I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5621 

To extend the wildfire and hurricane indemnity program to cover certain 

crop losses in calendar year 2023, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 21, 2023 

Mr. ALFORD introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To extend the wildfire and hurricane indemnity program 

to cover certain crop losses in calendar year 2023, 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 ‘‘2023 WHIP+ Reau5 thorization Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DISASTER INDEMNITY PROGRAM. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise provided in 

8 this section, with respect to the coverage period, the Sec9 retary shall carry out— 


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1 (1) a disaster indemnity program in the same 

2 manner as the WHIP+ program is carried out 

3 under subpart O of part 760 of title 7, Code of Fed4 eral Regulations (as in effect on the date of the en5 actment of this section); 

6 (2) an on-farm storage loss program in the 

7 same manner as the program carried out under sub8 part P of part 760 of title 7, Code of Federal Regu9 lations (as in effect on the date of the enactment of 

10 this section); and 

11 (3) a milk loss program in the same manner as 

12 the program carried out under subpart Q of part 

13 760 of title 7, Code of Federal Regulations (as in ef14 fect on the date of the enactment of this section). 

15 (b) COVERED LOSSES.—In carrying out the pro16 grams under this section, the Secretary shall make pay17 ments to producers in accordance with subsection (c) for 

18 qualified losses of covered crops, including milk, that oc19 curred during the coverage period. 

20 (c) PAYMENTS.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Payments to producers for 

22 qualified losses of covered crops, including milk, 

23 under the programs under this section shall be ad24 ministered, except as provided in paragraph (2), in 


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1 the same manner as payments under the relevant 

2 programs in subsection (a). 

3 (2) EXCEPTIONS.— 

4 (A) DIRECT PAYMENTS REQUIRED.—The 

5 Secretary shall make payments under the pro6 grams under paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of 

7 subsection (a) as direct payments to producers 

8 or processors, at the election of the processor. 

9 (B) SPECIAL RULE FOR UNHARVESTED

10 ACRES.—The Secretary shall make payments 

11 under this section with respect to qualified 

12 losses of unharvested acres of a covered crop in 

13 the same manner as payments are made with 

14 respect to eligible crop losses under the non15 insured crop assistance program under section 

16 196 of the Federal Agriculture Improvement 

17 and Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 7333). 

18 (C) PAYMENT LIMITATIONS.— 

19 (i) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided 

20 in clauses (ii), (iii), (iv), and (v), the Sec21 retary shall impose payment limitations 

22 consistent with section 760.1507 of title 7, 

23 Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect 

24 on the date of the enactment of this sec25 tion). 


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1 (ii) EXCEPTION FOR SPECIALTY

2 CROPS OR HIGH VALUE CROPS.—In the 

3 case of specialty crops or high value crops, 

4 as determined by the Secretary, the Sec5 retary shall impose payment limitations 

6 consistent with section 760.1507(a)(2) of 

7 title 7, Code of Federal Regulations (as in 

8 effect on January 1, 2019). 

9 (iii) TAX YEAR BASIS.—In applying 

10 the payment limitations under this sub11 paragraph, the Secretary shall determine a 

12 person or legal entity’s average adjusted 

13 gross income and average adjusted gross 

14 farm income based on the 2019, 2020, and 

15 2021 tax years. 

16 (iv) ANNUAL RENEWAL.—With re17 spect to the payment limitations described 

18 under this subparagraph, the Secretary 

19 shall apply separate payment limits for 

20 each of the years under the covered period. 

21 (v) ENTITY RULES.—With respect to 

22 payments to a corporation, limited liability 

23 company, limited partnership, trust, or es24 tate under this section, the Secretary 

25 shall— 


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1 (I) determine average adjusted 

2 gross income and average adjusted 

3 gross farm income in accordance with 

4 clause (iii); and 

5 (II) apply rules in the same man6 ner as subsections (d) and (e) of sec7 tion 9.7 of title 7, Code of Federal 

8 Regulations. 

9 (D) NET INDEMNITIES.—In calculating 

10 payments under the programs under para11 graphs (1), (2), and (3) of subsection (a), the 

12 Secretary shall net out crop insurance indem13 nities, less any insurance premiums paid by the 

14 producer. 

