106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2773

AN ACT

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’’.
2

S 2773 ES

1 SEC. 2. DAIRY PRODUCT MANDATORY REPORTING.

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

3 1621 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol4 lowing:

5 ‘‘Subtitle C—Dairy Product

6 Mandatory Reporting

7 ‘‘SEC. 271. PURPOSE.

8 ‘‘The purpose of this subtitle is to establish a pro9 gram of information regarding the marketing of dairy

10 products that—

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

12 understood by producers and other market partici13 pants, including information with respect to prices,

14 quantities sold, and inventories of dairy products;

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

16 services of the Department of Agriculture; and

17 ‘‘(3) encourages competition in the marketplace

18 for dairy products.

19 ‘‘SEC. 272. DEFINITIONS.

20 ‘‘In this subtitle:

21 ‘‘(1) DAIRY PRODUCTS.—The term ‘dairy prod22 ucts’ means manufactured dairy products that are

23 used by the Secretary to establish minimum prices

24 for Class III and Class IV milk under a Federal

25 milk marketing order issued under section 8c of the

26 Agricultural Adjustment Act (7 U.S.C. 608c), reen-
3

S 2773 ES

1 acted with amendments by the Agricultural Mar2 keting Agreement Act of 1937.

3 ‘‘(2) MANUFACTURER.—The term ‘manufac4 turer’ means any person engaged in the business of

5 buying milk in commerce for the purpose of manu6 facturing dairy products.

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

8 the Secretary of Agriculture.

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

10 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall estab11 lish a program of mandatory dairy product information

12 reporting that will—

13 ‘‘(1) provide timely, accurate, and reliable mar14 ket information;

15 ‘‘(2) facilitate more informed marketing deci16 sions; and

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

18 manufacturing industry.

19 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.—

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In establishing the pro21 gram, the Secretary shall only—

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

23 in paragraph (2), require each manufacturer to

24 report to the Secretary information concerning
4

S 2773 ES

1 the price, quantity, and moisture content of

2 dairy products sold by the manufacturer; and

3 ‘‘(ii) modify the format used to provide the

4 information on the day before the date of enact5 ment of this subtitle to ensure that the infor6 mation can be readily understood by market

7 participants; and

8 ‘‘(B) require each manufacturer and other

9 person storing dairy products to report to the

10 Secretary, at a periodic interval determined by

11 the Secretary, information on the quantity of

12 dairy products stored.

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

14 in paragraph (1)(A)(i) are that—

15 ‘‘(A) the information referred to in para16 graph (1)(A)(i) is required only with respect to

17 those package sizes actually used to establish

18 minimum prices for Class III or Class IV milk

19 under a Federal milk marketing order;

20 ‘‘(B) the information referred to in para21 graph (1)(A)(i) is required only to the extent

22 that the information is actually used to estab23 lish minimum prices for Class III or Class IV

24 milk under a Federal milk marketing order;
5

S 2773 ES

1 ‘‘(C) the frequency of the required report2 ing under paragraph (1)(A)(i) does not exceed

3 the frequency used to establish minimum prices

4 for Class III or Class IV milk under a Federal

5 milk marketing order; and

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

7 reporting requirements any manufacturer that

8 processes and markets less than 1,000,000

9 pounds of dairy products per year.

10 ‘‘(c) ADMINISTRATION.—

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall pro12 mulgate such regulations as are necessary to ensure

13 compliance with, and otherwise carry out, this sub14 title.

15 ‘‘(2) CONFIDENTIALITY.—

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

17 directed by the Secretary or the Attorney Gen18 eral for enforcement purposes, no officer, em19 ployee, or agent of the United States shall

20 make available to the public information, statis21 tics, or documents obtained from or submitted

22 by any person under this subtitle other than in

23 a manner that ensures that confidentiality is

24 preserved regarding the identity of persons, in-
6

S 2773 ES

1 cluding parties to a contract, and proprietary

2 business information.

3 ‘‘(B) RELATION TO OTHER REQUIRE4 MENTS.—Notwithstanding any other provision

5 of law, no facts or information obtained under

6 this subtitle shall be disclosed in accordance

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

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

9 such actions as the Secretary considers necessary to

10 verify the accuracy of the information submitted or

11 reported under this subtitle.

12 ‘‘(4) ENFORCEMENT.—

13 ‘‘(A) UNLAWFUL ACT.—It shall be unlaw14 ful and a violation of this subtitle for any per15 son subject to this subtitle to willfully fail or

16 refuse to provide, or delay the timely reporting

17 of, accurate information to the Secretary in ac18 cordance with this subtitle.

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

20 an opportunity for a hearing to affected per21 sons, the Secretary may issue an order against

22 any person to cease and desist from continuing

23 any violation of this subtitle.

24 ‘‘(C) APPEAL.—
7

S 2773 ES

1 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The order of the

2 Secretary under subparagraph (B) shall be

3 final and conclusive unless an affected per4 son files an appeal of the order of the Sec5 retary in United States district court not

6 later than 30 days after the date of the

7 issuance of the order.

8 ‘‘(ii) FINDINGS.—A finding of the

9 Secretary under this paragraph shall be set

10 aside only if the finding is found to be un11 supported by substantial evidence.

12 ‘‘(D) NONCOMPLIANCE WITH ORDER.—

13 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—If a person sub14 ject to this subtitle fails to obey an order

15 issued under this paragraph after the

16 order has become final and unappealable,

17 or after the appropriate United States dis18 trict court has entered a final judgment in

19 favor of the Secretary, the United States

20 may apply to the appropriate United

21 States district court for enforcement of the

22 order.

23 ‘‘(ii) ENFORCEMENT.—If the court

24 determines that the order was lawfully

25 made and duly served and that the person
8

S 2773 ES

1 violated the order, the court shall enforce

2 the order.

3 ‘‘(iii) CIVIL PENALTY.—If the court

4 finds that the person violated the order,

5 the person shall be subject to a civil pen6 alty of not more than $10,000 for each of7 fense.

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

9 assess a user fee, transaction fee, service charge, as10 sessment, reimbursement fee, or any other fee under

11 this subtitle for—

12 ‘‘(A) the submission or reporting of infor13 mation;

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

15 to, published reports or information; or

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

17 subtitle.

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

19 to report information to the Secretary under this

20 subtitle shall maintain, and make available to the

21 Secretary, on request, original contracts, agree22 ments, receipts, and other records associated with

23 the sale or storage of any dairy products during the

24 2-year period beginning on the date of the creation

25 of the records.
9

S 2773 ES

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

2 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are nec3 essary to carry out this section.’’.

Passed the Senate October 25 (legislative day, September 22), 2000.

Attest:

Secretary.

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2773

AN ACT

To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946

to enhance dairy markets through dairy productmandatory reporting, and for other purposes.