I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5609 
To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946, to establish a cattle 
contract library, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 19, 2021 
Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota (for himself, Mr. CUELLAR, Mr. MANN, Mr. 
LUCAS, Mr. ALLEN, Mrs. HINSON, Mr. ARMSTRONG, Mr. SMITH of Mis-
souri, Mr. KELLY of Mississippi, Ms. CRAIG, Mrs. FISCHBACH, Mrs. MIL-
LER-MEEKS, Mr. HAGEDORN, Mr. ROUZER, Mrs. HARTZLER, Mr. SMITH 
of Nebraska, Ms. SPANBERGER, and Mr. SOTO) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 
A BILL 
To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946, to 
establish a cattle contract library, 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 ‘‘Cattle Contract Li-
brary Act of 2021’’. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:53 Oct 20, 2021
Jkt 029200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5609.IH
H5609
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
SEC. 2. CATTLE CONTRACT LIBRARY. 
Chapter 2 of subtitle B of the Agricultural Marketing 
Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1635d et seq.) is amended by add-
ing at the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 224. CATTLE CONTRACT LIBRARY. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall establish and 
maintain a library or catalog of each type of contract of-
fered by packers to producers for the purchase of all or 
part of the producers’ production of fed cattle (including 
cattle that are purchased or committed for delivery), in-
cluding any schedules of premiums or discounts associated 
with the contract. 
‘‘(b) INFORMATION COLLECTION.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To maintain the library or 
catalog established under subsection (a), the Sec-
retary shall obtain information from each packer on 
each type of contract of the packer by requiring a 
filing or other form of information submission from 
each packer. 
‘‘(2) CONTRACTED CATTLE INFORMATION.—In-
formation submitted to the Secretary by a packer 
under paragraph (1) shall include, with respect to 
each contract of a packer— 
‘‘(A) the type of contract; 
‘‘(B) the duration of the contract; 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:53 Oct 20, 2021
Jkt 029200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5609.IH
H5609
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
‘‘(C) all contract summary information; 
‘‘(D) provisions in the contract that may 
affect the price of cattle covered by the contract 
including— 
‘‘(i) base price; 
‘‘(ii) schedules of premiums or dis-
counts; and 
‘‘(iii) transportation arrangements; 
‘‘(E) the total number of cattle covered by 
the contract solely committed to the packer 
each week within the 6-month and 12-month 
periods following the date of the contract, by 
reporting region; 
‘‘(F) in the case of a contract in which a 
specific number of cattle are not solely com-
mitted to the packer— 
‘‘(i) an indication that the contract is 
an open commitment; and 
‘‘(ii) any weekly, monthly, annual, or 
other limitations on the number of cattle 
that may be delivered to the packer under 
the contract; and 
‘‘(G) a description of the provisions in the 
contract that provide for expansion in the com-
mitted numbers of fed cattle to be delivered 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:53 Oct 20, 2021
Jkt 029200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5609.IH
H5609
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
under the contract for the 6-month and 12- 
month periods following the date of the con-
tract. 
‘‘(c) AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION.— 
‘‘(1) LIBRARY CONTENTS.—The Secretary shall 
make publicly available in a user-friendly format a 
summary of the information collected for each type 
of contract under subsection (b), including notice 
(on a real-time basis, if practicable) of the types of 
contracts that are being offered by packers to, and 
are open to acceptance by, producers for the pur-
chase of fed cattle. 
‘‘(2) REPORTS REQUIRED.—Beginning not later 
than 30 days after the date on which the library or 
catalog is established under subsection (a), the Sec-
retary shall make publicly available weekly or 
monthly reports for producers and other interested 
persons, which shall include— 
‘‘(A) based on the information collected 
under subsection (b)(2)(E), the total number of 
fed cattle committed under contracts for deliv-
ery to packers within the 6-month and 12- 
month periods following the date of the report, 
organized by reporting region and type of con-
tract; 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:53 Oct 20, 2021
Jkt 029200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5609.IH
H5609
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
‘‘(B) based on the information collected 
under subsection (b)(2)(F), the number of con-
tracts with an open commitment along with any 
weekly, monthly, annual or other limitations on 
the number of cattle that may be delivered 
under such contracts; and 
‘‘(C) based on the information collected 
under subsection (b)(2)(G), the total maximum 
number of fed cattle that may be delivered 
within the 6-month and 12-month periods fol-
lowing the date of the report, organized by re-
porting region and type of contract. 
