I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 777

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

NOVEMBER 5, 1999

Referred to the Committee on Agriculture

AN ACT

To require the Department of Agriculture to establish an

electronic filing and retrieval system to enable the public

to file all required paperwork electronically with the Department and to have access to public information on

farm programs, quarterly trade, economic, and production reports, and other similar information.

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 ‘‘Freedom to E-File

5 Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. ELECTRONIC FILING AND RETRIEVAL.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the

3 date of enactment of this Act, in accordance with sub4 section (c), the Secretary of Agriculture (referred to in

5 this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall, to the maximum extent

6 practicable, establish an Internet-based system that en7 ables agricultural producers to access all forms of the

8 agencies of the Department of Agriculture specified in

9 subsection (b).

10 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The agencies referred to in

11 subsection (a) are—

12 (1) the Farm Service Agency;

13 (2) the Rural Utilities Service;

14 (3) the Rural Housing Service;

15 (4) the Rural Business-Cooperative Service; and

16 (5) the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

17 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.—In carrying out subsection

18 (a), the Secretary shall—

19 (1) provide a method by which agricultural pro20 ducers may—

21 (A) download forms from the Internet; and

22 (B) submit completed forms via electronic

23 facsimile, mail, or similar means;

24 (2) redesign forms of the agencies of the De25 partment of Agriculture by incorporating into the
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1 forms user-friendly formats and self-help guidance

2 materials.

3 (d) PROGRESS REPORTS.—Not later than 180 days

4 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall

5 submit to Congress a report that describes the progress

6 made toward implementing the Internet-based system re7 quired under this section.

8 SEC. 3. ACCESSING INFORMATION AND FILING OVER THE

9 INTERNET.

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the

11 date of enactment of this Act, in accordance with sub12 section (b), the Secretary shall expand implementation of

13 the Internet-based system established under section 2 by

14 enabling agricultural producers to access and file all forms

15 and, at the option of the Secretary, selected records and

16 information of the agencies of the Department specified

17 in section 2(b).

18 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.—In carrying out subsection

19 (a), the Secretary shall ensure that an agricultural pro20 ducer is able—

21 (1) to file electronically or in paper form, at the

22 option of the agricultural producer, all forms re23 quired by agencies of the Department specified in

24 section 2(b);
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1 (2) to file electronically or in paper form, at the

2 option of the agricultural producer, all documenta3 tion required by agencies of the Department speci4 fied in section 2(b) and determined appropriate by

5 the Secretary; and

6 (3) to access information concerning farm pro7 grams, quarterly trade, economic, and production re8 ports, and other similar production agriculture infor9 mation that is readily available to the public in

10 paper form.

11 SEC. 4. FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE CORPORATION AND

12 RISK MANAGEMENT AGENCY.

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than December 1, 2000,

14 the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation and the Risk

15 Management Agency shall submit to the Committee on

16 Agriculture of the House of Representatives and the Com17 mittee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Sen18 ate a plan, that is consistent with this Act, to allow agri19 cultural producers to—

20 (1) obtain, over the Internet, from approved in21 surance providers all forms and other information

22 concerning the program under the jurisdiction of the

23 Corporation and Agency in which the agricultural

24 producer is a participant; and
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1 (2) file electronically all paperwork required for

2 participation in the program.

3 (b) ADMINISTRATION.—The plan shall—

4 (1) conform to sections 2(c) and 3(b); and

5 (2) prescribe—

6 (A) the location and type of data to be

7 made available to agricultural producers;

8 (B) the location where agricultural pro9 ducers can electronically file their paperwork;

10 and

11 (C) the responsibilities of the applicable

12 parties, including agricultural producers, the

13 Risk Management Agency, the Federal Crop In14 surance Corporation, approved insurance pro15 viders, crop insurance agents, and brokers.

16 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than December 1,

17 2001, the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation and the

18 Risk Management Agency shall complete implementation

19 of the plan submitted under subsection (a).

20 SEC. 5. CONFIDENTIALITY.

21 In carrying out this Act, the Secretary—

22 (1) may not make available any information

23 over the Internet that would otherwise not be avail24 able for release under section 552 or 552a of title

25 5, United States Code; and
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1 (2) shall ensure, to the maximum extent prac2 ticable, that the confidentiality of persons is main3 tained.

Passed the Senate November 4, 1999.

Attest: GARY SISCO,

Secretary.