Farm Subsidy Transparency Act
Bill: H.R.3794 | Sponsor: Rep. Rush, Bobby L. (D-IL)
Policy area: Agriculture and Food

Summary:
Farm Subsidy Transparency Act
This bill requires the collection and disclosure of demographic and other information about recipients of agricultural benefits.
Specifically, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) must collect and make publicly available (1) the race and gender of individuals who directly or indirectly received or applied for certain benefits, such as grants or other funding under USDA's commodity, conservation, research, extension, and education programs; and (2) the farm or ranch acreage of the recipients of such benefits.
USDA must also collect and track the race and gender of individuals who register for the USDA service center information management system (a repository of participants in programs offered by USDA's Farm Service Agency, Natural Resource and Conservation Service, and rural development agencies).
Additionally, the Commodity Credit Corporation must collect and disclose (1) the race and gender of individuals who receive or apply for benefits from the corporation, and (2) the farm or ranch acreage of the recipients of such benefits.
The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation must collect and disclose (1) the name, race, gender, and farm or ranch acreage of individuals who receive federally subsidized insurance for crops, livestock, or forage; and (2) the premium subsidy amount for each recipient.
The bill also requires financial institutions to gather demographic information in response to loan applications for farms and ranches that are minority-owned or women-owned. (Currently, institutions must gather that information in response to loan applications from women-owned and minority-owned small businesses.)

To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to track the distribution of all 
 farm subsidies by race, gender, and size of the farm operation and to 
  make such information about farm subsidies available to the public.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Farm Subsidy Transparency Act''.

SEC. 2. DATA ON RECEIPT OF BENEFITS UNDER AGRICULTURE IMPROVEMENT ACT 
              OF 2018.

    Subtitle G of title I of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 
(Public Law 115-334) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 1708. DATA ON THOSE RECEIVING BENEFITS.

    ``As soon as practicable after the date of enactment of this 
section and notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary 
shall--
            ``(1) track--
                    ``(A) the benefits provided, directly or 
                indirectly, to individuals and entities under this 
                title, title II, and title VII and the amendments made 
                by those titles, including--
                            ``(i) the race and gender of the 
                        individuals directly or indirectly receiving 
                        the benefits;
                            ``(ii) the race and gender of individual 
                        receiving the benefits through an entity and 
                        the race and gender of all individuals who 
                        comprise such entity; and
                            ``(iii) the rented, owned, or controlled 
                        acreage of the farm or ranch of the recipient; 
                        and
                    ``(B) the race and gender of individuals who 
                applied for the benefits described in subparagraph (A) 
                and did not receive such benefits;
            ``(2) annually make the information tracked pursuant to 
        paragraph (1) publicly available on the website of the 
        Department of Agriculture; and
            ``(3) annually submit to the Committee on Agriculture of 
        the House of Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture, 
        Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate, a report that includes 
        the information tracked pursuant to paragraph (1).''.

SEC. 3. DISCLOSURE OF CERTAIN INFORMATION RELATING TO INDIVIDUALS AND 
              ENTITIES THAT OBTAINED FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE.

    (a) In General.--Section 506(m) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act 
(7 U.S.C. 1506(m)) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraph (4) as paragraph (5); and
            (2) by inserting after paragraph (3), the following:
            ``(4) Collection and release of information in the public 
        interest.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Notwithstanding any other 
                provision of law, except as provided in subparagraph 
                (C), the Corporation shall on an annual basis shall 
                require the collection of--
                            ``(i) the name, race, and gender of each 
                        individual or each individual that comprises an 
                        entity that directly or indirectly obtained a 
                        federally subsidized crop insurance, livestock, 
                        or forage policy or plan of insurance during 
                        the previous reinsurance year or had a 
                        substantial beneficial interest in such entity;
                            ``(ii) the rented, owned, or controlled 
                        acreage of the farm or ranch attributable to 
                        individuals disclosed under clause (i); and
                            ``(iii) the amount of premium subsidy 
                        received, directly or indirectly, by an 
                        individual or entity from the Corporation, 
                        including individuals receiving benefits 
                        through an entity, and the race and gender of 
                        each such individual or each individual that 
                        comprises such an entity.
                    ``(B) Release of information.--Notwithstanding any 
                other provision of law, the Corporation shall annually 
                release to the public the information described in 
                subparagraph (A) by individual, entity, and 
                agricultural operation.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 502(c)(2) of the Federal Crop 
Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1502(c)(2)) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:
                    ``(C) Mandatory disclosure.--The Corporation shall 
                disclose information to the public described in section 
                506(m)(4).''.

SEC. 4. BENEFITS UNDER THE COMMODITY CREDIT CORPORATION CHARTER ACT.

    Section 5 (15 U.S.C. 714c) of the Commodity Credit Corporation 
Charter Act is amended by adding at the end the following: ``The 
Secretary shall track the benefits provided, directly or indirectly, to 
individuals and entities under this section, including the race and 
gender of the individuals directly receiving the benefits or receiving 
the benefits through an entity, and the rented, owned, or controlled 
acreage of the farm or ranch of the recipient. The Secretary shall also 
track the race and gender of the individuals who applied for the 
benefits described in the preceding sentence and did not receive such 
benefits. The Secretary shall annually make the information tracked 
pursuant to the preceding two sentences publicly available on the 
website of the Department of Agriculture and annually submit to the 
Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives and the 
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate, a 
report that includes such information.''.

SEC. 5. FARM CREDIT TRANSPARENCY.

    Section 704B(b) of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (15 U.S.C. 
1691c-2(b)) is amended by inserting ``farm or ranch,'' after 
``minority-owned,'' both places it appears.

SEC. 6. SERVICE CENTER INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM.

    The Secretary of Agriculture shall collect and track the race and 
gender of any individual, or in the case of an entity, the individuals 
comprising such entity, that registers on the service center 
information management system of the Department of Agriculture.
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