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Provided, That any commission merchant, dealer,
broker, or producer who has violated—
‘‘(A) any provision of this paragraph may,
with the consent of the Secretary, admit the
violation or violations; or
‘‘(B) any provision of this paragraph relat-
ing to a misrepresentation by mark, stencil, or
label shall be permitted by the Secretary to
admit the violation or violations if such viola-
tion or violations are not repeated or flagrant;
and pay, in the case of a violation under either
clause (A) or (B) of this paragraph, a monetary pen-
alty not to exceed $2,000 in lieu of a formal pro-
ceeding for the suspension or revocation of license,
any payment so made to be deposited in the Treas-
ury of the United States as miscellaneous receipts:
Provided further, That a person other than the first
licensee handling misbranded perishable agricultural
commodities shall not be held liable for a violation
of this paragraph by reason of the conduct of an-
other if that person did not have knowledge of the
violation or lacked the ability to correct the viola-
tion;’’.
(d) Section 2(6) of the Perishable Agricultural Com-
modities Act, 1930 (7 U.S.C. 499b) is hereby amended
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to strike the words ‘‘any commission merchant, dealer, or
broker,’’ and in lieu thereof insert the words ‘‘any commis-
sion merchant, dealer, broker, or producer,’’.
(e) Section 2(7) of the Perishable Agricultural Com-
modities Act, 1930 (7 U.S.C. 499b) is hereby amended
to strike the words ‘‘any commission merchant, dealer, or
broker,’’ and in lieu thereof insert the words ‘‘any commis-
sion merchant, dealer, broker, or producer,’’.
SEC. 3. LICENSE FEES.
Section 3(b) of the Perishable Agricultural Commod-
ities Act, 1930 (7 U.S.C. 499c(b)) is amended to read as
follows:
‘‘Any person desiring any such license shall make ap-
plication to the Secretary. The Secretary may by regula-
tion prescribe the information to be contained in such ap-
plication and to be furnished thereafter. Upon filing the
application, and annually thereafter, the applicant shall
pay such fees, both individually and in the aggregate, as
the Secretary determines, upon rulemaking pursuant to 5
U.S.C. section 553, are necessary to meet the reasonably
anticipated expenses for administering this chapter and
section 491, 493 to 497 of this title. For fiscal year 1996,
such individual license fee shall not exceed $500, plus
$200 for each branch or additional business facility oper-
ated by the applicant in excess of nine such facilities, as
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determined by the Secretary. For fiscal year 1996, total
annual fees for any applicant shall not exceed $2,000 in
the aggregate. No retailer shall be required to pay a li-
cense fee until the invoice cost of its purchases of perish-
able agricultural commodities in any calendar year are in
excess of $400,000. The Secretary shall provide by regula-
tion that persons operating subsidiary organizations may
consolidate those organizations on the license of the parent
organization. Such fee, when collected, shall be deposited
in the Treasury of the United States as a special fund,
without fiscal year limitation, to be designated as the ‘Per-
ishable Agricultural Commodities Act Fund’ which shall
be available for all expenses necessary to the administra-
tion of this chapter, and sections 491, 493 to 497 of this
title, referred to above. License fees paid into such fund
by persons designated as ‘retailers’ by the Secretary shall
not exceed more than 25 percent of all fees collected in
any fiscal year. Any reserve funds in the Perishable Agri-
cultural Commodities Act Fund may be invested by the
Secretary in insured or fully-collateralized interest-bearing
accounts or, at the discretion of the Secretary, by the Sec-
retary of the Treasury in United States Government debt
instruments. Any interest earned on such reserve funds
shall be credited to the Perishable Agricultural Commod-
ities Act Fund and shall be available for the same pur-
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poses as the fees deposited in such fund. The amount of
money accumulated and on hand in the special fund at
the end of any fiscal year shall not exceed 33 percent of
the projected budget for the next following fiscal year. Fi-
nancial statements prescribed by the Director of the Office
of Management and Budget for the last completed fiscal
year, and as estimated for the current and ensuing fiscal
years, shall be included in the budget as submitted to the
Congress annually.’’.
SEC. 4. ISSUANCE OF LICENSE.
