Most of the United States Grain Standards Act (USGSA) is permanently authorized, including mandatory inspection and weighing of exported grain, and federal authority to establish and amend grain standards of quality. However, several key provisions of the law were set to expire on September 30, 2015. While the expiring provisions would not necessarily have brought official grain inspections and weighing to a halt, a lapse could have affected funding and disrupted the current grain inspection and weighing program. The USGSA was reauthorized on September 30, 2015, with the enactment of the Agriculture Reauthorizations Act of 2015 ( P.L. 114-54 ). Four expiring provisions—authority for appropriations, authority to charge fees, an administrative/supervisory cost cap, and authority for an advisory committee—were extended until September 30, 2020. Besides extending the four provisions, the act included provisions addressing disruptions in inspection and weighing services, geographic service boundaries, and inspection and weighing authorities that were included in the House ( H.R. 2088 ) and/or Senate ( S. 1417 ) reauthorization bills. (See Table 1 for a comparison of the two bills and the enacted bill.) The agriculture committees in both chambers approved by voice vote their respective bills to reauthorize the expiring provisions for five years. The House passed H.R. 2088 by voice vote on June 9, 2015. The Senate-reported bill did not receive a floor vote. The Senate amended the House-passed Mandatory Price Reporting Act of 2015 ( H.R. 2051 ) to include reauthorization provisions for the USGSA, Mandatory Price Reporting, and the National Forest Foundation, all of which were set to expire on September 30, 2015. H.R. 2051 , as amended by the Senate, passed the Senate by unanimous consent and passed the House by voice vote. The United States Grain Standards Act (USGSA) of 1916—P.L. 64-190, as amended (7 U.S.C. 71 et seq. )—authorizes the Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to establish official marketing standards (not health and safety standards) for certain grains and oilseeds. The specific crops are barley, canola, corn, flaxseed, oats, rye, sorghum, soybeans, sunflower seed, triticale, wheat, and mixed grain. As issued and modified in regulations, official grain standards define each grain, classes of the grain, and numerical grades. The grades specify physical characteristics such as minimum weight and maximum percentage of defects (e.g., foreign material, damaged kernels). The standards facilitate the marketing of grain by serving as contract language, enabling buyers and sellers to more easily determine quality (and therefore value) of these commodities. FGIS promotes the uniform application of U.S. grain standards by official inspection personnel. Specifically, to encourage the marketing of high-quality grain for an agriculture sector that is highly dependent upon export demand, the USGSA requires that exported grains and oilseeds be officially inspected (if sold by grade) and weighed. Export inspections are carried out by either federal inspectors or federally supervised state inspection agencies, called delegated official inspection agencies. Domestically marketed grain and oilseeds may be, but are not required to be, officially inspected. Official inspections of domestically traded grain are done by federally supervised state agencies and private companies, called designated official inspection agencies. As authorized by the USGSA, all official inspections are financed by user fees, with the federal portion of fee revenue maintained in a trust fund. FGIS activities such as developing grain standards and improving techniques for measuring grain quality are financed with congressionally appropriated funds. In FY2014, user fee revenue under USGSA was $45.8 million, and the FGIS appropriation was $17.9 million. The USGSA also prohibits deceptive practices with respect to the inspection and weighing of grain and provides penalties for violations of the act. Prohibitions include altering official certificates, exporting grain without official personnel on site, and adding foreign material to any grain. In general, policy officials in USDA and the grain industry support the continuation of nationally uniform grades, the availability of official inspections in the domestic market, and the mandatory application of official weighing and inspection for exported grain. Table A-1 , at the end of this report, contains links to the act's statutory provisions, associated regulations, official service providers, and other information. FGIS inspects or oversees the inspection of more than half of the grain produced in the United States. During FY2011-FY2013, the average annual amount of grain receiving official inspection was 273 million metric tons, or about 56% of U.S. production. Of the inspected amount, 62% was for domestic shipment and the remainder for export. Grain not officially inspected includes grain that does not require official inspection (e.g., grain used domestically), grain inspected by unofficial entities, and exports by companies shipping less than 15,000 metric tons, which