I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1850
To amend the Agricultural Market Transition Act to convert the price support
program for sugarcane and sugar beets into a system of solely recourse
loans and to provide for the gradual elimination of the program.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 18, 1999
Mr. MILLER of Florida (for himself, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr.
GOSS, Mr. KOLBE, Mr. FORBES, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. ROYCE, Mr. SHAYS,
Mr. WOLF, Mrs. NORTHUP, Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN, Mr. BLAGOJEVICH,
Mr. SUNUNU, Mr. STARK, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. SANFORD, Mr. BASS, Mr.
CAMPBELL, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. PORTMAN, Mr. BERMAN,
Mr. VISCLOSKY, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. HUTCHINSON, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. CAS-
TLE, Mr. HANSEN, Mr. COOK, Mr. COYNE, Mr. ENGLISH, Mr. ROHR-
ABACHER, Mr. SOUDER, Mr. WEINER, Mr. SHAW, Mr. SCARBOROUGH,
Mr. PORTER, Mr. COBURN, Mr. HORN, Mr. RAMSTAD, Mr. WAMP, Mr.
SENSENBRENNER, Mrs. ROUKEMA, Mr. KINGSTON, and Mr. SALMON) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agri-
culture
A BILL
To amend the Agricultural Market Transition Act to convert
the price support program for sugarcane and sugar beets
into a system of solely recourse loans and to provide
for the gradual elimination of the program.
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 ‘‘Sugar Program Re-
form Act’’.
SEC. 2. RECOURSE LOANS FOR PROCESSORS OF SUGAR-
CANE AND SUGAR BEETS AND REDUCTION IN
LOAN RATES.
(a) GRADUAL REDUCTION IN LOAN RATES.—
(1) 
SUGARCANE
PROCESSOR
LOANS.—Sub-
section (a) of section 156 of the Agricultural Market
Transition Act (7 U.S.C. 7272) is amended by strik-
ing ‘‘equal to 18 cents per pound for raw cane
sugar.’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘, per pound for
raw cane sugar, equal to the following:
‘‘(1) In the case of raw cane sugar processed
from the 1996 through 1998 crops, $0.18.
‘‘(2) In the case of raw cane sugar processed
from the 1999 crop, $0.17.
‘‘(3) In the case of raw cane sugar processed
from the 2000 crop, $0.16.
‘‘(4) In the case of raw cane sugar processed
from the 2001 crop, $0.15.
‘‘(5) In the case of raw cane sugar processed
from the 2002 crop, $0.14.’’.
(2) SUGAR
BEET
PROCESSOR
LOANS.—Sub-
section (b) of such section is amended by striking
‘‘equal to 22.9 cents per pound for refined beet
sugar.’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘, per pound of
refined beet sugar, that reflects—
‘‘(1) an amount that bears the same relation to
the loan rate in effect under subsection (a) for a
crop as the weighted average of producer returns for
sugar beets bears to the weighted average of pro-
ducer returns for sugarcane, expressed on a cents
per pound basis for refined beet sugar and raw cane
sugar, for the most recent five-year period for which
data are available; plus
‘‘(2) an amount that covers sugar beet proc-
essor fixed marketing expenses.’’.
(b) CONVERSION TO RECOURSE LOANS.—Subsection
(e) of such section is amended—
(1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘only’’ after
‘‘this section’’; and
(2) by striking paragraphs (2) and (3) and in-
serting the following new paragraph:
‘‘(2) NATIONAL LOAN RATES.—Recourse loans
under this section shall be made available at all loca-
tions nationally at the rates specified in this section,
without adjustment to provide regional differen-
tials.’’.
(c) CONVERSION TO PRIVATE SECTOR FINANCING.—
Such section is further amended—
(1) by redesignating subsection (i) as subsection
(j);
(2) by inserting after subsection (h) the fol-
lowing new subsection:
‘‘(i) CONVERSION
TO PRIVATE SECTOR FINANC-
ING.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no
processor of the 2003 or subsequent crops of sugarcane
or sugar beets shall be eligible for loans under this section
with respect to such crops, and the Secretary of Agri-
culture may not make price support available, whether in
the form of loans, payments, purchases, or other oper-
ations, for the 2003 and subsequent crops of sugar beets
and sugarcane by using the funds of the Commodity Cred-
it Corporation or other funds available to the Secretary.’’;
and
(3) in subsection (j), as redesignated by para-
graph (1), by striking ‘‘subsection (f)’’ and inserting
‘‘subsections (f) and (i)’’.
(d) TERMINATION OF MARKETING QUOTAS AND AL-
LOTMENTS.—
(1) TERMINATION.—Part VII of subtitle B of
title III of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938
(7 U.S.C. 1359aa–1359jj) is repealed.
(2) 
CONFORMING
AMENDMENT.—Section
344(f)(2) of such Act (7 U.S.C. 1344(f)(2)) is
amended by striking ‘‘sugar cane for sugar, sugar
beets for sugar,’’.
(e) OTHER CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—
(1) PRICE SUPPORT FOR NONBASIC AGRICUL-
TURAL
COMMODITIES.—The Agricultural Act of
1949 is amended—
(A) in section 201(a) (7 U.S.C. 1446(a)),
by striking ‘‘milk, sugar beets, and sugarcane’’
and inserting ‘‘, and milk’’; and
(B) in section 301 (7 U.S.C. 1447), by in-
serting ‘‘(other than sugarcane and sugar
beets)’’ after ‘‘title II’’.
(2) POWERS OF COMMODITY CREDIT CORPORA-
TION.—Section 5(a) of the Commodity Credit Cor-
poration Charter Act (15 U.S.C. 714c(a)) is amend-
ed by inserting ‘‘(except for sugarcane and sugar
beets of the 2003 and subsequent crops)’’ after ‘‘ag-
ricultural commodities’’.
(3) SECTION 32 ACTIVITIES.—The second sen-
tence of the first paragraph of section 32 of the Act
of August 24, 1935 (7 U.S.C. 612c), is amended by
inserting ‘‘(other than sugarcane and sugar beets)’’
after ‘‘commodity’’ the last place it appears.
(f) ASSURANCE
OF
ADEQUATE
SUPPLIES
OF
SUGAR.—Subsection (a) of section 902 of the Food Secu-