Section 4(a) of the Perishable Agricultural Commod-
ities Act, 1930 (7 U.S.C. 499d(a)) is amended to read
as follows:
‘‘(a) Whenever an applicant has made application and
paid any applicable fee, the Secretary, except as provided
elsewhere in this chapter, shall issue to such applicant a
license, which shall entitle the licensee to do business as
a commission merchant and/or dealer and/or broker unless
and until it is suspended or revoked by the Secretary in
accordance with the provisions of this chapter, or is auto-
matically suspended under section 499g(d) of this title,
but said license shall automatically terminate on any anni-
versary date thereof unless the application has been made
and any applicable fee has been paid: Provided, That no-
tice of the necessity of application and paying any applica-
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ble fee shall be mailed at least thirty days before the anni-
versary date: Provided further, That if the application is
not made and any applicable fee is not paid by the anni-
versary date the licensee may obtain a renewal of that li-
cense at any time within thirty days by making application
and paying any applicable fee provided in section 499c(b)
of this title, plus $5, which shall be deposited in the Per-
ishable Agricultural Commodities Act fund provided for by
section 499c(b) of this title: Provided further, That the
license of any licensee shall terminate upon said licensee,
or in case the licensee is a partnership, a partner being
discharged as a bankrupt, unless the Secretary finds upon
examination of the circumstances of such bankruptcy,
which he shall examine if requested to do so by said li-
censee, that such circumstances do not warrant such ter-
mination.’’.
SEC. 5. LIABILITY TO PERSON INJURED.
(a) Section 5 of the Perishable Agricultural Commod-
ities Act, 1930 (7 U.S.C. 499e(a)) is hereby amended to
strike the words ‘‘any commission merchant, dealer, or
broker,’’ and in lieu thereof insert the words ‘‘any commis-
sion merchant, dealer, broker, or producer,’’.
(b) Section 5 of the Perishable Agricultural Commod-
ities Act, 1930 (7 U.S.C. 499e(c)(3)) is hereby amended
to add at the end thereof the following: ‘‘The Secretary
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of Agriculture shall require persons who do not pay license
fees under section 499c of this title to pay a filing fee
for each notice of intent to preserve trust benefits filed
pursuant to section 499e of this title. For fiscal year 1996,
such filing fee shall be set at $20. Thereafter, such fee
shall be set by the Secretary upon rulemaking pursuant
to 5 U.S.C. section 553, in order to meet the reasonably
anticipated expenses for administering direct and indirect
costs for such persons’ participation in proceedings under
this chapter.’’.
SEC. 6. COMPLAINT AND INVESTIGATION.
(a) Section 6(a) of the Perishable Agricultural Com-
modities Act, 1930 (7 U.S.C. 499f(a)) is hereby amended
to designate existing section (a) as section (a)(1), and to
strike the words ‘‘any commission merchant, dealer, or
broker,’’ and in lieu thereof insert the words ‘‘any commis-
sion, merchant, dealer, broker, or producer,’’ in the two
instances in which it appears in that subsection.
(b) Section 6(a) of the Perishable Agricultural Com-
modities Act, 1930 (7 U.S.C. 499f(a)) is hereby amended
to add at the end thereof a new subsection (a)(2), a new
subsection (a)(3), and a new subsection (a)(4), to read as
follows:
‘‘(2) The Secretary shall require all persons,
other than Federal employees acting within the
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prevailing party shall have any filing fees paid by
it refunded as part of any formal reparation
award.’’.
(c) Section 6(b) of the Perishable Agricultural Com-
modities Act, 1930 (7 U.S.C. 499f(b)) is hereby amended
to strike the words ‘‘any commission merchant, dealer, or
broker,’’ and in lieu thereof insert the words ‘‘any commis-
sion merchant, dealer, broker, or producer,’’ in two in-
stances in which it appears in that subsection.
(d) Section 6(d) of the Perishable Agricultural Com-
modities Act, 1930 (7 U.S.C. 499f(d)) is hereby amended
to strike the words ‘‘any commission merchant, dealer, or
broker,’’ and in lieu thereof insert the words ‘‘any commis-
sion merchant, dealer, broker, or producer’’.
SEC. 7. GROUNDS FOR SUSPENSION OR REVOCATION OF LI-
CENSE; CIVIL PENALTIES.
(a) Section 8(a) of the Perishable Agricultural Com-
modities Act, 1930 (7 U.S.C. 499h(a)) is hereby amended
to strike the words ‘‘any commission merchant, dealer, or
broker,’’ and in lieu thereof insert the words ‘‘any commis-
sion merchant, dealer, broker, or producer’’.
(b) Section 8 of the Perishable Agricultural Commod-
ities Act, 1930 (7 U.S.C. 499h) is hereby amended to add
a new subsection (b) to read as follows:
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‘‘(b) Whenever the Secretary determines, as provided
by section 499f of this title, that any commission mer-
chant, dealer, broker, or producer has violated section
499b, 499h(c), or 499h(d) of this title, the Secretary may
assess a monetary penalty not to exceed $2,000 for each
violative transaction or each day the violation continues,
to be deposited in the Treasury of the United States as
miscellaneous receipts.’’.
