II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 3198

To provide a pool credit under Federal milk marketing orders for handlers

of certified organic milk used for Class I purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

OCTOBER 12 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 22), 2000

Mr. JEFFORDS (for himself and Mr. LEAHY) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

A BILL

To provide a pool credit under Federal milk marketing orders

for handlers of certified organic milk used for Class

I 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. POOL CREDIT FOR HANDLERS OF ORGANIC

4 MILK.

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 8c(5) of the Agricultural

6 Adjustment Act (7 U.S.C. 608c(5)), reenacted with

7 amendments by the Agricultural Marketing Agreement

8 Act of 1937, is amended by adding at the end the fol9 lowing:
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1 ‘‘(M) POOL CREDIT FOR HANDLERS OF OR2 GANIC MILK.—

3 ‘‘(i) DEFINITIONS.—In this subpara4 graph:

5 ‘‘(I) CLASS I MILK PRICE.—The

6 term ‘Class I milk price’ means the

7 minimum price payable for milk clas8 sified as Class I milk under an order

9 issued pursuant to this section.

10 ‘‘(II) ORGANIC MILK HAN11 DLER.—The term ‘organic milk han12 dler’ means—

13 ‘‘(aa) a person that is con14 sidered to be a handler under an

15 order issued pursuant to this sec16 tion to the extent that the person

17 performs the functions of a han18 dler with respect to organic milk;

19 and

20 ‘‘(bb) to the extent deter21 mined necessary by the Sec22 retary, any other person that

23 purchases organic milk directly

24 from a producer of organic milk.
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1 ‘‘(III) ORGANIC MILK.—The term

2 ‘organic milk’ means milk that is cer3 tified as organically produced in ac4 cordance with the Organic Foods Pro5 duction Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 6501

6 et seq.).

7 ‘‘(IV) ORGANIC MILK PAY

8 PRICE.—The term ‘organic milk pay

9 price’ means the price paid by an or10 ganic milk handler to a producer of

11 organic milk for the entire volume of

12 milk purchased from the producer, in13 cluding the price paid for transporting

14 the milk to the organic milk handler.

15 ‘‘(ii) CREDIT.—In the case of an

16 order applicable to milk and milk products,

17 an organic milk handler shall be entitled to

18 receive a credit against the pool obligation

19 of the organic milk handler for a month

20 that is equal to the product obtained by

21 multiplying—

22 ‘‘(I) the quantity of the pool obli23 gation of the organic milk handler for

24 the preceding month; and
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1 ‘‘(II) the applicable credit factor

2 for the preceding month determined

3 under clause (iii).

4 ‘‘(iii) AMOUNT.—Except as provided

5 in clause (iv), the amount of a credit pro6 vided to an organic milk handler under

7 this subparagraph shall be based on the

8 amount by which the organic milk pay

9 price paid by the organic milk handler for

10 the organic milk exceeds the Class I milk

11 price in accordance with the following

12 table:

‘‘If the organic milk pay price

exceeds the Class I milk

price by:

The credit factor shall be:

Less than $2.00 ............................. 80 percent.

More than $2.00 but not more

than $3.00.

85 percent.

More than $3.00 but not more

than $4.00.

90 percent.

More than $4.00 ............................ 95 percent.

13 ‘‘(iv) LIMITATIONS.—

14 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Except as

15 provided in subclause (II), the amount

16 of the pool obligation of an organic

17 milk handler for organic milk under

18 this subparagraph shall be not less

19 than 10 nor more than 50 cents per

20 hundredweight of organic milk.
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1 ‘‘(II) LOWER POOL OBLIGATION

2 FOR NONORGANIC MILK.—If the

3 amount of the pool obligation for milk

4 that is not organic milk (as calculated

5 under an order issued pursuant to

6 this section) is less than the amount

7 of the pool obligation for organic milk

8 (as calculated under such an order),

9 the amount of the pool obligation of

10 an organic milk handler for organic

11 milk under this subparagraph shall be

12 equal to the amount of the pool obli13 gation for milk that is not organic

14 milk.’’.

15 (b) REGULATIONS.—

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—As soon as practicable after

17 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of

18 Agriculture shall promulgate such regulations as are

19 necessary to implement the amendment made by

20 subsection (a).

21 (2) INFORMAL RULEMAKING.—Notwithstanding

22 section 8c(5) of the Agricultural Adjustment Act (7

23 U.S.C. 608c(5)), reenacted with amendments by the

24 Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, ex25 cept as provided in paragraph (3)(A), the Secretary
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1 shall carry out paragraph (1) in accordance with

2 section 553 of title 5, United States Code.

3 (3) PROCEDURE.—The promulgation of the reg4 ulations and administration of the amendment made

5 by subsection (a) shall be made without regard to—

6 (A) the notice and comment provisions of

7 section 553 of title 5, United States Code;

8 (B) the Statement of Policy of the Sec9 retary of Agriculture effective July 24, 1971

10 (36 Fed. Reg. 13804), relating to notices of

11 proposed rulemaking and public participation in

12 rulemaking; and

13 (C) chapter 35 of title 44, United States

14 Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Paperwork Re15 duction Act’’).

16 (4) CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW OF AGENCY RULE17 MAKING.—In carrying out this subsection, the Sec18 retary shall use the authority provided under section

19 808 of title 5, United States Code.

20 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by

21 subsection (a) takes effect on the earlier of—

22 (1) the date on which the Secretary of Agri23 culture promulgates final regulations to carry out

24 the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 (7

25 U.S.C. 6501 et seq.); or
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1 (2) January 1, 2001.

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