II 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2592 

To provide crop and livestock disaster assistance. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 24, 2004 

Mr. CONRAD (for himself and Mr. DORGAN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To provide crop and livestock disaster assistance. 

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 Assistance 

5 Act of 2004’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF SECRETARY. 

7 In this Act, the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Sec8 retary of Agriculture. 

9 SEC. 3. CROP DISASTER ASSISTANCE. 

10 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
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1 (1) ADDITIONAL COVERAGE.—The term ‘‘addi2 tional coverage’’ has the meaning given the term in 

3 section 502(b) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 

4 U.S.C. 1502(b)). 

5 (2) INSURABLE COMMODITY.— 

6 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘insurable 

7 commodity’’ means an agricultural commodity 

8 for which the producers on a farm are eligible 

9 to obtain a policy or plan of insurance under 

10 the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1501 

11 et seq.). 

12 (B) EXCLUSION.—The term ‘‘insurable 

13 commodity’’ does not include livestock. 

14 (3) NONINSURABLE COMMODITY.—The term 

15 ‘‘noninsurable commodity’’ means an eligible crop 

16 for which the producers on a farm are eligible to ob17 tain assistance under section 196 of the Federal Ag18 riculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (7 

19 U.S.C. 7333). 

20 (b) ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE.—The Secretary shall 

21 use such sums as are necessary of funds of the Commodity 

22 Credit Corporation to make emergency financial assist23 ance available to producers on a farm that have incurred 

24 qualifying losses for the 2004 crop of an agricultural com-
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•S 2592 IS 

1 modity due to damaging weather or related condition, as 

2 determined by the Secretary. 

3 (c) ADMINISTRATION.— 

4 (1) USE OF FORMER ADMINISTRATIVE AUTHOR5 ITY.—Except as provided in paragraph (2), the Sec6 retary shall make assistance available under this sec7 tion in the same manner as provided under section 

8 815 of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food 

9 and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Ap10 propriations Act, 2001 (Public Law 106–387; 114 

11 Stat. 1549A–55), including using the same loss 

12 thresholds for quantity and quality losses as were 

13 used in administering that section. 

14 (2) PAYMENT RATE.—The payment rate for a 

15 crop for assistance provided under this section to the 

16 producers on a farm shall be calculated as follows: 

17 (A) If the producers obtained a policy or 

18 plan of insurance, including a catastrophic risk 

19 protection plan, for the crop under the Federal 

20 Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.), 50 

21 percent of the applicable price for the crop. 

22 (B) If a policy or plan of insurance, includ23 ing a catastrophic risk protection plan, for the 

24 crop was not available to the producers under 

25 the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1501 
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1 et seq.), 50 percent of the applicable price for 

2 the crop. 

3 (C) Subject to subsections (d) and (e), if 

4 the producers did not obtain a policy or plan of 

5 insurance, including a catastrophic risk protec6 tion plan, available for the crop under the Fed7 eral Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1501 et 

8 seq.), 40 percent of the applicable price for the 

9 crop. 

10 (d) INELIGIBILITY FOR ASSISTANCE.—Except as pro11 vided in subsection (e), the producers on a farm shall not 

12 be eligible for assistance under this section with respect 

13 to losses to an insurable commodity or noninsurable com14 modity if the producers on the farm— 

15 (1) in the case of an insurable commodity, did 

16 not obtain a policy or plan of insurance for the in17 surable commodity under the Federal Crop Insur18 ance Act (7 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.) for the crop incur19 ring the losses; and 

20 (2) in the case of a noninsurable commodity, 

21 did not file the required paperwork, and pay the ad22 ministrative fee by the applicable State filing dead23 line, for the noninsurable commodity under section 

24 196 of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and 
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1 Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 7333) for the crop 

2 incurring the losses. 

3 (e) CONTRACT WAIVER.—The Secretary may waive 

4 subsection (d) with respect to the producers on a farm 

5 if the producers enter into a contract with the Secretary 

6 under which the producers agree— 

7 (1) in the case of an insurable commodity, to 

8 obtain a policy or plan of insurance under the Fed9 eral Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.) 

10 providing additional coverage for the insurable com11 modity for each of the next 2 crops; and 

12 (2) in the case of a noninsurable commodity, to 

13 file the required paperwork, and pay the administra14 tive fee by the applicable State filing deadline, for 

15 the noninsurable commodity for each of the next 2 

16 crops under section 196 of the Federal Agriculture 

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

18 7333). 

19 (f) EFFECT OF VIOLATION.—In the event of the vio20 lation of a contract under subsection (e) by a producer, 

21 the producer shall reimburse the Secretary for the full 

22 amount of the assistance provided to the producer under 

23 this section. 

24 SEC. 4. LIVESTOCK ASSISTANCE. 

25 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
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1 (1) DISASTER COUNTY.—The term ‘‘disaster 

2 county’’ means a county included in the geographic 

3 area covered by a qualifying natural disaster dec4 laration for calendar year 2004. 

5 (2) QUALIFYING NATURAL DISASTER DECLARA6 TION.—The term ‘‘qualifying natural disaster dec7 laration’’ means— 

8 (A) a natural disaster declared by the Sec9 retary under section 321(a) of the Consolidated 

10 Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 

11 1961(a)); or 

12 (B) a major disaster or emergency des13 ignated by the President under the Robert T. 

14 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist15 ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.). 

16 (b) LIVESTOCK ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.— 

17 (1) ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE.— 

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection 

19 (c), the Secretary shall use such sums as are 

20 necessary of funds of the Commodity Credit 

21 Corporation to establish a program under which 

22 payments are made to livestock producers for 

23 losses in a disaster county. 

24 (B) CRITERIA.—To carry out the program, 

25 the Secretary shall use the criteria established 
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1 to carry out the 1999 Livestock Assistance Pro2 gram, except that, in lieu of the gross revenue 

3 criteria used for the 1999 Livestock Assistance 

4 Program, the Secretary shall use the adjusted 

5 gross income limitation contained in section 

6 1001D of the Food Security Act of 1985 (7 

7 U.S.C. 1308–3a). 

8 (c) RELATIONSHIP OF LIVESTOCK ASSISTANCE PRO9 GRAMS.—The amount of assistance that the producers 

10 would otherwise receive for a loss under the livestock as11 sistance program shall be reduced by the amount of the 

12 assistance that the producers receive under any other live13 stock assistance program, as determined by the Secretary. 

14 SEC. 5. FUNDING. 

15 The Secretary shall use the funds, facilities, and au16 thorities of the Commodity Credit Corporation to carry 

17 out this title, to remain available until expended. 

18 SEC. 6. REGULATIONS. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may promulgate 

20 such regulations as are necessary to implement this Act. 

21 (b) PROCEDURE.—The promulgation of the regula22 tions and administration of this Act shall be made without 

23 regard to— 

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

2 Agriculture effective July 24, 1971 (36 Fed. Reg. 

3 13804), relating to notices of proposed rulemaking 

4 and public participation in rulemaking; and 

5 (3) chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code 

6 (commonly known as the ‘‘Paperwork Reduction 

7 Act’’). 

8 (c) CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW OF AGENCY RULE9 MAKING.—In carrying out this section, the Secretary shall 

10 use the authority provided under section 808 of title 5, 

11 United States Code. 

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