II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2810 

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to provide emergency disaster assistance to certain agricultural producers that suffered losses during the 

2009 calendar year. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 20, 2009 

Mr. COCHRAN (for himself, Mr. WICKER, and Mrs. LINCOLN) introduced the 

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

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to provide emergency 

disaster assistance to certain agricultural producers that 

suffered losses during the 2009 calendar year. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. EMERGENCY DISASTER ASSISTANCE. 

4 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

5 (1) DISASTER COUNTY.— 

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

7 county’’ means a county included in the geo8 graphic area covered by a qualifying natural 

9 disaster declaration for calendar year 2009 for 


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1 which the request for such declaration was ap2 proved by the Secretary as of November 17, 

3 2009. 

4 (B) EXCLUSION.—The term ‘‘disaster 

5 county’’ does not include a contiguous county. 

6 (2) ELIGIBLE PRODUCER.—The term ‘‘eligible 

7 producer’’ means an agricultural producer in a dis8 aster county. 

9 (3) ELIGIBLE SPECIALTY CROP PRODUCER.— 

10 The term ‘‘eligible specialty crop producer’’ means 

11 an agricultural producer that, during the 2009 cal12 endar year, as determined by the Secretary— 

13 (A) produced, or were prevented from 

14 planting, a specialty crop in 1 or more disaster 

15 counties; and 

16 (B) experienced crop losses associated with 

17 drought or excessive rainfall. 

18 (4) QUALIFYING NATURAL DISASTER DECLARA19 TION.—The term ‘‘qualifying natural disaster dec20 laration’’ means a natural disaster declared by the 

21 Secretary for production losses under section 321(a) 

22 of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development 

23 Act (7 U.S.C. 1961(a)). 

24 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

25 the Secretary of Agriculture. 


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1 (6) SPECIALTY CROP.—The term ‘‘specialty 

2 crop’’ has the meaning given the term in section 3 

3 of the Specialty Crops Competitiveness Act of 2004 

4 (Public Law 108–465; 7 U.S.C. 1621 note). 

5 (b) SUPPLEMENTAL DIRECT PAYMENT.—Of the 

6 funds of the Commodity Credit Corporation, the Secretary 

7 shall use such sums as are necessary to make a supple8 mental payment under section 1103 of the Food, Con9 servation, and Energy Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 8713) to 

10 eligible producers that previously received a payment 

11 under that section. 

12 (c) SPECIALTY CROP ASSISTANCE.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Of the funds of the Com14 modity Credit Corporation, the Secretary shall use 

15 not more than $650,000,000, to remain available 

16 until September 30, 2011, to carry out a program 

17 of grants to States to assist eligible specialty crop 

18 producers for losses associated with drought or ex19 cessive rainfall during the 2009 calendar year. 

20 (2) NOTIFICATION.—Not later than 60 days 

21 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec22 retary shall notify the State department of agri23 culture (or similar entity) in each State of the avail24 ability of funds to assist eligible specialty crop pro25 ducers, including such terms as are determined by 


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1 the Secretary to be necessary for the equitable treat2 ment of eligible specialty crop producers. 

3 (3) PROVISION OF GRANTS.— 

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

5 make grants to States under this subsection on 

6 a pro rata basis based on the value of specialty 

7 crop production during the 2008 calendar year, 

8 as determined by the Secretary. 

9 (B) TIMING.—Not later than 120 days 

10 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec11 retary shall make grants to States to provide 

12 assistance under this subsection. 

13 (C) MAXIMUM GRANT.—The maximum 

14 amount of a grant made to a State under this 

15 subsection may not exceed $40,000,000. 

16 (4) REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary shall 

17 make grants under this subsection only to States 

18 that demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Secretary 

19 that the State will— 

20 (A) use grant funds to assist eligible spe21 cialty crop producers; 

22 (B) provide assistance to eligible specialty 

23 crop producers not later than 60 days after the 

24 date on which the State receives grant funds; 

25 and 


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1 (C) not later than 30 days after the date 

2 on which the State provides assistance to eligi3 ble specialty crop producers, submit to the Sec4 retary a report that describes— 

5 (i) the manner in which the State pro6 vided assistance; 

7 (ii) the amounts of assistance pro8 vided by type of specialty crop; and 

9 (iii) the process by which the State 

10 determined the levels of assistance to eligi11 ble specialty crop producers. 

12 (d) COTTONSEED ASSISTANCE.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Of the funds of the Com14 modity Credit Corporation, the Secretary shall use 

15 not more than $42,000,000 to provide supplemental 

16 assistance to eligible producers and first-handlers of 

17 the 2009 crop of cottonseed in disaster counties. 

18 (2) GENERAL TERMS.—Except as otherwise 

19 provided in this subsection, the Secretary shall pro20 vide disaster assistance under this subsection under 

21 the same terms and conditions as assistance pro22 vided under section 3015 of the Emergency Agricul23 tural Disaster Assistance Act of 2006 (title III of 

24 Public Law 109–234; 120 Stat. 477). 


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1 (3) DISTRIBUTION OF ASSISTANCE.—The Sec2 retary shall distribute assistance to first handlers for 

3 the benefit of eligible producers in a disaster county 

4 in an amount equal to the product obtained by mul5 tiplying— 

6 (A) the payment rate, as determined under 

7 paragraph (4); and 

8 (B) the county-eligible production, as de9 termined under paragraph (5). 

10 (4) PAYMENT RATE.—The payment rate shall 

11 be equal to the quotient obtained by dividing— 

12 (A) the sum of the county-eligible produc13 tion, as determined under paragraph (5); by 

14 (B) the total funds made available to carry 

15 out this subsection. 

16 (5) COUNTY-ELIGIBLE PRODUCTION.—The 

17 county-eligible production shall be equal to the prod18 uct obtained by multiplying— 

19 (A) the number of acres planted to cotton 

20 in the disaster county, as reported to the Sec21 retary by first-handlers; 

22 (B) the expected cotton lint yield for the 

23 disaster county, as determined by the Secretary 

24 based on the best available information; and 


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1 (C) the national average seed-to-lint ratio, 

2 as determined by the Secretary based on the 

3 best available information for the 5 crop years 

4 immediately preceding the 2009 crop, excluding 

5 the year in which the average ratio was the 

6 highest and the year in which the average ratio 

7 was the lowest in such period. 

8 (e) LIVESTOCK ASSISTANCE.— 

9 (1) CONTINUATION OF ASSISTANCE PRO10 GRAM.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph 

12 (3), the Secretary shall continue to carry out 

13 the 2002 Livestock Compensation Program an14 nounced by the Secretary on October 10, 2002 

15 (67 Fed. Reg. 63070) (referred to in this para16 graph as the ‘‘Program’’). 

17 (B) ASSISTANCE.—In carrying out the 

18 Program, the Secretary shall provide assistance 

19 to any applicant that— 

20 (i) conducts a livestock operation that 

21 is physically located in a disaster county 

22 and meets all other eligibility requirements 

23 established by the Secretary for the Pro24 gram; or 


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1 (ii) produces an animal described in 

2 section 10806(a)(1) of the Farm Security 

3 and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (21 

4 U.S.C. 321d(a)(1)) and meets all other eli5 gibility requirements established by the 

6 Secretary for the Program. 

7 (C) USE OF COMMODITY CREDIT CORPORA8 TION FUNDS.—Effective beginning on the date 

9 of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 

10 carry out the Program using funds of the Com11 modity Credit Corporation. 

12 (2) LIVESTOCK LOSS ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.— 

13 Subject to paragraph (3), of the funds of the Com14 modity Credit Corporation, the Secretary shall use 

15 $150,000,000 to carry out a program to make pay16 ments to eligible producers for livestock losses occur17 ring in a disaster county under the same criteria es18 tablished to carry out the 1999 Livestock Assistance 

19 Program. 

20 (3) RELATIONSHIP OF LIVESTOCK ASSISTANCE

21 PROGRAMS.—The amount of assistance that the eli22 gible producers on a farm would otherwise receive 

23 for a loss under a livestock assistance program, ex24 cept for the operation of this subsection, shall be re25 duced by the amount of the assistance that the eligiVerDate Nov 24 2008 05:00 Nov 21, 2009 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2810.IS S2810

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1 ble producers on the farm receive under any other 

2 livestock assistance program. 

3 (f) RELATION TO OTHER LAW.—An eligible producer 

4 or eligible specialty crop producer that receives assistance 

5 under this section shall be ineligible to receive assistance 

6 for the 2009 crop year under the program carried out 

7 under section 531 of the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 

8 U.S.C. 1531) and section 901 of the Trade Act of 1974 

9 (19 U.S.C. 2497). 

10 (g) ADMINISTRATION.— 

11 (1) REGULATIONS.— 

12 (A) IN GENERAL.—As soon as practicable 

13 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec14 retary shall promulgate such regulations as are 

15 necessary to implement this section. 

16 (B) PROCEDURE.—The promulgation of 

17 the regulations and administration of this sec18 tion shall be made without regard to— 

19 (i) the notice and comment provisions 

20 of section 553 of title 5, United States 

21 Code; 

22 (ii) the Statement of Policy of the 

23 Secretary of Agriculture effective July 24, 

24 1971 (36 Fed. Reg. 13804), relating to noVerDate Nov 24 2008 05:00 Nov 21, 2009 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2810.IS S2810

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1 tices of proposed rulemaking and public 

2 participation in rulemaking; and 

3 (iii) chapter 35 of title 44, United 

4 States Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Pa5 perwork Reduction Act’’). 

6 (C) CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW OF AGENCY

7 RULEMAKING.—In carrying out this paragraph, 

8 the Secretary shall use the authority provided 

9 under section 808 of title 5, United States 

10 Code. 

11 (2) OFFSET.— 

12 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the 

13 Treasury shall rescind such funds as are nec14 essary of funds made available under the Trou15 bled Asset Relief Program established under 

16 title I of division A of the Emergency Economic 

17 Stabilization Act of 2008 (12 U.S.C. 5211 et 

18 seq.) to reimburse the Commodity Credit Cor19 poration for expenditures under this Act. 

20 (B) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—The Sec21 retary may use up to $5,000,000 of amounts 

22 made available under subparagraph (A) to pay 

23 administrative costs incurred by the Secretary 


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1 that are directly related to carrying out this 

2 Act. 

Æ 


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