II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4030 

To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to establish a cattle 

contract library, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 7, 2022 

Mrs. FISCHER (for herself, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. TESTER, Mr. WYDEN, Ms. 

ERNST, Mr. BRAUN, Ms. SMITH, Mrs. HYDE-SMITH, Mr. DAINES, Mr. 

CASSIDY, Mr. LUJA ́N, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. HEINRICH, Mr. WARNOCK, Mr. 

BLUMENTHAL, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Ms. LUMMIS, and Mr. HAWLEY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to 

establish a cattle contract library, 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 ‘‘Cattle Price Discovery 

5 and Transparency Act of 2022’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 212 of the Agricultural 

8 Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1635a) is amended— 


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1 (1) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘cattle,’’ and 

2 inserting ‘‘cattle (including fed cattle),’’; 

3 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (1) through 

4 (14) as paragraphs (2), (3), (4), (6) through (8), 

5 (10), and (12) through (18), respectively; 

6 (3) by inserting before paragraph (2) (as so re7 designated) the following: 

8 ‘‘(1) APPROVED PRICING MECHANISM.—The 

9 term ‘approved pricing mechanism’ means a pur10 chase of fed cattle made— 

11 ‘‘(A) through a negotiated purchase; 

12 ‘‘(B) through a negotiated grid purchase; 

13 ‘‘(C) at a stockyard (as defined in section 

14 302 of the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 

15 (7 U.S.C. 202)); or 

16 ‘‘(D) through a trading system or platform 

17 for the purchase or sale of cattle, or for an ar18 rangement to purchase or sell cattle, through 

19 any means in which multiple buyer and seller 

20 participants have the ability to, and regularly 

21 and consistently, make and accept bids and of22 fers on or at the trading system or platform.’’; 

23 (4) by inserting after paragraph (4) (as so re24 designated) the following: 


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1 ‘‘(5) FED CATTLE.—The term ‘fed cattle’ 

2 means a steer or heifer that has been finished on a 

3 ration of roughage and feed concentrates, such as 

4 grains, protein meal, grass (forage), and other nutri5 ent-rich feeds, prior to slaughter.’’; 

6 (5) by inserting after paragraph (8) (as so re7 designated) the following: 

8 ‘‘(9) MANDATORY MINIMUM.—The term ‘man9 datory minimum’ means, of the quantity of fed cat10 tle purchased for slaughter by a covered packer (as 

11 defined in section 221) for each processing plant, 

12 the minimum percentage of such cattle that are re13 quired to be purchased through approved pricing 

14 mechanisms from producers that are not packers.’’; 

15 and 

16 (6) by inserting after paragraph (10) (as so re17 designated) the following: 

18 ‘‘(11) NEGOTIATED GRID PURCHASE.—The 

19 term ‘negotiated grid purchase’, with respect to cat20 tle, means a purchase— 

21 ‘‘(A) involving the negotiation of a base 

22 price from which premiums are added and dis23 counts are subtracted, determined by seller24 buyer interaction and agreement on a delivery 

25 day; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) under which the cattle are scheduled 

2 for delivery to the packer not later than 14 

3 days after the date on which the cattle are com4 mitted to the packer.’’. 

5 (b) CATTLE REPORTING DEFINITIONS.—Section 221 

6 of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 

7 1635d) is amended— 

8 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘7-day’’ and 

9 inserting ‘‘14-day’’; 

10 (2) in paragraph (8)(B), by striking ‘‘market’’ 

11 and inserting ‘‘marketing’’; 

12 (3) by redesignating paragraphs (3), (4), (5), 

13 (6), (7), and (8) as paragraphs (5), (6), (8), (9), 

14 (11), and (12), respectively; 

15 (4) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol16 lowing: 

17 ‘‘(3) COVERED CONTRACT.— 

18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘covered 

19 contract’ means any agreement, written or oral, 

20 between a packer and a producer for the pur21 chase of fed cattle for slaughter. 

22 ‘‘(B) EXCLUSION.—The term ‘covered con23 tract’ does not include a contract for a nego24 tiated purchase. 


