I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5563 
To prohibit certain practices relating to certain commodity promotion pro-
grams, to require greater transparency by those programs, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 9, 2020 
Ms. TITUS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Agriculture 
A BILL 
To prohibit certain practices relating to certain commodity 
promotion programs, to require greater transparency by 
those programs, 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 ‘‘Opportunities for Fair-
ness in Farming Act of 2020’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds that— 
(1) the generic programs to promote and pro-
vide research and information for an agricultural 
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commodity (commonly known as ‘‘checkoff pro-
grams’’) are intended to increase demand for all of 
that agricultural commodity and benefit all assessed 
producers of that agricultural commodity; 
(2) although the laws establishing checkoff pro-
grams broadly prohibit the use of funds in any man-
ner for the purpose of influencing legislation or gov-
ernment action, checkoff programs have repeatedly 
been shown to use funds to influence policy directly 
or by partnering with organizations that lobby; 
(3) the unlawful use of checkoff programs funds 
benefits some agricultural producers while harming 
many others; 
(4) to more effectively prevent Boards from 
using funds for unlawful purposes, strict separation 
of engagement between the Boards and policy enti-
ties is necessary; 
(5) conflicts of interest in the checkoff pro-
grams allow special interests to use checkoff pro-
gram funds for the benefit of some assessed agricul-
tural producers at the expense of many others; 
(6) prohibiting conflicts of interest in checkoff 
programs is necessary to ensure the proper and law-
ful operation of the checkoff programs; 
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(7) checkoff programs are designed to promote 
agricultural commodities, not to damage other types 
of agricultural commodities through anticompetitive 
conduct or otherwise; 
(8) prohibiting anticompetitive and similar con-
duct is necessary to ensure proper and lawful oper-
ation of checkoff programs; 
(9) lack of transparency in checkoff programs 
enables abuses to occur and conceals abuses from 
being discovered; and 
(10) requiring transparency in the expenditure 
of checkoff program funds is necessary to prevent 
and uncover abuses in checkoff programs. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) BOARD.—The term ‘‘Board’’ means a 
board, committee, or similar entity established to 
carry out a checkoff program or an order issued by 
the Secretary under a checkoff program. 
(2) CHECKOFF PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘checkoff 
program’’ means a program to promote and provide 
research and information for a particular agricul-
tural commodity without reference to specific pro-
ducers or brands, including a program carried out 
under any of the following: 
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(A) The Cotton Research and Promotion 
Act (7 U.S.C. 2101 et seq.). 
(B) The Potato Research and Promotion 
Act (7 U.S.C. 2611 et seq.). 
(C) The Egg Research and Consumer In-
formation Act (7 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.). 
(D) The Beef Research and Information 
Act (7 U.S.C. 2901 et seq.). 
(E) The Wheat and Wheat Foods Re-
search and Nutrition Education Act (7 U.S.C. 
3401 et seq.). 
(F) The Floral Research and Consumer 
Information Act (7 U.S.C. 4301 et seq.). 
(G) Subtitle B of the Dairy Production 
Stabilization Act of 1983 (7 U.S.C. 4501 et 
seq.). 
(H) The Honey Research, Promotion, and 
Consumer Information Act (7 U.S.C. 4601 et 
seq.). 
(I) The Pork Promotion, Research, and 
Consumer Information Act of 1985 (7 U.S.C. 
4801 et seq.). 
(J) The Watermelon Research and Pro-
motion Act (7 U.S.C. 4901 et seq.). 
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(K) The Pecan Promotion and Research 
Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 6001 et seq.). 
(L) The Mushroom Promotion, Research, 
and Consumer Information Act of 1990 (7 
U.S.C. 6101 et seq.). 
(M) The Lime Research, Promotion, and 
Consumer Information Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 
6201 et seq.). 
(N) The Soybean Promotion, Research, 
and Consumer Information Act (7 U.S.C. 6301 
et seq.). 
(O) The Fluid Milk Promotion Act of 1990 
(7 U.S.C. 6401 et seq.). 
(P) The Fresh Cut Flowers and Fresh Cut 
Greens Promotion and Information Act of 1993 
(7 U.S.C. 6801 et seq.). 
(Q) The Sheep Promotion, Research, and 
Information Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 7101 et 
seq.). 
(R) Section 501 of the Federal Agriculture 
Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (7 
U.S.C. 7401 et seq.). 
(S) The Commodity Promotion, Research, 
and Information Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 7411 et 
seq.). 
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(T) The Canola and Rapeseed Research, 
Promotion, and Consumer Information Act (7 
U.S.C. 7441 et seq.). 
