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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(B) the purpose of the disbursement, in-
cluding the activities to be funded by the dis-
bursement; 
(C) the identity of the recipient of the dis-
bursement; and 
(D) the identity of any other parties that 
may receive the disbursed funds, including any 
contracts or subcontractors of the recipient of 
the disbursement. 
(e) AUDITS.— 
(1) PERIODIC AUDITS BY INSPECTOR GENERAL 
OF USDA.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years 
after the date of enactment of this Act, and not 
less frequently than every 5 years thereafter, 
the Inspector General of the Department of Ag-
riculture shall conduct an audit to determine 
the compliance of each checkoff program with 
this section during the period of time covered 
by the audit. 
(B) REVIEW OF RECORDS.—An audit con-
ducted under subparagraph (A) shall include a 
review of any records produced to the Board 
under subsection (c)(1). 
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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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