I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4177 

To provide emergency disaster assistance to certain agricultural producers 

that suffered losses during 2009, to provide emergency disaster assistance 

to certain livestock producers that suffered losses during 2008 or 2009, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 2, 2009 

Mr. BERRY (for himself and Mr. CHILDERS) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to 

the Committee on Appropriations, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To provide emergency disaster assistance to certain agricultural producers that suffered losses during 2009, to provide emergency disaster assistance to certain livestock 

producers that suffered losses during 2008 or 2009, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Agricultural Disaster Assistance Act of 2009’’. 


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1 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

2 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Definitions. 

Sec. 3. Supplemental direct payment. 

Sec. 4. Specialty crop assistance. 

Sec. 5. Cottonseed assistance. 

Sec. 6. Livestock assistance. 

Sec. 7. Relation to other laws. 

Sec. 8. Regulations. 

Sec. 9. Funding source. 

3 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

4 In this Act: 

5 (1) DISASTER COUNTY.— 

6 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘disaster 

7 county’’ means a county included in the geo8 graphic area covered by a qualifying natural 

9 disaster declaration for calendar year 2009, ex10 cept that, in the case of livestock assistance au11 thorized under section 6, the term includes a 

12 county included in the geographic area covered 

13 by qualifying natural disaster declaration for 

14 calendar year 2008 or 2009. 

15 (B) EXCLUSION.—The term ‘‘disaster 

16 county’’ does not include a contiguous county. 

17 (2) ELIGIBLE PRODUCER.—The term ‘‘eligible 

18 producer’’ means an agricultural producer in a dis19 aster county. 

20 (3) ELIGIBLE SPECIALTY CROP PRODUCER.— 

21 The term ‘‘eligible specialty crop producer’’ means 


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1 an agricultural producer that, during the 2009 cal2 endar year, as determined by the Secretary— 

3 (A) produced, or were prevented from 

4 planting, a specialty crop in 1 or more disaster 

5 counties; and 

6 (B) experienced crop losses associated with 

7 drought or excessive rainfall. 

8 (4) QUALIFYING NATURAL DISASTER DECLARA9 TION.—The term ‘‘qualifying natural disaster dec10 laration’’ means a natural disaster declared by the 

11 Secretary for production losses under section 321(a) 

12 of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development 

13 Act (7 U.S.C. 1961(a)). 

14 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

15 the Secretary of Agriculture. 

16 (6) SPECIALTY CROP.—The term ‘‘specialty 

17 crop’’ has the meaning given the term in section 3 

18 of the Specialty Crops Competitiveness Act of 2004 

19 (Public Law 108–465; 7 U.S.C. 1621 note). 

20 SEC. 3. SUPPLEMENTAL DIRECT PAYMENT. 

21 Of the funds of the Commodity Credit Corporation, 

22 the Secretary shall use such sums as are necessary to 

23 make a supplemental payment under section 1103 of the 

24 Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 


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1 8713) to eligible producers that previously received a pay2 ment under that section. 

3 SEC. 4. SPECIALTY CROP ASSISTANCE. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Of the funds of the Commodity 

5 Credit Corporation, the Secretary shall use not more than 

6 $650,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 

7 2011, to carry out a program of grants to States to assist 

8 eligible specialty crop producers for losses associated with 

9 drought or excessive rainfall during the 2009 calendar 

10 year. 

11 (b) NOTIFICATION.—Not later than 60 days after the 

12 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall notify 

13 the State department of agriculture (or similar entity) in 

14 each State of the availability of funds to assist eligible spe15 cialty crop producers, including such terms as are deter16 mined by the Secretary to be necessary for the equitable 

17 treatment of eligible specialty crop producers. 

18 (c) PROVISION OF GRANTS.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall make 

20 grants to States under this section on a pro rata 

21 basis based on the value of specialty crop production 

22 during the 2008 calendar year, as determined by the 

23 Secretary. 

24 (2) TIMING.—Not later than 120 days after the 

25 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 


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1 make grants to States to provide assistance under 

2 this section. 

3 (3) MAXIMUM GRANT.—The maximum amount 

4 of a grant made to a State under this section may 

5 not exceed $40,000,000. 

6 (d) REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary shall make 

7 grants under this section only to States that demonstrate 

8 to the satisfaction of the Secretary that the State will— 

9 (1) use grant funds to assist eligible specialty 

10 crop producers; 

11 (2) provide assistance to eligible specialty crop 

12 producers not later than 60 days after the date on 

13 which the State receives grant funds; and 

14 (3) not later than 30 days after the date on 

15 which the State provides assistance to eligible spe16 cialty crop producers, submit to the Secretary a re17 port that describes— 

18 (A) the manner in which the State pro19 vided assistance; 

20 (B) the amounts of assistance provided by 

21 type of specialty crop; and 

22 (C) the process by which the State deter23 mined the levels of assistance to eligible spe24 cialty crop producers. 


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1 SEC. 5. COTTONSEED ASSISTANCE. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Of the funds of the Commodity 

3 Credit Corporation, the Secretary shall use not more than 

4 $42,000,000 to provide supplemental assistance to eligible 

5 producers and first-handlers of the 2009 crop of cotton6 seed in disaster counties. 