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1 ‘‘(4) COVERED PACKER.—The term ‘covered 

2 packer’ means a packer that has slaughtered during 

3 the immediately preceding 5 calendar years an aver4 age of not less than 5 percent of the number of fed 

5 cattle slaughtered nationally during the immediately 

6 preceding 5 calendar years.’’; 

7 (5) by inserting after paragraph (6) (as so re8 designated) the following: 

9 ‘‘(7) HEIFER.—The term ‘heifer’ means a bo10 vine female that has not given birth to a calf.’’; and 

11 (6) by inserting after paragraph (9) (as so re12 designated) the following: 

13 ‘‘(10) STEER.—The term ‘steer’ means a bovine 

14 male castrated before reaching sexual maturity.’’. 

15 SEC. 3. 14-DAY CATTLE SLAUGHTER REPORT. 

16 Section 222(c) of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 

17 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1635e(c)) is amended— 

18 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

19 (A) by striking subparagraphs (B) and 

20 (C); and 

21 (B) by redesignating subparagraph (D) as 

22 subparagraph (B); 

23 (2) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘the informa24 tion’’ and inserting ‘‘information reported under this 

25 subsection’’; 


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1 (3) by redesignating paragraph (2) as para2 graph (3); and 

3 (4) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(2) PRIOR DAY REPORTING.— 

6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The corporate officers 

7 or officially designated representatives of each 

8 packer processing plant shall report to the Sec9 retary, for each business day of the packer 

10 processing plant, not later than 10:00 a.m. 

11 Central Time on each reporting day, the infor12 mation from the prior business day described in 

13 subparagraph (B). 

14 ‘‘(B) INFORMATION REQUIRED.—The in15 formation required under subparagraph (A) 

16 shall be, with respect to the prior business day, 

17 the number of cattle scheduled for delivery to a 

18 packer processing plant for slaughter for each 

19 of the next 14 calendar days.’’. 

20 SEC. 4. EXPEDITED CARCASS WEIGHTS REPORTING. 

21 Section 222 of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 

22 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1635e) is amended by adding at the end 

23 the following: 

24 ‘‘(f) EXPEDITED CARCASS WEIGHTS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) DETERMINATION.—Not later than 180 

2 days after the date of enactment of the Cattle Price 

3 Discovery and Transparency Act of 2022, the Sec4 retary shall determine the minimum amount of time 

5 needed by the Secretary to publicly report the daily 

6 average carcass weight of cattle slaughtered by pack7 er processing plants. 

8 ‘‘(2) REPORTING.—Not later than 180 days 

9 after the Secretary has made a determination under 

10 paragraph (1), the Secretary shall begin publicly re11 porting the information described in that paragraph 

12 within the time determined under that paragraph.’’. 

13 SEC. 5. MANDATORY REPORTING OF CUTOUT YIELD. 

14 Section 223 of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 

15 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1635f) is amended— 

16 (1) in subsection (a)— 

17 (A) in the subsection heading, by striking 

18 ‘‘DAILY REPORTING’’ and inserting ‘‘IN GEN19 ERAL’’; 

20 (B) in paragraph (3)— 

21 (i) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

22 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 

23 and’’; and 

24 (ii) by redesignating subparagraphs 

25 (A) through (C) as clauses (i) through 


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1 (iii), respectively, and indenting appro2 priately; 

3 (C) by redesignating paragraphs (1) 

4 through (3) as subparagraphs (A) through (C), 

5 respectively, and indenting appropriately; 

6 (D) in the matter preceding subparagraph 

7 (A) (as so redesignated), by striking ‘‘Secretary 

8 at least’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘Sec9 retary— 

10 ‘‘(1) at least’’; and 

11 (E) by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(2) at least once each year, at a time deter13 mined by the Secretary, cutout yield data.’’; and 

14 (2) in subsection (b)— 

15 (A) by striking ‘‘the information required 

16 to be reported under subsection (a)’’; and 

17 (B) by striking ‘‘day.’’ and inserting the 

18 following: ‘‘day— 

19 ‘‘(1) the information required to be reported 

20 under subsection (a)(1); and 

21 ‘‘(2) a composite price using the information re22 quired to be reported under paragraphs (1) and (2) 

23 of subsection (a).’’. 


