I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2918 

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to initiate and complete notice and 

comment rulemaking to implement recommendations approved by the 

National Organic Standards Board, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 30, 2021 

Mr. DEFAZIO (for himself, Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. KIND, Mr. 

NEWHOUSE, Ms. PINGREE, and Mr. PANETTA) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to initiate and complete notice and comment rulemaking to implement recommendations approved by the National Organic Standards Board, 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 ‘‘Continuous Improve5 ment and Accountability in Organic Standards Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PUBLICATION OF ALL NATIONAL ORGANIC STAND2 ARDS BOARD RECOMMENDATIONS. 

3 (a) NOTICE AND PUBLIC COMMENT.—Not later than 

4 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

5 Secretary shall publish a notice in the Federal Register 

6 that— 

7 (1) identifies and sets forth the recommenda8 tions approved by the National Organic Standards 

9 Board (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘NOSB’’) by 

10 a decisive vote and submitted to the Secretary pur11 suant to subsections (i)(1) and (k)(1) of section 

12 2119 of the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 

13 (7 U.S.C. 6518), during the period beginning on De14 cember 31, 2000, and ending on the date of the en15 actment of this Act, that have not been implemented 

16 by a final rule or any other agency action, including 

17 published agency guidance, as of the date of the en18 actment of this Act; and 

19 (2) seeks comments from the public for a 90- 

20 day period beginning on the date on which notice re21 quired under this subsection is published in the Fed22 eral Register that address the order of priority in 

23 which the recommendations identified under para24 graph (1) are to be implemented through notice and 

25 comment rulemaking or through agency guidance. 

26 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

2 the date on which the notice required under sub3 section (a) is published in the Federal Register, the 

4 Secretary shall publish an additional notice in the 

5 Federal Register that— 

6 (A) summarizes the comments received 

7 under subsection (a)(2); and 

8 (B) contains a determination of the order 

9 of priority for implementation of the rec10 ommendations identified and set forth in sub11 section (a)(1). 

12 (2) INTERIM RULES.—The Secretary may con13 sider issuing any interim final rule that sets forth a 

14 plan for implementation of any recommendation that 

15 has not been ranked under paragraph (1) or group16 ing related recommendations as one rule. 

17 (3) CRITERIA FOR PRIORITIZATION RANKING.— 

18 In determining the order of priority for implementa19 tion of each recommendation under paragraph (1), 

20 the Secretary shall consider— 

21 (A) recommendations that advance human 

22 health and environmental protection; 

23 (B) the extent to which the recommenda24 tion resolves any inconsistency in the regula25 tions contained in part 205 of title 7, Code of 


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1 Federal Regulations that are in effect as of the 

2 date of the enactment of this Act, including ex3 isting agency guidance; 

4 (C) the marketplace needs of producers, 

5 handlers, certifiers, and consumers; 

6 (D) whether the recommendation was the 

7 result of a unanimous vote by the NOSB; and 

8 (E) any previous action by the Secretary, 

9 including a proposed rule that has been pub10 lished but not finalized, or a proposed rule that 

11 has been drafted but not published. 

12 (c) ORGANIC IMPROVEMENT ACTION PLAN.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days 

14 after the date on which the order of priority for im15 plementation of the recommendations identified and 

16 set forth in subsection (a)(1) is published under sub17 section (b)(1), the Secretary shall submit to the 

18 Committee on Agriculture of the House of Rep19 resentatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nu20 trition, and Forestry of the Senate and make avail21 able on the website of the Department of Agri22 culture, a report containing the information de23 scribed in subsection (b)(1), and a plan to imple24 ment the recommendations based on such order of 

25 priority. 


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1 (2) CONTENTS OF THE ORGANIC IMPROVEMENT

2 ACTION PLAN.—The plan required under paragraph 

3 (1) shall include a timeline for publication in the 

4 Federal Register of such recommendation in the 

5 order of priority for implementation determined 

6 under subsection (b). 

7 (3) PRACTICABILITY OF FINAL RULE.—If the 

8 Secretary determines that it is not practicable to 

9 promulgate a final rule based on any such rec10 ommendation then the Secretary shall identify the 

11 specific constraints precluding the issuance of such 

12 final rule and shall submit such restraints to the 

13 committees identified in paragraph (1). 

14 (d) ADOPTION OF A FINAL RULE.—Not later than 

15 the date on which the report required by subsection (c)(1) 

16 is submitted, the Secretary shall publish and implement 

17 a final rule to implement each recommendation identified 

18 and set forth in the notice required under subsection 

19 (a)(1) in the order of priority determined under subsection 

20 (b)(1)(B). 

21 SEC. 3. FUTURE NATIONAL ORGANIC STANDARDS BOARD 

22 RECOMMENDATIONS. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall publish each 

24 recommendation supported by a decisive vote and subVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 Jun 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2918.IH H2918

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1 mitted to the Secretary after the date of the enactment 

2 of this Act— 

3 (1) in the form of a notice of proposed rule4 making in the Federal Register not later than 120 

5 days after the date on which the recommendation re6 ceives an affirmative vote; and 

7 (2) in the form of a final rule for public com8 ment in the Federal Register not later than 180 

9 days after the date on which the public comment pe10 riod expires under section 2(a)(2). 

11 (b) FUTURE RULEMAKING.—In all future rulemaking 

12 and published agency guidance, the Secretary shall include 

13 information on how the action relates to recommendations 

14 provided by the NOSB. 

15 (c) INACTIVE FINAL RULEMAKING.—The Secretary 

16 may designate any final rulemaking as inactive or deter17 mine not to publish a final rule based on an analysis of 

18 comments received in response to the notice of proposed 

19 rulemaking issued under subsection (a) if— 

20 (1) the reason for such designation or such de21 termination is set forth in the notice; and 

22 (2) not later than 120 days after the date of 

23 completion of the comment period required by sec24 tion 2(a)(2), the Secretary has submitted to the 

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1 resentatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nu2 trition, and Forestry of the Senate a report detailing 

3 the Secretary’s reasons for designating such rule4 making as inactive or determining not to publish a 

5 final rule. 

6 (d) ANNUAL AUDIT OF CERTIFYING AGENTS.— 

7 (1) CERTIFYING AGENTS.—Not less than annu8 ally, the Secretary shall require each certifying agent 

9 to submit a report to the Secretary describing any 

10 action taken by such agent to implement any new 

11 rule or agency guidance, as well as any step taken 

12 to notify every client of the certifying agent, and ini13 tiate compliance with any new requirement estab14 lished by the Secretary to carry out the national or15 ganic program under the Organic Foods Production 

16 Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 6501 et seq.). 

17 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after 

18 the date on which the audit in paragraph (1) is com19 pleted, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a re20 port on the annual audit of certifying agents and the 

21 implementation by such agents of any new require22 ment. 

23 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

24 In this Act: 


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1 (1) CERTIFYING AGENT.—The term ‘‘certifying 

2 agent’’ has the meaning given that term in section 

3 2103 of the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 

4 (7 U.S.C. 6502). 

5 (2) DECISIVE VOTE.—The term ‘‘decisive vote’’ 

6 means, with respect to a vote taken by the National 

7 Organic Standards Board established under section 

8 2110 of the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 

9 (7 U.S.C. 6518), any motion that receives at least 

10 two-thirds of the votes cast at a meeting of the Na11 tional Organic Standards Board at which a quorum 

12 is present. 

13 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

14 the Secretary of Agriculture. 

Æ 


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