I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1118 
To amend the Federal Crop Insurance Act to establish permanent authority 
for the Secretary of Agriculture to quickly provide disaster relief to 
agricultural producers who incur crop losses as a result of damaging 
weather or related condition in federally declared disaster areas, and 
for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 3, 2005 
Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota (for himself, Mr. ETHERIDGE, Mr. MCINTYRE, 
and Mr. ROSS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Agriculture 
A BILL 
To amend the Federal Crop Insurance Act to establish per-
manent authority for the Secretary of Agriculture to 
quickly provide disaster relief to agricultural producers 
who incur crop losses as a result of damaging weather 
or related condition in federally declared disaster areas, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Permanent Emergency 
Agricultural Assistance Act’’.
SEC. 2. CROP DISASTER ASSISTANCE FOR FUTURE CROP 
YEARS. 
The Federal Crop Insurance Act is amended by in-
serting after section 518 (7 U.S.C. 1518) the following 
new section: 
‘‘SEC. 519. PERMANENT AUTHORITY TO PROVIDE EMER-
GENCY AGRICULTURAL ASSISTANCE. 
‘‘(a) AUTHORITY TO PROVIDE EMERGENCY ASSIST-
ANCE.—The Secretary shall use the funds of the Com-
modity Credit Corporation to make emergency financial 
assistance available to producers on a farm who incur 
qualifying crop losses for an insurable crop due to dam-
aging weather or related condition, as determined by the 
Secretary, which results in the designation of the county 
in which the farm is located as a federally declared dis-
aster area. 
‘‘(b) ADMINISTRATION.—Except as provided in sub-
sections (c) and (d), the Secretary shall make assistance 
available under this section in the same manner as pro-
vided under section 815 of the Agriculture, Rural Develop-
ment, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agen-
cies Appropriations Act, 2001 (Public Law 106–387; 114 
Stat. 1549A–55), including using the same loss thresholds 
for the quantity and quality losses as were used in admin-
istering that section.
‘‘(c) PAYMENT RATE.—The Secretary shall make as-
sistance available to producers on a farm for a crop under 
this section at a rate equal to 65 percent of the established 
price for the crop for any deficiency in production of 35 
percent or more for the crop. 
‘‘(d) RECEIPT CONDITIONED ON HAVING CROP IN-
SURANCE.—The producers on a farm shall not be eligible 
for assistance under subsection (a) with respect to losses 
to a crop unless the producers obtained, before the losses 
were incurred, a policy or plan of insurance for the crop 
under this title that provided a level of coverage equal to 
or greater than 60 percent. 
‘‘(e) FEDERALLY DECLARED DISASTER AREA DE-
FINED.— 
‘‘(1) PRESIDENTIAL OR SECRETARIAL DESIGNA-
TION.—In this section, the term ‘federally declared 
disaster area’ means a county covered by— 
‘‘(A) a Presidential declaration of major 
disaster issued under section 301 of the Robert 
T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency As-
sistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170); or 
‘‘(B) a declaration by the Secretary of a 
disaster area under subpart A of part 1945 of 
title 7, Code of Federal Regulations.