(U) The National Kiwifruit Research, Pro-
motion, and Consumer Information Act (7 
U.S.C. 7461 et seq.). 
(V) The Popcorn Promotion, Research, 
and Consumer Information Act (7 U.S.C. 7481 
et seq.). 
(W) The Hass Avocado Promotion, Re-
search, and Information Act of 2000 (7 U.S.C. 
7801 et seq.). 
(3) CONFLICT OF INTEREST.—The term ‘‘con-
flict of interest’’ means a direct or indirect financial 
interest in a person or entity that performs a service 
for, or enters into a contract or agreement with, a 
Board for anything of economic value. 
(4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of Agriculture. 
SEC. 4. REQUIREMENTS OF CHECKOFF PROGRAMS. 
(a) PROHIBITIONS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-
graph (4), a Board shall not enter into any contract 
or agreement to carry out checkoff program activi-
ties with a party that engages in activities for the 
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purpose of influencing any government policy or ac-
tion that relates to agriculture. 
(2) CONFLICT OF INTEREST.—A Board shall 
not engage in, and shall prohibit the employees and 
agents of the Board, acting in their official capacity, 
from engaging in, any act that may involve a conflict 
of interest. 
(3) OTHER PROHIBITIONS.—A Board shall not 
engage in, and shall prohibit the employees and 
agents of the Board, acting in their official capacity, 
from engaging in— 
(A) any anticompetitive activity; 
(B) any unfair or deceptive act or practice; 
or 
(C) any act that may be disparaging to, or 
in any way negatively portray, another agricul-
tural commodity or product. 
(4) EXCEPTION FOR CERTAIN CONTRACTS WITH 
INSITUTIONS
OF
HIGHER
EDUCATION.—Paragraph 
(1) shall not apply to a contract or agreement en-
tered into between a Board and an institution of 
higher education for the purpose of research. 
(b) AUTHORITY TO ENTER INTO CONTRACTS.—Not-
withstanding any other provision of law, on approval of 
the Secretary, a Board may enter directly into contracts 
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and agreements to carry out generic promotion, research, 
or other activities authorized by law. 
(c) PRODUCTION OF RECORDS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Each contract or agreement 
of a checkoff program shall provide that the entity 
that enters into the contract or agreement shall 
produce to the Board accurate records that account 
for all funds received under the contract or agree-
ment, including any goods or services provided or 
costs incurred in connection with the contract or 
agreement. 
(2) MAINTENANCE
OF
RECORDS.—A Board 
shall maintain any records received under paragraph 
(1). 
(d) PUBLICATION
OF BUDGETS
AND DISBURSE-
MENTS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Board shall publish and 
make available for public inspection all budgets and 
disbursements of funds entrusted to the Board that 
are approved by the Secretary, immediately on ap-
proval by the Secretary. 
(2) REQUIRED DISCLOSURES.—In carrying out 
paragraph (1), the Board shall disclose— 
(A) the amount of the disbursement; 
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(C) SUBMISSION OF REPORTS.—On com-
pletion of each audit under subparagraph (A), 
the Inspector General of the Department of Ag-
riculture shall— 
(i) prepare a report describing the 
audit; and 
(ii) submit the report described in 
clause (i) to— 
(I) the appropriate committees of 
Congress, including the Subcommittee 
on Antitrust, Competition Policy and 
Consumer Rights of the Committee on 
the Judiciary of the Senate; and 
(II) the Comptroller General of 
the United States. 
(2) AUDIT BY COMPTROLLER GENERAL.— 
(A) IN
GENERAL.—Not earlier than 3 
years, and not later than 5 years, after the date 
of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller Gen-
eral of the United States shall— 
(i) conduct an audit to assess— 
(I) the status of actions taken for 
each checkoff program to ensure com-
pliance with this section; and 
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(II) the extent to which actions 
described in subclause (I) have im-
proved the integrity of a checkoff pro-
gram; and 
(ii) prepare a report describing the 
audit conducted under clause (i), including 
any recommendations for— 
(I) strengthening the effect of ac-
tions described in clause (i)(I); and 
(II) improving Federal legislation 
relating to checkoff programs. 
(B) CONSIDERATION OF INSPECTOR GEN-
ERAL REPORTS.—The Comptroller General of 
the United States shall consider reports de-
scribed in paragraph (1)(C) in preparing any 
recommendations in the report under subpara-
graph (A)(ii). 
SEC. 5. SEVERABILITY. 
If any provision of this Act or the application of such 
provision to any person or circumstance is held to be un-
constitutional, the remainder of this Act, and the applica-
tion of the provision to any other person or circumstance, 
shall not be affected. 
Æ 
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