106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1543

AN ACT

To amend the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 to release and protect the release of tobacco production and

marketing information.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. TOBACCO PRODUCTION AND MARKETING IN2 FORMATION.

3 Part I of subtitle B of title III of the Agricultural

4 Adjustment Act of 1938 (7 U.S.C. 1311 et seq.) is amend5 ed by adding at the end the following:

6 ‘‘SEC. 320D. TOBACCO PRODUCTION AND MARKETING IN7 FORMATION.

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other pro9 vision of law, the Secretary may, subject to subsection (b),

10 release marketing information submitted by persons relat11 ing to the production and marketing of tobacco to State

12 trusts or similar organizations engaged in the distribution

13 of national trust funds to tobacco producers and other per14 sons with interests associated with the production of to15 bacco, as determined by the Secretary.

16 ‘‘(b) LIMITATIONS.—

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Information may be re18 leased under subsection (a) only to the extent that—

19 ‘‘(A) the release is in the interest of to20 bacco producers, as determined by the Sec21 retary; and

22 ‘‘(B) the information is released to a State

23 trust or other organization that is created to, or

24 charged with, distributing funds to tobacco pro25 ducers or other parties with an interest in to-
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1 bacco production or tobacco farms under a na2 tional or State trust or settlement.

3 ‘‘(2) EXEMPTION FROM RELEASE.—The Sec4 retary shall, to the maximum extent practicable, in

5 advance of making a release of information under

6 subsection (a), allow, by announcement, a period of

7 at least 15 days for persons whose consent would

8 otherwise be required by law to effectuate the re9 lease, to elect to be exempt from the release.

10 ‘‘(c) ASSISTANCE.—

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In making a release under

12 subsection (a), the Secretary may provide such other

13 assistance with respect to information released under

14 subsection (a) as will facilitate the interest of pro15 ducers in receiving the funds that are the subject of

16 a trust described in subsection (a).

17 ‘‘(2) FUNDS.—The Secretary shall use amounts

18 made available for salaries and expenses of the De19 partment to carry out paragraph (1).

20 ‘‘(d) RECORDS.—

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A person that obtains in22 formation described in subsection (a) shall maintain

23 records that are consistent with the purposes of the

24 release and shall not use the records for any purpose

25 not authorized under this section.
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1 ‘‘(2) PENALTY.—A person that knowingly vio2 lates this subsection shall be fined not more than

3 $10,000, imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both.

4 ‘‘(e) APPLICATION.—This section shall not apply to—

5 ‘‘(1) records submitted by cigarette manufac6 turers with respect to the production of cigarettes;

7 ‘‘(2) records that were submitted as expected

8 purchase intentions in connection with the establish9 ment of national tobacco quotas; or

10 ‘‘(3) records that aggregate the purchases of

11 particular buyers.’’.

Passed the Senate August 5, 1999.

Attest:

Secretary.
106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1543

AN ACT

To amend the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938

duction and marketing information.to release and protect the release of tobacco pro-