‘‘(d) MAINTENANCE OF LIBRARY OR CATALOG.—In-
formation in the library or catalog established under sub-
section (a) about types of contracts that are no longer of-
fered or in use shall be labeled as inactive in the library 
or catalog. 
‘‘(e) CONFIDENTIALITY.—The publication of infor-
mation under this section shall be subject to the confiden-
tiality protections provided under section 251 of the Agri-
cultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1636). 
‘‘(f) VIOLATIONS.—It shall be unlawful and a viola-
tion of this Act for any packer to willfully fail or refuse— 
‘‘(1) to provide to the Secretary accurate infor-
mation required under this section; or 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:53 Oct 20, 2021
Jkt 029200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5609.IH
H5609
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
‘‘(2) to comply with any other requirement of 
this section. 
‘‘(g) PRODUCER EDUCATION GRANTS.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting 
through the Administrator of the Agricultural Mar-
keting Service and in coordination with the Director 
of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, 
shall make competitive grants to eligible entities for 
producer outreach and education efforts on best uses 
of cattle market information, including information 
made available through the livestock mandatory re-
porting program and the catalog or library estab-
lished under subsection (a). 
‘‘(2) SELECTION CRITERIA.—In selecting grant 
recipients under this section, the Secretary shall give 
priority to eligible entities that— 
‘‘(A) demonstrate an ability to work di-
rectly with cattle producers; 
‘‘(B) can quickly and accurately publish 
and disseminate information and analysis of rel-
evant Department of Agriculture data in a 
manner that benefits producer decision making; 
and 
‘‘(C) collaborate with trade associations or 
other organizations with a demonstrated ability 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:53 Oct 20, 2021
Jkt 029200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5609.IH
H5609
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
to provide educational programs on markets 
and risk management. 
‘‘(3) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en-
tity’ means an entity listed in subsection (b)(7) of 
the Competitive, Special, and Facilities Research 
Grant Act (7 U.S.C. 3157(b)(7)). 
‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary such 
sums as are necessary to carry out this section.’’. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
Section 221 of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 
1946 (7 U.S.C. 1635d) is amended— 
(1) by amending paragraph (3) to read as fol-
lows: 
‘‘(3) FORMULA MARKETING ARRANGEMENT.— 
The term ‘formula marketing arrangement’ means 
the advance commitment of cattle for slaughter— 
‘‘(A) by any means other than through a 
negotiated purchase, negotiated grid purchase, 
or a forward contract; and 
‘‘(B) using a method for calculating price 
under which the price is determined at a future 
date.’’; 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:53 Oct 20, 2021
Jkt 029200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5609.IH
H5609
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
(2) by redesignating paragraphs (5), (6), (7), 
and (8) as paragraphs (6), (7), (8), and (10), re-
spectively; 
(3) by inserting after paragraph (4) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(5) NEGOTIATED GRID PURCHASE.—The term 
‘negotiated grid purchase’ means a purchase of fed 
cattle by a packer from a producer under which— 
‘‘(A) the base price for the cattle is deter-
mined by seller-buyer interaction on a day; 
‘‘(B) the cattle are scheduled for delivery 
to the packer not more than 14 days after the 
date on which the agreement for purchase is 
made; and 
‘‘(C) the base price is subject to adjust-
ment by premiums and discounts after deliv-
ery.’’; and 
(4) by inserting after paragraph (8) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(9) TYPE OF CONTRACT.—The term ‘type of 
contract’ means the classification of contracts for 
the purchase of fed cattle based on the mechanism 
used to determine the base price for the fed cattle 
committed to a packer under the contract, including 
formula purchases, negotiated grid purchases, for-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:53 Oct 20, 2021
Jkt 029200
PO 00000
Frm 00008
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5609.IH
H5609
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
ward contracts, and other purchase agreements, as 
determined by the Secretary.’’. 
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:53 Oct 20, 2021
Jkt 029200
PO 00000
Frm 00009
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\H5609.IH
H5609
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS