I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5203 

To provide emergency agricultural disaster assistance. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 4, 2004 

Mr. STENHOLM (for himself, Mr. REHBERG, Mr. ETHERIDGE, Mr. EVERETT, 

Mr. BERRY, Mr. BOSWELL, Mr. EDWARDS, Mr. OSBORNE, Mr. POMEROY, Mr. DAVIS of Tennessee, Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota, and Mr. 

NEUGEBAUER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To provide emergency agricultural 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 ‘‘Emergency Agricul5 tural Disaster Assistance Act of 2004’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CROP DISASTER ASSISTANCE. 

7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

8 (1) ADDITIONAL COVERAGE.—The term ‘‘addi9 tional coverage’’ has the meaning given the term in 
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1 section 502(b) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 

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

3 (2) INSURABLE COMMODITY.—The term ‘‘insur4 able commodity’’ means an agricultural commodity 

5 (excluding livestock) for which the producers on a 

6 farm are eligible to obtain a policy or plan of insur7 ance under the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 

8 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.). 

9 (3) NONINSURABLE COMMODITY.—The term 

10 ‘‘noninsurable commodity’’ means an eligible crop 

11 for which the producers on a farm are eligible to ob12 tain assistance under section 196 of the Federal Ag13 riculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (7 

14 U.S.C. 7333). 

15 (b) EMERGENCY FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.—Notwith16 standing section 508(b)(7) of the Federal Crop Insurance 

17 Act (7 U.S.C. 1508(b)(7)), the Secretary of Agriculture 

18 (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall use such 

19 sums as are necessary of funds of the Commodity Credit 

20 Corporation to make emergency financial assistance au21 thorized under this section available to producers on a 

22 farm that have incurred qualifying crop or quality losses 

23 for the 2003 or 2004 crop (as elected by a producer), but 

24 not both, due to damaging weather or related condition, 

25 as determined by the Secretary. 
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1 (c) ADMINISTRATION.—The Secretary shall make as2 sistance available under this section in the same manner 

3 as provided under section 815 of the Agriculture, Rural 

4 Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Re5 lated Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001 (Public Law 

6 106–387; 114 Stat. 1549A–55), including using the same 

7 loss thresholds for the quantity and quality losses as were 

8 used in administering that section. 

9 (d) REDUCTION IN PAYMENTS.—The amount of as10 sistance that a producer would otherwise receive for a 

11 qualifying crop or quality loss under this section shall be 

12 reduced by the amount of assistance that the producer re13 ceives under the crop loss assistance program announced 

14 by the Secretary on August 27, 2004. 

15 (e) INELIGIBILITY FOR ASSISTANCE.—Except as pro16 vided in subsection (f), the producers on a farm shall not 

17 be eligible for assistance under this section with respect 

18 to losses to an insurable commodity or noninsurable com19 modity if the producers on the farm— 

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

21 not obtain a policy or plan of insurance for the in22 surable commodity under the Federal Crop Insur23 ance Act (7 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.) for the crop incur24 ring the losses; and 
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1 (2) in the case of a noninsurable commodity, 

2 did not file the required paperwork, and pay the ad3 ministrative fee by the applicable State filing dead4 line, for the noninsurable commodity under section 

5 196 of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and 

6 Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 7333) for the crop 

7 incurring the losses. 

8 (f) CONTRACT WAIVER.—The Secretary may waive 

9 subsection (e) with respect to the producers on a farm if 

10 the producers enter into a contract with the Secretary 

11 under which the producers agree— 

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

13 obtain a policy or plan of insurance under the Fed14 eral Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.) 

15 providing additional coverage for the insurable com16 modity for each of the next 2 crops; and 

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

18 file the required paperwork and pay the administra19 tive fee by the applicable State filing deadline, for 

20 the noninsurable commodity for each of the next 2 

21 crops under section 196 of the Federal Agriculture 

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

23 7333). 

24 (g) EFFECT OF VIOLATION.—In the event of the vio25 lation of a contract under subsection (f) by a producer, 
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1 the producer shall reimburse the Secretary for the full 

2 amount of the assistance provided to the producer under 

3 this section. 

4 SEC. 3. LIVESTOCK ASSISTANCE PROGRAM. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall use such 

6 sums as are necessary of funds of the Commodity Credit 

7 Corporation to make and administer payments for live8 stock losses to producers for 2003 or 2004 losses (as elect9 ed by a producer), but not both, in a county that has re10 ceived an emergency designation by the President or the 

11 Secretary after January 1, 2003, of which an amount de12 termined by the Secretary shall be made available for the 

13 American Indian livestock program under section 806 of 

14 the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Ad15 ministration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 

16 2001 (Public Law 106–387; 114 Stat. 1549A–51). 

17 (b) ADMINISTRATION.—The Secretary shall make as18 sistance available under this section in the same manner 

19 as provided under section 806 of the Agriculture, Rural 

20 Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Re21 lated Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001 (Public Law 

22 106–387; 114 Stat. 1549A–51). 

23 (c) MITIGATION.—In determining the eligibility for or 

24 amount of payments for which a producer is eligible under 

25 the livestock assistance program, the Secretary shall not 
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1 penalize a producer that takes actions (recognizing dis2 aster conditions) that reduce the average number of live3 stock the producer owned for grazing during the produc4 tion year for which assistance is being provided. 

5 SEC. 4. TREE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM. 

6 The Secretary shall use such sums as are necessary 

7 of the funds of the Commodity Credit Corporation to pro8 vide assistance under the tree assistance program estab9 lished under subtitle C of title X of the Farm Security 

10 and Rural Investment Act of 2002 to producers who suf11 fered tree losses during the winter of 2003 through 2004. 

12 SEC. 5. COMMODITY CREDIT CORPORATION. 

13 The Secretary shall use the funds, facilities, and au14 thorities of the Commodity Credit Corporation to carry 

15 out this Act. 

16 SEC. 6. REGULATIONS. 

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

18 such regulations as are necessary to implement this Act. 

19 (b) PROCEDURE.—The promulgation of the regula20 tions and administration of this Act shall be made without 

21 regard to— 

22 (1) the notice and comment provisions of sec23 tion 553 of title 5, United States Code; 

24 (2) the Statement of Policy of the Secretary of 

25 Agriculture effective July 24, 1971 (36 Fed. Reg. 
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1 13804), relating to notices of proposed rulemaking 

2 and public participation in rulemaking; and 

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

4 (commonly known as the ‘‘Paperwork Reduction 

5 Act’’). 

6 (c) CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW OF AGENCY RULE7 MAKING.—In carrying out this section, the Secretary shall 

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

9 United States Code. 

10 SEC. 7. EMERGENCY DESIGNATION. 

11 Amounts appropriated or otherwise made available in 

12 this Act are each designated as an emergency requirement 

13 pursuant to section 402 of S. Con. Res. 95 (108th Con14 gress), as made applicable to the House of Representatives 

15 by H. Res. 649 (108th Congress) and applicable to the 

16 Senate by section 14007 of the Department of Defense 

17 Appropriations Act, 2005 (Public Law 108–287; 118 Stat. 

18 1014). However, such amounts shall be available only to 

19 the extent that an official budget request, that includes 

20 designation of the entire amount of the request as an 

21 emergency requirement, is transmitted by the President 

22 to the Congress. 

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