II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3401 

To amend the Federal Crop Insurance Act to authorize the Federal Crop 

Insurance Corporation to carry out research and development on a single 

index insurance policy, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 5, 2023 

Mr. WELCH (for himself, Mr. SANDERS, Ms. WARREN, and Mr. MARKEY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Crop Insurance Act to authorize the 

Federal Crop Insurance Corporation to carry out research and development on a single index insurance policy, 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 ‘‘Withstanding Extreme 

5 Agricultural Threats by Harvesting Economic Resilience 

6 Act of 2023’’ or the ‘‘WEATHER Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SINGLE INDEX INSURANCE POLICY. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 522(c) of the Federal 

3 Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1522(c)) is amended by 

4 adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘(20) SINGLE INDEX INSURANCE POLICY.— 

6 ‘‘(A) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 

7 ‘‘(i) COVERED CROP OR COM8 MODITY.—The term ‘covered crop or com9 modity’ means any crop or commodity (in10 cluding a specialty crop) on a farm except 

11 timber, forest products, animals for sport 

12 or show, and pets. 

13 ‘‘(ii) COVERED POLICY.—The term 

14 ‘covered policy’ means the single index in15 surance policy described in subparagraph 

16 (B)(i). 

17 ‘‘(iii) COVERED WEATHER CONDI18 TION.— 

19 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—The term 

20 ‘covered weather condition’ means any 

21 of the following weather conditions 

22 that are found to be closely correlated 

23 with agricultural income losses: 

24 ‘‘(aa) High winds. 

25 ‘‘(bb) Excessive moisture 

26 and flooding. 


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1 ‘‘(cc) Extreme heat. 

2 ‘‘(dd) Abnormal freeze con3 ditions. 

4 ‘‘(ee) Wildfire. 

5 ‘‘(ff) Hail. 

6 ‘‘(gg) Drought. 

7 ‘‘(hh) Any other severe 

8 weather or growing conditions 

9 applicable to small-scale farmers, 

10 as determined by the Secretary. 

11 ‘‘(II) DATA.—The existence of a 

12 weather condition described in sub13 clause (I) shall be determined by indi14 ces that prioritize using data from the 

15 National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

16 Administration, as available, but may 

17 use other federally or State certified 

18 weather data sources, public and pri19 vate satellite data, and weather and 

20 climate data and models, if necessary, 

21 as determined by the Secretary. 

22 ‘‘(B) POLICY.— 

23 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Corporation 

24 shall carry out research and development, 

25 or offer to enter into 1 or more contracts 


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1 with 1 or more qualified persons to carry 

2 out research and development, to develop a 

3 single index policy to insure against agri4 cultural income losses due to 1 or more 

5 covered weather conditions. 

6 ‘‘(ii) COVERAGE.—Research and de7 velopment on the covered policy under 

8 clause (i) shall require that coverage is 

9 available in all 50 States (including Indian 

10 Tribes), the District of Columbia, Amer11 ican Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of 

12 the Northern Mariana Islands, the Com13 monwealth of Puerto Rico, and the Virgin 

14 Islands of the United States. 

15 ‘‘(iii) OPTION TO BUY-UP OR BUY16 DOWN.— 

17 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Research and 

18 development on the covered policy 

19 under clause (i) shall consider permit20 ting a holder of the covered policy to 

21 elect to buy-up to 150 percent, subject 

22 to subclause (II), or buy-down to 5 

23 percent, of the median county-level 

24 adjusted gross income for farms, in 5- 

25 percent increments, to reflect the inVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:26 Dec 13, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3401.IS S3401

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1 come of the individual farm business 

2 of the holder insured under the cov3 ered policy. 

4 ‘‘(II) LIMITATION.—A holder of 

5 a covered policy may buy-up under 

6 subclause (I) only if the farms of the 

7 holder insured under the covered pol8 icy have at least 3 covered crops or 

9 commodities. 

10 ‘‘(iv) PRIORITY FEATURES OF POL11 ICY.—In carrying out research and devel12 opment on the covered policy under clause 

13 (i), the following features may be given 

14 priority: 

15 ‘‘(I) Agricultural income losses 

16 under the covered policy include— 

17 ‘‘(aa) losses for all covered 

18 crops or commodities; and 

19 ‘‘(bb) losses to the value of 

20 packing, packaging, or any other 

21 similar on-farm activity that the 

22 Corporation determines necessary 

23 to remove a covered crop or com24 modity from the field. 


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1 ‘‘(II) Payments are made under 

2 the covered policy not later than 30 

3 days after the occurrence of a covered 

4 weather condition in the county in 

5 which the applicable farm of the farm6 er is located or an adjacent county. 

7 ‘‘(III) Provision of seasonal cov8 erage periods. 

9 ‘‘(IV) Provision of special consid10 eration to concerns facing individual 

11 farm businesses— 

12 ‘‘(aa) that have less than 

13 $350,000 in adjusted gross in14 come; and 

15 ‘‘(bb) with respect to which 

16 a farmer is an underserved pro17 ducer (as defined in section 

18 508(a)(7)(A)). 

19 ‘‘(V) Paperwork requirements are 

20 reduced for farmers seeking to obtain 

21 a covered policy. 

22 ‘‘(v) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out 

23 research and development on the covered 

24 policy under clause (i), the Corporation— 


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1 ‘‘(I) shall hold stakeholder meet2 ings to solicit producer and agent 

3 feedback; and 

4 ‘‘(II) may consult with licensed 

5 actuaries with experience developing 

6 index policies insuring agricultural 

7 production. 

8 ‘‘(C) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year 

9 after the date of enactment of this paragraph, 

10 the Corporation shall make publicly available a 

11 report that describes— 

12 ‘‘(i) the results of the research and 

13 development carried out under this para14 graph; and 

15 ‘‘(ii) recommendations to Congress 

16 with respect to those results, including— 

17 ‘‘(I) any challenges to developing 

18 the covered policy; and 

19 ‘‘(II) options to address those 

20 challenges.’’. 

21 (b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—Section 531(a)(18) 

22 of the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1531(a)(18)) 

23 is amended by striking ‘‘section 2501(e) of the Food, Agri24 culture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 

25 2279(e))’’ and inserting ‘‘section 2501(a) of the Food, AgVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:26 Dec 13, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3401.IS S3401

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1 riculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 

2 2279(a)).’’. 

Æ 


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