I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 5495
To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to enhance dairy markets
through dairy product mandatory reporting, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER 18, 2000
Mr. SIMPSON (for himself, Mr. KIND, Mr. SHERWOOD, and Mr. PETERSON
of Minnesota) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to en-
hance dairy markets through dairy product mandatory
reporting, 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 ‘‘Dairy Market En-
hancement Act of 2000’’.
SEC. 2. DAIRY PRODUCT MANDATORY REPORTING.
The Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C.
1621 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing:
‘‘Subtitle C—Dairy Product
Mandatory Reporting
‘‘SEC. 271. PURPOSE.
‘‘The purpose of this subtitle is to establish a pro-
gram of information regarding the marketing of dairy
products that—
‘‘(1) provides information that can be readily
understood by producers and other market partici-
pants, including information with respect to prices,
quantities sold, and inventories of dairy products;
‘‘(2) improves the price and supply reporting
services of the Department of Agriculture; and
‘‘(3) encourages competition in the marketplace
for dairy products.
‘‘SEC. 272. DEFINITIONS.
‘‘In this subtitle:
‘‘(1) DAIRY PRODUCTS.—The term ‘dairy prod-
ucts’ means manufactured dairy products that are
used by the Secretary to establish minimum prices
for Class III and Class IV milk under a Federal
milk marketing order issued under section 8c of the
Agricultural Adjustment Act (7 U.S.C. 608c), reen-
acted with amendments by the Agricultural Mar-
keting Agreement Act of 1937.
‘‘(2) MANUFACTURER.—The term ‘manufac-
turer’ means any person engaged in the business of
buying milk in commerce for the purpose of manu-
facturing dairy products.
‘‘(3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means
the Secretary of Agriculture.
‘‘SEC. 273. MANDATORY REPORTING FOR DAIRY PRODUCTS.
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall estab-
lish a program of mandatory dairy product information
reporting that will—
‘‘(1) provide timely, accurate, and reliable mar-
ket information;
‘‘(2) facilitate more informed marketing deci-
sions; and
‘‘(3) promote competition in the dairy product
manufacturing industry.
‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.—
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—In establishing the pro-
gram, the Secretary shall only—
‘‘(A)(i) subject to the conditions described
in paragraph (2), require each manufacturer to
report to the Secretary information concerning
the price, quantity, and moisture content of
dairy products sold by the manufacturer; and
‘‘(ii) modify the format used to provide the
information on the day before the date of enact-
ment of this subtitle to ensure that the infor-
mation can be readily understood by market
participants; and
‘‘(B) require each manufacturer and other
person storing dairy products to report to the
Secretary, at a periodic interval determined by
the Secretary, information on the quantity of
dairy products stored.
‘‘(2) CONDITIONS.—The conditions referred to
in paragraph (1)(A)(i) are that—
‘‘(A) the information referred to in para-
graph (1)(A)(i) is required only with respect to
those package sizes actually used to establish
minimum prices for Class III or Class IV milk
under a Federal milk marketing order;
‘‘(B) the information referred to in para-
graph (1)(A)(i) is required only to the extent
that the information is actually used to estab-
lish minimum prices for Class III or Class IV
milk under a Federal milk marketing order;
‘‘(C) the frequency of the required report-
ing under paragraph (1)(A)(i) does not exceed
the frequency used to establish minimum prices
for Class III or Class IV milk under a Federal
milk marketing order; and
‘‘(D) the Secretary may exempt from all
reporting requirements any manufacturer that
processes and markets less than 1,000,000
pounds of dairy products per year.
‘‘(c) ADMINISTRATION.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall pro-
mulgate such regulations as are necessary to ensure
compliance with, and otherwise carry out, this sub-
title.
‘‘(2) CONFIDENTIALITY.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise
directed by the Secretary or the Attorney Gen-
eral for enforcement purposes, no officer, em-
ployee, or agent of the United States shall
make available to the public information, statis-
tics, or documents obtained from or submitted
by any person under this subtitle other than in
a manner that ensures that confidentiality is
preserved regarding the identity of persons, in-
cluding parties to a contract, and proprietary
business information.
‘‘(B) RELATION
TO
OTHER
REQUIRE-
MENTS.—Notwithstanding any other provision
of law, no facts or information obtained under
this subtitle shall be disclosed in accordance
with section 552 of title 5, United States Code.
‘‘(3) VERIFICATION.—The Secretary shall take
such actions as the Secretary considers necessary to
verify the accuracy of the information submitted or
reported under this subtitle.
‘‘(4) ENFORCEMENT.—
‘‘(A) UNLAWFUL ACT.—It shall be unlaw-
ful and a violation of this subtitle for any per-
son subject to this subtitle to willfully fail or
refuse to provide, or delay the timely reporting
of, accurate information to the Secretary in ac-
cordance with this subtitle.
‘‘(B) ORDER.—After providing notice and
an opportunity for a hearing to affected per-
sons, the Secretary may issue an order against
any person to cease and desist from continuing
any violation of this subtitle.
‘‘(C) APPEAL.—
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The order of the
Secretary under subparagraph (B) shall be
final and conclusive unless an affected per-
son files an appeal of the order of the Sec-
retary in United States district court not