(c) Section 8 of the Perishable Agricultural Commod-
ities Act, 1930 (7 U.S.C. 499h) is hereby amended by re-
designating existing subsection (b) as subsection (c), exist-
ing subsection (c) as subsection (d), and existing sub-
section (d) as subsection (e).
(d) Redesignated section 8(e) of the Perishable Agri-
cultural Commodities Act, 1930 (7 U.S.C. 499h(e)) is
hereby amended to strike the words ‘‘any commission mer-
chant, dealer, or broker,’’ and in lieu thereof insert the
words ‘‘any commission merchant, dealer, broker, or pro-
ducer’’.
SEC. 8. PRESERVATION OF BUSINESS REPUTATION.
Section 13 of the Act (7 U.S.C. 499m) is hereby
amended to add a new subsection (g), to read as follows:
‘‘(g) The Secretary is directed, during the course of
any investigation or inquiry under this title, to take due
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account of preservation of the business reputation of any
person under investigation.’’.
SEC. 9.
Section 15 of the Perishable Agricultural Commod-
ities Act, 1930 (7 U.S.C. 499o) is hereby amended to re-
designate the existing provisions as subsection (a), and to
add a new subsection (b) and a new subsection (c), to read
as follows:
‘‘(b) REPORT AND INVESTIGATION.—The Secretary
shall investigate and issue a report on industry practices
requiring or soliciting collateral fees and expenses by or
to any commission merchant, dealer, broker, or producer
in connection with any transaction in perishable agricul-
tural commodities. Such report shall be made to the House
Committee on Agriculture and the Senate Committee on
Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, within one hundred
and eighty days of enactment of this legislation.
‘‘(c) DISCLOSURE OF COLLATERAL FEES AND EX-
PENSES; RULEMAKING.—If the investigation and report
required by this section conclude that such practices con-
form to the laws of the United States, the Secretary shall
promulgate regulations regarding the sufficiency of disclo-
sure by or to any commission merchant, dealer, broker,
or producer, of the grant or receipt of any collateral fee
or expense in connection with any cost-plus transaction
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in perishable agricultural commodities: Provided, That dis-
closure shall be considered sufficient if it is conspicuously
made on the face of the invoice or in any underlying con-
tract covering the transaction: Provided further, That no
commission merchant, dealer, broker, or producer, nor any
individual responsibly connected with any such commis-
sion merchant, dealer, broker, or producer shall be the
subject to any licensure, reparation, or trust enforcement
proceeding under this chapter for any act or omission con-
cerning the disclosure of any collateral fee or expense,
taken or required to be taken prior to the effective date
of regulations required under this subsection.’’.
SEC. 10. LIABILITY OF LICENSEES FOR ACTS AND OMIS-
SIONS OF AGENTS.
Section 16 of the Perishable Agricultural Commod-
ities Act, 1930 (7 U.S.C. 499p) is hereby amended to
strike the words ‘‘any commission merchant, dealer, or
broker,’’ and in lieu thereof insert the words ‘‘any commis-
sion merchant, dealer, broker, or producer,’’ in the two
instances in which it appears in that section.
SEC. 11. REVIEW OF PROCEDURES AND POLICIES.
The Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act, 1930
is hereby amended by adding at the end thereof the follow-
ing new section (7 U.S.C. 499t):
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‘‘REVIEW OF POLICIES AND PROCEDURES.
‘‘(a) The Secretary is directed to conduct an annual
review of enforcement procedures, policies, and priorities
regarding reparation proceedings, disciplinary complaints,
and the operation of the trust, as well as proceedings
under section 499h(c), to identify opportunities for effi-
ciency and cost reduction in such proceedings. The Sec-
retary shall invite public participation and input into such
review.
‘‘(b) The Secretary is directed to submit, to the
House Committee on Agriculture and the Senate Commit-
tee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, no later than
September 30 of each year, a projection of enforcement
priorities for the next twelve months. The Secretary is fur-
ther directed to submit, to the House Committee on Agri-
culture and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutri-
tion, and Forestry, no later than September 30 of each
year in which a biennial review is conducted, a report con-
taining the results of its review and recommendations
based on such results. Such biennial report shall describe
reparation proceedings, disciplinary complaints, and the
operation of the trust during the previous twenty-four
months.’’.