entity that is an owner-operator 

3 described in paragraph (1), or an operator de4 scribed in subparagraph (A), that is owned, in 

5 whole or in part, by 1 or more other entities, 

6 shall be determined by the Secretary to meet 

7 the direct ownership requirement described in 

8 paragraph (1) if not less than 75 percent of the 

9 ownership interests of each embedded entity of 

10 the entity is owned directly or indirectly by the 

11 1 or more individuals who own the family 

12 farm.’’. 

13 (b) CONSERVATION LOANS.—Section 304(c)(1) of 

14 the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 

15 U.S.C. 1924(c)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘or limited li16 ability companies’’ and inserting ‘‘limited liability compa17 nies, or such other legal entities that the Secretary deter18 mines to be appropriate,’’. 

19 (c) FARM OPERATING LOANS.—Section 311(a) of the 

20 Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 

21 1941(a)) is amended— 

22 (1) by striking ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The’’ and 

23 inserting the following: 

24 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 

25 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS.—The’’; 


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1 (2) in paragraph (1) (as designated by para2 graph (1))— 

3 (A) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘and 

4 limited liability companies’’ and inserting ‘‘lim5 ited liability companies, and such other legal 

6 entities that the Secretary determines to be ap7 propriate,’’; and 

8 (B) in the second sentence— 

9 (i) by striking ‘‘and limited liability 

10 companies’’ each place it appears and in11 serting ‘‘limited liability companies, and 

12 such other legal entities that the Secretary 

13 determines to be appropriate’’; 

14 (ii) by striking ‘‘(1)’’ and inserting 

15 ‘‘(A)’’; 

16 (iii) by striking ‘‘(2)’’ and inserting 

17 ‘‘(B)’’; 

18 (iv) by striking ‘‘(3)’’ and inserting 

19 ‘‘(C)’’; and 

20 (v) by striking ‘‘(4)’’ and inserting 

21 ‘‘(D)’’; 

22 (3) in the third sentence— 

23 (A) by striking ‘‘and limited liability com24 panies’’ each place it appears and inserting 

25 ‘‘limited liability companies, and such other 


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1 legal entities that the Secretary determines to 

2 be appropriate’’; 

3 (B) by striking ‘‘(3)’’ and inserting ‘‘(C)’’; 

4 and 

5 (C) by striking ‘‘(4)’’ and inserting ‘‘(D)’’; 

6 and 

7 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(2) SPECIAL RULES REGARDING DETERMINA9 TIONS.—An entity that is an operator described in 

10 paragraph (1) that is owned, in whole or in part, by 

11 1 or more other entities, shall be determined by the 

12 Secretary to meet the direct ownership requirement 

13 described in paragraph (1) if not less than 75 per14 cent of the ownership interests of each embedded en15 tity of the entity is owned directly or indirectly by 

16 the 1 or more individuals who own the family 

17 farm.’’. 

18 (d) EMERGENCY LOANS.—Section 321(a) of the Con19 solidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 

20 1961(a)) is amended— 

21 (1) in the first sentence, in the matter pre22 ceding the proviso— 

23 (A) by striking ‘‘owner-operators (in the 

24 case of loans for a purpose under subtitle A) or 

25 operators (in the case of loans for a purpose 


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1 under subtitle B)’’ each place it appears and in2 serting ‘‘(in the case of farm ownership loans in 

3 accordance with subtitle A) owner-operators or 

4 operators, or (in the case of loans for a purpose 

5 under subtitle B) operators’’; 

6 (B) by striking ‘‘or limited liability compa7 nies’’ the first place it appears and inserting 

8 ‘‘limited liability companies, or such other legal 

9 entities that the Secretary determines to be ap10 propriate’’; and 

11 (C) by striking ‘‘or limited liability compa12 nies’’ the second place it appears and inserting 

13 ‘‘limited liability companies, or such other legal 

14 entities’’; 

15 (2) in the second sentence of the proviso— 

16 (A) by striking ‘‘and limited liability com17 panies’’ and inserting ‘‘limited liability compa18 nies, and such other legal entities’’; and 

19 (B) by striking ‘‘ownership and operator’’ 

20 and inserting ‘‘ownership or operator’’; and 

21 (3) by adding at the end the following: ‘‘An en22 tity that is an owner-operator or operator described 

23 in this subsection shall be determined by the Sec24 retary to meet the direct ownership requirement de25 scribed in this subsection if the entity is owned, in 


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1 whole or in part, by 1 or more other entities and 

2 each individual who is an owner of the family farm 

3 involved has a direct or indirect ownership interest 

4 in each of the other entities.’’. 