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1 SEC. 6. CATTLE CONTRACT LIBRARY. 

2 The Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 is amend3 ed— 

4 (1) by redesignating section 223 (7 U.S.C. 

5 1635f) as section 224; and 

6 (2) by inserting after section 222 (7 U.S.C. 

7 1635e) the following: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 223. CATTLE CONTRACT LIBRARY. 

9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days after 

10 the date of enactment of the Cattle Price Discovery and 

11 Transparency Act of 2022, the Secretary shall establish 

12 and maintain, through the Livestock Mandatory Price Re13 porting program, a library or catalog (referred to in this 

14 section as the ‘library’), of each type of covered contract 

15 entered into between packers and producers for the pur16 chase of fed cattle (including cattle that are purchased or 

17 committed for delivery), including any schedules of pre18 miums or discounts associated with the covered contract. 

19 ‘‘(b) INFORMATION COLLECTION.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To maintain the library, 

21 the Secretary shall obtain information from each 

22 packer on each type of existing covered contract of 

23 the packer by requiring a filing or other form of in24 formation submission from each packer. 

25 ‘‘(2) CONTRACT INFORMATION.—Information 

26 submitted to the Secretary by a packer under paraVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:26 Apr 09, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4030.IS S4030

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1 graph (1) shall include, with respect to each existing 

2 covered contract of a packer— 

3 ‘‘(A) the type of contract; 

4 ‘‘(B) the duration of the contract; 

5 ‘‘(C) a summary of the contract terms; 

6 ‘‘(D) provisions in the contract that may 

7 affect the price of cattle covered by the con8 tract, including schedules, premiums and dis9 counts, financing and risk-sharing arrange10 ments, and transportation arrangements; 

11 ‘‘(E) the total number of cattle covered by 

12 the contract solely committed to the packer 

13 each week within the 6-month and 12-month 

14 periods following the date of the contract and 

15 the percentage of cattle each week that may 

16 vary for delivery or nondelivery at the discretion 

17 of the packer, organized by reporting region or 

18 in such other manner as the Secretary may de19 termine; 

20 ‘‘(F) in the case of a contract in which a 

21 specific number of cattle are not solely com22 mitted to the packer— 

23 ‘‘(i) an indication that the contract is 

24 an open commitment; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) any weekly, monthly, annual, or 

2 other limitations or requirements on the 

3 number of cattle that may be delivered to 

4 the packer under the contract, including 

5 the percentage of cattle that may vary for 

6 delivery or nondelivery in a given time pe7 riod at the discretion of the packer; and 

8 ‘‘(G) a description of the provisions in the 

9 contract that provide for expansion in the num10 bers of fed cattle to be delivered under the con11 tract for the 6-month and 12-month periods fol12 lowing the date of the contract. 

13 ‘‘(c) AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION.— 

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall make 

15 publicly available to producers and other interested 

16 persons information (including the information de17 scribed in subsection (b)(2)), in a user-friendly for18 mat, on the types of covered contracts in the library, 

19 including notice (on a real-time basis, if practicable) 

20 of the types of covered contracts that are entered 

21 into between packers and producers for the purchase 

22 of fed cattle. 

23 ‘‘(2) MONTHLY REPORT.— 

24 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Beginning 30 days 

25 after the library is established, the Secretary 


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1 shall make the information obtained each 

2 month in the library available in a monthly re3 port to producers and other interested persons. 

4 ‘‘(B) CONTENTS.—The monthly report de5 scribed in subparagraph (A) shall include— 

6 ‘‘(i) based on the information collected 

7 under subsection (b)(2)(E), an estimate by 

8 the Secretary of the total number of fed 

9 cattle committed under covered contracts 

10 for delivery to packers within the 6-month 

11 and 12-month periods following the date of 

12 the report, organized by reporting region 

13 and type of contract; 

14 ‘‘(ii) based on the information col15 lected under subsection (b)(2)(F), the 

16 number of covered contracts with an open 

17 commitment and any weekly, monthly, an18 nual, or other limitations or requirements 

19 on the number of cattle that may be deliv20 ered under such contracts, including the 

21 percentage of cattle that may vary for de22 livery or nondelivery in a given time period 

23 at the discretion of the packer; and 

24 ‘‘(iii) based on the information col25 lected under subsection (b)(2)(G), an estiVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:26 Apr 09, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4030.IS S4030

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1 mate by the Secretary of the total max2 imum number of fed cattle that may be de3 livered within the 6-month and 12-month 

4 periods following the date of the report, or5 ganized by reporting region and type of 

6 contract. 