are not covered by the USGSA. For domestic shipments, voluntary official grain inspection is provided primarily by a network of official state and private agencies under the USGSA. FGIS's Domestic Inspection Operations Office (DIOO) in Kansas City oversees a total of about 50 official agencies (called designated state agencies and designated private agencies) located throughout the country. Each agency covers a specific and exclusive geographic area, which is authorized by the USGSA in part to ensure that the official state or private agency receives enough business for it to remain financially viable and to maintain staff for an on-site laboratory that can serve the entire area. FGIS grants requests by grain shippers that allow for some boundary flexibility. All employees of an official agency must be licensed and lab equipment must meet federal standards. User fees charged by official state and private agencies for services are approved by FGIS and must be "reasonable" as specified in 7 C.F.R. Section 800.70. An additional fee is charged by FGIS for supervising official inspection and/or weighing services. Other (unofficial) inspection companies may be operating in these regions, but only an agency designated by FGIS is allowed to issue official inspection certificates. For exports, FGIS directly inspects about two-thirds of exported grain and oversees the inspection of the remainder. Exporters are required to use the service provided by either the FGIS field offices (located in Louisiana, Ohio, Oregon, and Texas) or a delegated state agency (Alabama, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin) within geographic boundaries of the export port in which they operate. FGIS provides mandatory export inspection and weighing services on a fee basis at 45 export elevators, including 4 floating rigs. The five delegated state agencies offer official service at an additional 13 export elevators with FGIS oversight. Fees are specified in 7 C.F.R. Section 800.71, and are composed of hourly rates, fees for services beyond basic grade analysis (e.g., protein level), and a fee for each metric ton to cover local administrative and/or national support costs. In 2013, amid broad industry support to maintain inspection services, USDA increased fees to ensure full funding of official inspection and weighing services in future years. With reduced levels of grain volume in FY2012 and FY2013 due to drought-reduced crops in 2012, fee revenue did not keep pace with costs, resulting in a negative balance in the user fee trust fund for the export inspection and weighing program in FY2013. With a rebound in grain volumes (and higher fees), fee revenues in FY2014 increased substantially, resulting in a positive fund balance. FGIS headquarters are located in Washington, DC. The agency operates the National Grain Center in Kansas City, MO, seven field offices, one federal/state office, and three sub-offices. In FY2013, the agency employed approximately 400 full-time staff and 123 temporary staff. In total, the U.S. grain inspection network consists of approximately 2,000 staff members at federal, state, and private laboratories. During the last half of the 19 th century, and prior to enactment of current grain standards law, local grain markets were operated with their own grades and grading methods. By 1900, numerous states and trade organizations were inspecting grain for quality at inspection points across the country, often with widely different standards and terminology. The lack of accepted grain standards and inspection procedures contributed to chaotic marketing conditions and inefficient marketing of agricultural commodities. Disputes arose between producers, traders, and buyers from as far away as Europe with charges of poor quality and unfair practices. Following unsuccessful attempts by the industry to voluntarily adopt grain standards, the United States Grain Standards Act (USGSA) was enacted on August 11, 1916, to help coordinate efforts to improve the grading system. The first standard was established for corn and became effective December 1, 1916. The act also required certain export and interstate shipments of grain to be officially inspected if sold by grade. USDA was directed to issue licenses to state inspectors and private inspection agencies, and to supervise their activities. Only licensed inspectors could issue official grade certificates. The USGSA has been amended 18 times since it was enacted (see Table A-2 ). The first change came in 1940 when it was modified to include soybeans. In 1956 it was amended to prohibit issuance of false certificates by the deceptive loading, handling, or sampling of grain. In 1958, an amendment authorized USDA to recover the cost of overtime resulting from performing appeal inspection services. A major revision came in 1968, when Congress eliminated the requirement that interstate shipments be inspected if sold by grade, which reportedly created inefficiencies in grain movements and added costs by requiring inspections even when neither buyer nor seller wanted an official grade. (For export shipments, inspections and designations by grade remained mandatory.)