7 (b) GENERAL TERMS.—Except as otherwise provided 

8 in this section, the Secretary shall provide disaster assist9 ance under this section under the same terms and condi10 tions as assistance provided under section 3015 of the 

11 Emergency Agricultural Disaster Assistance Act of 2006 

12 (title III of Public Law 109–234; 120 Stat. 477). 

13 (c) DISTRIBUTION OF ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary 

14 shall distribute assistance to first handlers for the benefit 

15 of eligible producers in a disaster county in an amount 

16 equal to the product obtained by multiplying— 

17 (1) the payment rate, as determined under sub18 section (d); and 

19 (2) the county-eligible production, as deter20 mined under subsection (e). 

21 (d) PAYMENT RATE.—The payment rate shall be 

22 equal to the quotient obtained by dividing— 

23 (1) the sum of the county-eligible production, as 

24 determined under subsection (e); by 

25 (2) the total funds made available to carry out 

26 this section. 


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1 (e) COUNTY-ELIGIBLE PRODUCTION.—The county2 eligible production shall be equal to the product obtained 

3 by multiplying— 

4 (1) the number of acres planted to cotton in the 

5 disaster county, as reported to the Secretary by 

6 first-handlers; 

7 (2) the expected cotton lint yield for the dis8 aster county, as determined by the Secretary based 

9 on the best available information; and 

10 (3) the national average seed-to-lint ratio, as 

11 determined by the Secretary based on the best avail12 able information for the 5 crop years immediately 

13 preceding the 2009 crop, excluding the year in which 

14 the average ratio was the highest and the year in 

15 which the average ratio was the lowest in such pe16 riod. 

17 SEC. 6. LIVESTOCK ASSISTANCE. 

18 (a) LIVESTOCK COMPENSATION PROGRAM.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (c), 

20 the Secretary shall continue to carry out the 2002 

21 Livestock Compensation Program announced by the 

22 Secretary on October 10, 2002 (67 Fed. Reg. 

23 63070) (referred to in this subsection as the ‘‘Pro24 gram’’). 


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1 (2) ASSISTANCE.—In carrying out the Pro2 gram, the Secretary shall provide assistance to any 

3 applicant that— 

4 (A) conducts a livestock operation that is 

5 physically located in a disaster county and 

6 meets all other eligibility requirements estab7 lished by the Secretary for the Program; or 

8 (B) produces an animal described in sec9 tion 10806(a)(1) of the Farm Security and 

10 Rural Investment Act of 2002 (21 U.S.C. 

11 321d(a)(1)) and meets all other eligibility re12 quirements established by the Secretary for the 

13 Program. 

14 (b) LIVESTOCK LOSS ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.—Sub15 ject to subsection (c), the Secretary shall carry out a pro16 gram to make payments to eligible producers for livestock 

17 losses occurring in a disaster county under the same cri18 teria established to carry out the 1999 Livestock Assist19 ance Program. 

20 (c) RELATIONSHIP OF LIVESTOCK ASSISTANCE PRO21 GRAMS.—The amount of assistance that the eligible pro22 ducers on a farm would otherwise receive under subsection 

23 (a) or (b) for a loss, except for the operation of this sub24 section, shall be reduced by the amount of the assistance 


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1 that the eligible producers on the farm receive under any 

2 other livestock assistance program. 

3 (d) USE OF COMMODITY CREDIT CORPORATION

4 FUNDS.—The Secretary shall use $150,000,000 of the 

5 funds of the Commodity Credit Corporation to carry out 

6 the livestock assistance programs under this section. 

7 SEC. 7. RELATION TO OTHER LAWS. 

8 An eligible producer or eligible specialty crop pro9 ducer that receives assistance under this Act shall be ineli10 gible to receive assistance for the 2009 crop year under 

11 the program carried out under section 531 of the Federal 

12 Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1531) and section 901 of 

13 the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2497). 

14 SEC. 8. REGULATIONS. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—As soon as practicable after the 

16 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall promul17 gate such regulations as are necessary to implement this 

18 Act. 

19 (b) PROCEDURE.—The promulgation of the regula20 tions and administration of this Act shall be made without 

21 regard to— 

22 (1) the notice and comment provisions of sec23 tion 553 of title 5, United States Code; 

24 (2) the Statement of Policy of the Secretary of 

25 Agriculture effective July 24, 1971 (36 Fed. Reg. 


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1 13804), relating to notices of proposed rulemaking 

2 and public participation in rulemaking; and 

3 (3) chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code 

4 (commonly known as the ‘‘Paperwork Reduction 

5 Act’’). 

6 (c) CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW OF AGENCY RULE7 MAKING.—In carrying out this paragraph, the Secretary 

8 shall use the authority provided under section 808 of title 

9 5, United States Code. 

10 SEC. 9. FUNDING SOURCE. 

11 (a) OFFSET.—The Secretary of the Treasury shall 

12 rescind such funds as are necessary of funds made avail13 able under the Troubled Asset Relief Program established 

14 under title I of division A of the Emergency Economic Sta15 bilization Act of 2008 (Public Law 110–343; 12 U.S.C. 

16 5211 et seq.) to reimburse the Commodity Credit Corpora17 tion for expenditures under this Act. 

18 (b) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—The Secretary may 

19 use up to $5,000,000 of amounts made available under 

20 subsection (a) to pay administrative costs incurred by the 

21 Secretary that are directly related to carrying out this Act. 

Æ 


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