7 ‘‘(d) MAINTENANCE OF LIBRARY.—Information in 

8 the library about types of contracts that are no longer of9 fered or in use shall be removed from the library. 

10 ‘‘(e) CONFIDENTIALITY.—The reporting require11 ments for packers under this section shall be subject to 

12 the confidentiality protections provided under section 251. 

13 ‘‘(f) VIOLATIONS.—It shall be unlawful and a viola14 tion of this Act for any packer to willfully fail or refuse— 

15 ‘‘(1) to provide to the Secretary accurate infor16 mation required under this section; or 

17 ‘‘(2) to comply with any other requirement of 

18 this section. 

19 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

20 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary such 

21 sums as are necessary to carry out this section.’’. 

22 SEC. 7. MARKET ACQUISITION OF FED CATTLE. 

23 (a) SENSE OF THE SENATE.—It is the sense of the 

24 Senate that— 


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1 (1) all participants in the fed cattle market 

2 have a responsibility to contribute to sufficient levels 

3 of negotiated trade of fed cattle in all cattle feeding 

4 regions in order to achieve competitive bidding and 

5 maximum transparency in all relevant markets and 

6 robust price discovery for the benefit of all market 

7 participants; 

8 (2) covered packers that use negotiated market 

9 prices or internal formulations thereof as the basis 

10 for formula marketing arrangements may have in11 centives to not participate in price discovery in fed 

12 cattle markets, including in order to influence the 

13 price, especially if the majority of the cattle pur14 chases are under fed cattle formula marketing ar15 rangements under which it is particularly important 

16 to have minimum participation; and 

17 (3) the Department of Agriculture should exam18 ine academic literature regarding minimum levels of 

19 negotiated transactions necessary to achieve robust 

20 price discovery, eliminate the potential for price ma21 nipulation, and enhance cattle producer leverage in 

22 the marketplace in each of the cattle marketing re23 gions. 

24 (b) PENALTIES.—Section 253(a) of the Agricultural 

25 Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1636b(a)) is amended— 


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1 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

2 (A) by striking the paragraph designation 

3 and heading and all that follows through ‘‘Any 

4 packer’’ and inserting the following: 

5 ‘‘(1) PENALTY AMOUNT.— 

6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

7 subparagraph (B), any packer’’; and 

8 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(B) MANDATORY MINIMUM VIOLATION.— 

10 Any packer or other person that violates section 

11 259 may be assessed a civil penalty by the Sec12 retary of not more than $90,000 for each viola13 tion (as adjusted for inflation).’’; and 

14 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

15 (A) by striking ‘‘Each day’’ and inserting 

16 the following: 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

18 subparagraph (B), each day’’; and 

19 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

20 ‘‘(B) MANDATORY MINIMUM VIOLATION.— 

21 Each week during which a violation of section 

22 259 continues shall be considered to be a sepa23 rate violation.’’. 

24 (c) MANDATORY MINIMUMS.—The Agricultural Mar25 keting Act of 1946 is amended— 


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1 (1) by redesignating sections 259 and 260 (7 

2 U.S.C. 1636h, 1636i) as sections 260 and 261, re3 spectively; and 

4 (2) by inserting after section 258 (7 U.S.C. 

5 1636g) the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 259. MANDATORY MINIMUMS. 

7 ‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to es8 tablish mandatory minimums— 

9 ‘‘(1) to enhance price discovery, transparency, 

10 and cattle producer leverage for cattle market par11 ticipants; and 

12 ‘‘(2) to minimize and mitigate conflicts of inter13 est and other incentives for a covered packer to in14 fluence the base price of formula marketing arrange15 ments for the benefit of the covered packer through 

16 action or inaction in the market in which the base 

17 price is determined. 