15 (E) PAYMENTS TO SUGAR AND DAIRY

16 PROCESSORS.— 

17 (i) IN GENERAL.—At the election of a 

18 processor eligible for a loan under section 

19 156 of the Federal Agriculture Improve20 ment and Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 

21 7272) or a cooperative processor of dairy, 

22 in lieu of payments to producers provided 

23 under a program described in subsection 

24 (a), the Secretary shall make payments to 

25 a processor to be paid to producer memVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Sep 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5621.IH H5621

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1 bers, as determined by such processors 

2 under the same terms and conditions as 

3 payments made to processors pursuant to 

4 section 791(c) of title VII of division B of 

5 the Further Consolidated Appropriations 

6 Act, 2020 (Public Law 116–94). 

7 (ii) NON-ELECTION.—Notwith8 standing section 760.1503(j) of title 7 of 

9 the Code of Federal Regulations, in the 

10 event that a processor described in clause 

11 (i) does not elect to receive payments 

12 under such clause, the Secretary shall 

13 make direct payments to producers under 

14 a program described in subsection (a). 

15 (F) BLOCK GRANTS.—The Secretary may 

16 provide payments in the form of block grants to 

17 States and processors described in subpara18 graph (E). 

19 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 

21 appropriated to carry out this section 

22 $8,500,000,000. 

23 (2) ADMINISTRATION.—The Secretary may use 

24 not more than 1 percent of the funds appropriated 


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1 pursuant to paragraph (1) to carry out the fol2 lowing: 

3 (A) Streamlining the application process. 

4 (B) Utilizing information technology to en5 able the electronic transfer of data used in such 

6 application process between the Risk Manage7 ment Agency and the Farm Service Agency. 

8 (C) Activities that with respect to county 

9 office employees, reduce the workload of such 

10 employees in carrying out this section. 

11 (D) To the maximum extent practicable, 

12 providing the necessary information to, and as13 sisting crop insurance agents with, providing 

14 application information on behalf of insured 

15 producers. 

16 (e) EXEMPTION.—Notwithstanding the Federal 

17 Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 

18 (Public Law 109–282; 31 U.S.C. 6101 note), the require19 ments of parts 25 and 170 of title 2, Code of Federal 

20 Regulations (or successor regulations), shall not apply 

21 with respect to assistance received under this section. 

22 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

23 (1) COVERAGE PERIOD.—In this section, the 

24 term ‘‘coverage period’’ means, with respect to a 

25 covered crop, including milk, and a qualifying disVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Sep 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5621.IH H5621

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1 aster event described in paragraph (6)(A)(i), cal2 endar years 2023 and 2024. 

3 (2) COVERED CROP.—The term ‘‘covered crop’’ 

4 means a crop, tree, bush, or vine described in section 

5 760.1503 of title 7, Code of Federal Regulations (as 

6 in effect on the date of the enactment of this sec7 tion), including wine grapes, which shall include all 

8 insured acreage (regardless of whether such acreage 

9 is the initial acreage or not). 

10 (3) MILK LOSS PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘milk loss 

11 program’’ means the milk loss program under sub12 part Q of part 760 of title 7, Code of Federal Regu13 lations (as in effect on the date of the enactment of 

14 this section). 

15 (4) ON-FARM STORAGE LOSS PROGRAM.—The 

16 term ‘‘on-farm storage loss program’’ means the on17 farm storage loss program under subpart P of part 

18 760 of title 7, Code of Federal Regulations (as in ef19 fect on the date of the enactment of this section) 

20 (5) STATE.—In this section, the term ‘‘State’’ 

21 has the meaning given the term in section 1111(20) 

22 of the Agricultural Act of 2014. 

23 (6) QUALIFIED LOSS.—The term ‘‘qualified 

24 loss’’— 


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1 (A) with respect to a covered crop not de2 scribed in subparagraph (B), the loss of such 

3 crop during the coverage period— 

4 (i) due to a qualifying disaster event 

5 described in the definition of ‘‘qualifying 

6 disaster event’’ in section 760.1802 of title 

7 7, Code of Federal Regulations (as in ef8 fect on the date of the enactment of this 

9 section); 

10 (ii) due to high winds, derechos, ex11 cessive heat, or freeze (including a polar 

12 vortex); 

13 (iii) due to a drought in— 

14 (I) a county the Secretary des15 ignated for drought; or 

16 (II) a county contiguous to a 

17 county described in subclause (I); or 

18 (iv) due to other disruptions (includ19 ing power outages or curtailments) that 

20 are associated with the effects of a quali21 fied disaster event under this section; and 

22 (B) with respect to smoke tainted wine 

23 grapes, the loss (including a quality loss) of 

24 such crop during the coverage period due to 

25 wildfire, as determined by the Secretary. 


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1 (7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

2 the Secretary of Agriculture. 

3 (8) WHIP+ PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘WHIP+ 

4 program’’ means the WHIP+ program under sub5 part O of part 760 of title 7, Code of Federal Regu6 lations (as in effect on the date of the enactment of 

7 this section). 

Æ 


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