5 (e) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

6 (1) Section 304(c)(2) of the Consolidated Farm 

7 and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1924(c)(2)) is 

8 amended by striking ‘‘paragraphs (1) and (2) of sec9 tion 302(a)’’ and inserting ‘‘clauses (A) and (B) of 

10 section 302(a)(1)’’. 

11 (2) Section 310D(a) of the Consolidated Farm 

12 and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1934(a)) is 

13 amended— 

14 (A) in the first sentence, by striking 

15 ‘‘paragraphs (2) through (4) of section 302’’ 

16 and inserting ‘‘clauses (B) through (D) of sec17 tion 302(a)(1)’’; and 

18 (B) in the second sentence— 

19 (i) by striking ‘‘farm cooperative or 

20 private domestic corporation or partner21 ship’’ and inserting ‘‘farm cooperative, pri22 vate domestic corporation, partnership, or 

23 such other legal entity that the Secretary 

24 determines to be appropriate,’’; and 


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1 (ii) by striking ‘‘or partners’’ and in2 serting ‘‘partners, or owners’’. 

3 (3) Section 343(a)(11) of the Consolidated 

4 Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 

5 1991(a)(11)) is amended— 

6 (A) in subparagraph (C)— 

7 (i) by striking ‘‘or joint operation’’ 

8 and inserting ‘‘joint operation, or such 

9 other legal entity that the Secretary deter10 mines to be appropriate’’; and 

11 (ii) by striking ‘‘or joint operators’’ 

12 and inserting ‘‘joint operators, or owners’’; 

13 and 

14 (B) in subparagraph (D)— 

15 (i) in clause (i)(II)(aa)— 

16 (I) by striking ‘‘or joint oper17 ation’’ and inserting ‘‘joint operation, 

18 or such other legal entity’’; and 

19 (II) by striking ‘‘or joint opera20 tors’’ and inserting ‘‘joint operators, 

21 or owners’’; and 

22 (ii) in clause (ii)(II)(aa)— 

23 (I) by striking ‘‘or joint oper24 ation’’ and inserting ‘‘joint operation, 

25 or such other legal entity’’; and 


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1 (II) by striking ‘‘or joint opera2 tors’’ and inserting ‘‘joint operators, 

3 or owners’’. 

4 (4) Section 359(c)(2) of the Consolidated Farm 

5 and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 2006a(c)(2)) 

6 is amended by striking ‘‘section 302(a)(2) or 

7 311(a)(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘clause (B) of section 

8 302(a)(1) or clause (B) of section 311(a)(1)’’. 

9 SEC. 3. PURPOSES OF CERTAIN DIRECT LOANS. 

10 Section 303(a)(1) of the Consolidated Farm and 

11 Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1923(a)(1)) is amend12 ed— 

13 (1) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘or’’ at 

14 the end; 

15 (2) in subparagraph (E)(ii), by striking the pe16 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

17 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(F) refinancing 1 or more loans made or 

19 guaranteed under this subtitle.’’. 

20 SEC. 4. REPEAL OF CERTAIN LOAN TERM LIMITS. 

21 (a) DIRECT LOANS.—Section 311 of the Consolidated 

22 Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1941) is 

23 amended by striking subsection (c). 

24 (b) LIMITATION ON PERIOD BORROWERS ARE ELIGI25 BLE FOR GUARANTEED ASSISTANCE.—Section 319 of the 


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1 Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 

2 1949) is amended— 

3 (1) by striking ‘‘(a) GRADUATION PLAN.—The 

4 Secretary’’ and inserting ‘‘The Secretary’’; and 

5 (2) by striking subsection (b). 

Æ 


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