II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1543

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

the release of tobacco production and marketing information.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

AUGUST 5, 1999

Mr. MCCONNELL (for himself, Mr. HELMS, Mr. BUNNING, Mr. COVERDELL,

Mr. EDWARDS, Mr. ROBB, and Mr. WARNER) introduced the following

bill; which was read twice, considered, and read a third time

A BILL

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,

3 SECTION 1. TOBACCO PRODUCTION AND MARKETING IN4 FORMATION.

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

6 Adjustment Act of 1938 (7 U.S.C. 1311 et seq.) is amend7 ed by adding at the end the following:
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1 ‘‘SEC. 320D. TOBACCO PRODUCTION AND MARKETING IN2 FORMATION.

3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other pro4 vision of law, the Secretary may, subject to subsection (b),

5 release marketing information submitted by persons relat6 ing to the production and marketing of tobacco to State

7 trusts or similar organizations engaged in the distribution

8 of national trust funds to tobacco producers and other per9 sons with interests associated with the production of to10 bacco, as determined by the Secretary.

11 ‘‘(b) LIMITATIONS.—

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Information may be re13 leased under subsection (a) only to the extent that—

14 ‘‘(A) the release is in the interest of to15 bacco producers, as determined by the Sec16 retary; and

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

18 trust or other organization that is created to, or

19 charged with, distributing funds to tobacco pro20 ducers or other parties with an interest in to21 bacco production or tobacco farms under a na22 tional or State trust or settlement.

23 ‘‘(2) EXEMPTION FROM RELEASE.—The Sec24 retary shall, to the maximum extent practicable, in

25 advance of making a release of information under

26 subsection (a), allow, by announcement, a period of
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1 at least 15 days for persons whose consent would

2 otherwise be required by law to effectuate the re3 lease, to elect to be exempt from the release.

4 ‘‘(c) ASSISTANCE.—

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

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

7 assistance with respect to information released under

8 subsection (a) as will facilitate the interest of pro9 ducers in receiving the funds that are the subject of

10 a trust described in subsection (a).

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

12 made available for salaries and expenses of the De13 partment to carry out paragraph (1).

14 ‘‘(d) RECORDS.—

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A person that obtains in16 formation described in subsection (a) shall maintain

17 records that are consistent with the purposes of the

18 release and shall not use the records for any purpose

19 not authorized under this section.

20 ‘‘(2) PENALTY.—A person that knowingly vio21 lates this subsection shall be fined not more than

22 $10,000, imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both.

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

24 ‘‘(1) records submitted by cigarette manufac25 turers with respect to the production of cigarettes;
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1 ‘‘(2) records that were submitted as expected

2 purchase intentions in connection with the establish3 ment of national tobacco quotas; or

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

5 particular buyers.’’.

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