II

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1803

To reform agricultural credit programs of the Department of Agriculture,

and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 19, 1998

Mr. ROBB introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to

the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

A BILL

To reform agricultural credit programs of the Department

of Agriculture, 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 ‘‘Agricultural Credit Res5 toration Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSOLIDATED FARM AND

7 RURAL DEVELOPMENT ACT.

8 (a) Section 343(a)(12)(B) of the Consolidated Farm

9 and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1991(a)(12)(B)) is

10 amended to read as follows:
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1 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTIONS.—The term ‘debt for2 giveness’ does not include—

3 ‘‘(i) consolidation, rescheduling, re4 amortization, or deferral of a loan;

5 ‘‘(ii) 1 debt forgiveness in the form of

6 a restructuring, write-down, or net recov7 ery buy-out during the lifetime of the bor8 rower that is due to a financial problem of

9 the borrower relating to a natural disaster

10 or a medical condition of the borrower or

11 of a member of the immediate family of

12 the borrower (or, in the case of a borrower

13 that is an entity, a principal owner of the

14 borrower or a member of the immediate

15 family of such an owner); and

16 ‘‘(iii) any restructuring, write-down,

17 or net recovery buy-out provided as a part

18 of a resolution of a discrimination com19 plaint against the Secretary.’’.

20 (b) Section 353(m) of such Act (7 U.S.C. 2001(m))

21 is amended by striking all that precedes paragraph (2) and

22 inserting the following:

23 ‘‘(m) LIMITATION ON NUMBER OF WRITE-DOWNS

24 AND NET RECOVERY BUY-OUTS PER BORROWER.—
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may provide

2 a write-down or net recovery buy-out under this sec3 tion on not more than 2 occasions per borrower with

4 respect to loans made after January 6, 1988.’’.

5 (c) Section 353 of such Act (7 U.S.C. 2001) is

6 amended by striking subsection (o).

7 (d) Section 355(c)(2) of such Act (7 U.S.C.

8 2003(c)(2)) is amended to read as follows:

9 ‘‘(2) RESERVATION AND ALLOCATION.—

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall,

11 to the greatest extent practicable, reserve and

12 allocate the proportion of each State’s loan

13 funds made available under subtitle B that is

14 equal to that State’s target participation rate

15 for use by the socially disadvantaged farmers or

16 ranchers in that State. The Secretary shall, to

17 the extent practicable, distribute the total so

18 derived on a county by county basis according

19 to the number of socially disadvantaged farmers

20 or ranchers in the county.

21 ‘‘(B) REALLOCATION OF UNUSED

22 FUNDS.—The Secretary may pool any funds re23 served and allocated under this paragraph with

24 respect to a State that are not so used as de25 scribed in subparagraph (A) in a State in the
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1 first 10 months of a fiscal year with the funds

2 similarly not so used in other States, and may

3 reallocate such pooled funds in the discretion of

4 the Secretary for use by socially disadvantaged

5 farmers and ranchers in other States.’’.

6 (e) Section 373(b)(1) of such Act (7 U.S.C.

7 2008h(b)(1)) is amended to read as follows:

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para9 graph (2), the Secretary may not make or guarantee

10 a loan under subtitle A or B to a borrower who on,

11 2 or more occasions, received debt forgiveness on a

12 loan made or guaranteed under this title.’’.

13 (f) Section 373(c) of such Act (7 U.S.C. 2008h(c))

14 is amended to read as follows:

15 ‘‘(c) NO MORE THAN 2 DEBT FORGIVENESSES PER

16 BORROWER ON DIRECT LOANS.—The Secretary may not,

17 on 2 or more occasions, provide debt forgiveness to a bor18 rower on a direct loan made under this title.’’.

19 SEC. 2. REGULATIONS.

20 Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact21 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall pro22 mulgate regulations necessary to carry out the amend23 ments made by this Act, without regard to—

24 (1) the notice and comment provisions of sec25 tion 553 of title 5, United States Code; and
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1 (2) the statement of policy of the Secretary of

2 Agriculture relating to notices of proposed rule3 making and public participation in rulemaking that

4 became effective on July 24, 1971 (36 Fed. Reg.

5 13804).

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