Insuring Fairness for Family Farmers Act of 2023

Bill: 118-s-2421
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Booker, Cory A. [D-NJ]
Introduced: 2023-07-20
Policy area: Agriculture and Food
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures

Agricultural insurance

Department of Agriculture

Federal Crop Insurance Corporation

Government information and archives

Government studies and investigations

Livestock
Latest action: action_date: 2023-07-20
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.

Summaries:

tv_txt: II 118th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 2421 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES July 20, 2023 Mr. Booker (for himself, Mr. Blumenthal , and Mr. Welch ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry A BILL To require the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation to revise the terms of the Standard Reinsurance Agreement and the Livestock Price Reinsurance Agreement, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Insuring Fairness for Family Farmers Act of 2023 . 2. Terms for Standard Reinsurance Agreement and Livestock Price Reinsurance Agreement (a) Definitions In this section: (1) A&O subsidy The term A&O subsidy means the subsidy for administrative and operating expenses paid by the Corporation on behalf of the policyholder to the applicable approved insurance provider for eligible crop insurance contracts for additional coverage levels, in accordance with section 508(k)(4) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act ( 7 U.S.C. 1508(k)(4) ). (2) Corporation The term Corporation has the meaning given the term in section 502(b) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act ( 7 U.S.C. 1502(b) ). (3) Secretary The term Secretary means the Secretary of Agriculture. (b) Renegotiation of standard reinsurance agreement and the Livestock Price Reinsurance Agreement (1) In general The Corporation shall revise the financial terms and conditions of the Standard Reinsurance Agreement and the Livestock Price Reinsurance Agreement to modify the calculation of A&O subsidies— (A) to improve the equity of the distribution of payments to crop insurance agents across farm sizes; and (B) to improve the equity of policies sold across farm sizes. (2) Terms The terms that shall be included in the revised Standard Reinsurance Agreement and Livestock Price Reinsurance Agreement under paragraph (1) are the following: (A) Subject to paragraph (3), there shall be a fixed minimum amount and maximum amount for the amount of A&O subsidy that may be paid per insurance policyholder, and the maximum amount shall not be more than 400 percent greater than the minimum amount. (B) The amount of an A&O subsidy, within the minimum and maximum amounts established under subparagraph (A), shall correspond to the complexity, for a crop insurance agent, of issuing 1 or more insurance plans for a specific policyholder— (i) taking into account factors including the number of crops being insured by the policyholder, the type of insurance policies being issued, the number of insurance policies or endorsements being issued, and whether the policyholder has had crop insurance previously; but (ii) not taking into account the insurance policy premium. (C) (i) A bonus of 10 percent of the applicable A&O subsidy amount shall be added to the total amount of the applicable A&O subsidy, for each condition described in clause (ii) that is satisfied. (ii) The conditions referred to in clause (i) are the following: (I) The applicable farm operates less than 180 acres. (II) The insurance policy insures at least 1 specialty crop that is not eligible for a crop-specific insurance policy in the county in which the specialty crop is grown. (III) The applicable farm is owned by a farmer who has never purchased crop insurance before. (3) Exceptions to minimum and maximum amounts (A) Minimum for Standard Reinsurance agreement In the case of the Standard Reinsurance Agreement, the Corporation may reduce the minimum amount of an A&O subsidy established under paragraph (2)(A) as needed to comply with section III(a)(2)(G) of the 2024 Standard Reinsurance Agreement. (B) Maximum An A&O subsidy amount may exceed the maximum amount established under paragraph (2)(A) if a bonus or multiple bonuses under paragraph (2)(C) are applied to the A&O subsidy amount. (4) Budget The Corporation shall ensure that the Standard Reinsurance Agreement and the Livestock Price Reinsurance Agreement renegotiated under paragraph (1) shall each, to the maximum extent practicable, be estimated as budget neutral with respect to the total amount of A&O subsidy payments as compared to the total amount of such payments estimated to be made under the immediately preceding Standard Reinsurance Agreement or Livestock Price Reinsurance Agreement, as applicable, if that Agreement were extended over the same period of time. (5) Tracking data The Administrator of the Risk Management Agency may establish a program that maintains a list of farmers that have purchased crop insurance previously to share with approved insurance providers for purposes of implementing the bonus described in paragraph (2)(C). (c) Public data (1) Guidance The Corporation shall develop and publish the methodology used to determine the amount of an A&O subsidy, within the minimum and maximum amounts established pursuant to subsection (b)(2)(A), based on the complexity of issuing an insurance policy for 1 or more farms of a policyholder. (2) A&O subsidy data (A) In general The Secretary shall make publicly available, on an annual basis, A&O subsidy data regarding— (i) the total amount of A&O subsidy payments, organized by State, commodity, insurance plan type, and practice type; (ii) the average and median A&O subsidy payments per insured acre, organized by State, commodity, insurance plan type, and practice type; (iii) the total amount of compensation paid by approved insurance providers to crop insurance agents, organized by State, commodity, insurance plan type, and practice type; (iv) the average and median compensation per insured acre paid by approved insurance providers to crop insurance agents, organized by State, commodity, insurance plan type, and practice type; (v) the average and median A&O subsidy payment per policyholder, organized by State, commodity, insurance plan type, and practice type; (vi) the average and median A&O subsidy payment per insured acre, organized by State, commodity, insurance plan type, and practice type; (vii) whether and how much total additional A&O subsidies were paid due to the SnapBack program or 1 or more bonuses described in subsection (b)(2)(C), organized by State, insurance plan type, and commodity; and (viii) whether A&O subsidies were subject to the Standard Reinsurance Agreement or Livestock Price Reinsurance Agreement, as applicable, cap for A&O subsidies, and if so, what the total amount of A&O subsidy amounts would have been without the cap, organized by State, insurance plan type, and commodity. (B) Confidentiality The data made publicly available under subparagraph (A) shall be aggregated and anonymized to protect the privacy of individuals and approved insurance providers. (d) Data from approved insurance providers An approved insurance provider shall annually submit data on agent compensation, by individual agent, agency, and policy, to the Secretary and the Comptroller General of the United States on request. (e) Study The Administrator of the Risk Management Agency shall use data mining and other available information— (1) to analyze the impact of the changes to A&O subsidy amounts required under this section on— (A) the distribution of A&O subsidy amounts across policies and farming operations; and (B) agent and producer choices on how to insure crops; and (2) to assess whether changes in the number of policies per farming operation and other factors indicate attempts to undermine the goal of this section to improve the equity of the distribution of A&O subsidy amounts. (f) Regulations The Administrator of the Risk Management Agency shall promulgate regulations, if needed, to limit the attempts described in subsection (e)(2). 3. GAO report Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall make publicly available a report that— (1) assesses the structure of the Federal crop insurance program; and (2) provides recommendations on how to reform that program to best reflect generally accepted insurance and market principles.