18 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years 

20 after the date of enactment of the Cattle Price Dis21 covery and Transparency Act of 2022, the Secretary 

22 shall establish— 

23 ‘‘(A) 5 to 7 contiguous regions (referred to 

24 in this section as ‘covered regions’) that— 


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1 ‘‘(i) together encompass the entire 

2 continental United States; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) to the extent practicable, reason4 ably reflect similar fed cattle purchase 

5 practices; 

6 ‘‘(B) a mandatory minimum— 

7 ‘‘(i) for each covered region estab8 lished under subparagraph (A); and 

9 ‘‘(ii) that shall be applicable with re10 spect to each processing plant of a covered 

11 packer located in that covered region; and 

12 ‘‘(C) a time period within which a covered 

13 packer shall be required to meet the applicable 

14 mandatory minimum, which shall be not less 

15 than 1 week but not more than 30 days. 

16 ‘‘(2) MODIFICATIONS.—The Secretary— 

17 ‘‘(A) shall review the mandatory minimums 

18 established under paragraph (1) not later than 

19 2 years after the date of establishment and pe20 riodically thereafter, but not less frequently 

21 than once every 5 years; and 

22 ‘‘(B) modify any such mandatory min23 imum, as necessary, after consulting with rep24 resentatives of the United States cattle and beef 

25 industry and in accordance with paragraph (4). 


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1 ‘‘(3) PUBLIC INPUT.—In carrying out this sub2 section, the Secretary shall make all proposed man3 datory minimums subject to notice and comment 

4 rulemaking and a cost-benefit analysis. 

5 ‘‘(4) CONSIDERATIONS.—In establishing or 

6 modifying mandatory minimums under this sub7 section for any covered region, the Secretary shall 

8 consider the following factors: 

9 ‘‘(A) The number of covered packers in the 

10 covered region. 

11 ‘‘(B) The availability of fed cattle in the 

12 covered region. 

13 ‘‘(C) Pre-existing contractual arrange14 ments of packers in the covered region. 

15 ‘‘(D) The number of pricing transactions 

16 (pens of cattle sold) in the covered region. 

17 ‘‘(E) The proportion of fed cattle pur18 chased in the covered region through negotiated 

19 purchases or negotiated grid purchases relative 

20 to the number of formula marketing arrange21 ments that use the negotiated prices or nego22 tiated grid prices as base prices. 

23 ‘‘(5) INITIAL MANDATORY MINIMUM REQUIRE24 MENT.—The initial mandatory minimum established 


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1 under paragraph (1)(B) for each covered region 

2 shall be— 

3 ‘‘(A) not less than the average percentage 

4 of negotiated purchases and negotiated grid 

5 purchases made in that covered region between 

6 January 1, 2020, and January 1, 2022; and 

7 ‘‘(B) not more than 50 percent. 

8 ‘‘(c) PURCHASES.—A covered packer shall, with re9 spect to each processing plant of the covered packer, pur10 chase through an approved pricing mechanism not less 

11 than the percentage of fed cattle required under the man12 datory minimum established under subsection (b) for the 

13 covered region in which the processing plant is located. 

14 ‘‘(d) ENFORCEMENT.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—On establishing mandatory 

16 minimums under subsection (b), the Secretary— 

17 ‘‘(A) shall regularly monitor compliance by 

18 covered packers with those mandatory mini19 mums; and 

20 ‘‘(B) in the case of noncompliance by a 

21 covered packer in a given period, may allow the 

22 covered packer to remedy the noncompliance by 

23 purchasing the applicable shortfall in the ap24 proved pricing mechanism in 1 or more subse25 quent periods, subject to paragraph (2). 


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1 ‘‘(2) NONREMEDY.—The Secretary shall not 

2 allow a covered packer to remedy noncompliance 

3 under paragraph (1)(B) if the covered packer has a 

4 pattern or practice of noncompliance, as determined 

5 by the Secretary. 

6 ‘‘(e) EFFECT ON PREMIUMS.—Nothing in this sec7 tion prohibits a formula marketing arrangement from in8 cluding a premium in addition to the base price, including 

9 a premium for meat quality, consistency, breed, produc10 tion method, branding, or any other value-added effort.’’. 

Æ 


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