[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4402 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4402

To amend the Export Administration Act of 1979 to require the Secretary 
  of Commerce to monitor domestic supplies and exports of unprocessed 
  timber and to impose export controls on such timber when a critical 
short supply of such timber exists for domestic manufacturing purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 12, 1994

 Mr. DeFazio (for himself, Mr. Williams, Mr. Miller of California, Mr. 
   Studds, Mr. Brown of California, Mr. Lehman, Mr. Richardson, Mr. 
    Wilson, Mr. Rahall, Mr. Stark, Mr. Gordon, Mr. Abercrombie, Mr. 
   Boehlert, Ms. Slaughter, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Barlow, Mr. Torres, Mr. 
 Meehan, Mr. Serrano, Mr. Towns, Mr. Lewis of Georgia, Ms. Waters, Mr. 
  Peterson of Minnesota, Mr. Hinchey, Mr. Frank of Massachusetts, Mr. 
    Nadler, and Mr. Shays) introduced the following bill; which was 
              referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Export Administration Act of 1979 to require the Secretary 
  of Commerce to monitor domestic supplies and exports of unprocessed 
  timber and to impose export controls on such timber when a critical 
short supply of such timber exists for domestic manufacturing purposes.

    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 ``Timber Fair Trade and Forest 
Conservation Act of 1994''.

SEC. 2. EXPORT CONTROLS ON UNPROCESSED TIMBER.

    Section 7 of the Export Administration Act of 1979 (50 U.S.C. App. 
2406) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(1) Unprocessed Timber.--
            ``(1) Monitoring.--The Secretary shall monitor--
                    ``(A) exports of, and contracts to export, 
                unprocessed timber, and
                    ``(B) domestic supplies of such unprocessed timber 
                for domestic manufacturing purposes, for the purpose of 
                determining whether a critical shortage of unprocessed 
                timber, or of any species or grade of unprocessed 
                timber, exists for domestic manufacturing purposes.
            ``(2) Export restrictions.--If the Secretary finds that a 
        critical shortage of unprocessed timber for domestic 
        manufacturing purposes exists in any State or region, then the 
        Secretary shall impose restrictions on the export of such 
        unprocessed timber sufficient to ensure that there is an 
        adequate supply of such unprocessed timber to meet domestic 
        manufacturing needs in that State or region. The Secretary may 
        remove such restrictions upon reporting to Congress, under 
        paragraph (3)(A), that such restrictions are no longer required 
        under this subsection.
            ``(3) Reports to congress.--(A) The Secretary shall submit 
        to Congress, not later than 30 days after the end of each 
        calendar quarter, a report on the results of the monitoring 
        conducted under paragraph (1), the Secretary's determination of 
        whether a critical shortage of unprocessed timber for domestic 
        manufacturing purposes exists in any State or region, and any 
        export restrictions imposed as a result of such determination.
            ``(B) Each report under subparagraph (A) shall--
                    ``(i) specify the quantity of exports, by port, of 
                unprocessed timber during the period covered by the 
                report, and the quantity of unprocessed timber to be 
                exported under contracts to export entered into during 
                such period;
                    ``(ii) estimate, as of the date of the report, the 
                domestic supplies, by State, of unprocessed timber 
                available for domestic manufacturing purposes;
                    ``(iii) specify whether such unprocessed timber 
                originated from Federal lands, State lands, or private 
                lands;
                    ``(iv) determine whether such supplies of 
                unprocessed timber were sufficient to meet the needs of 
                domestic manufacturers;
                    ``(v) include a formal finding as to whether a 
                critical shortage of unprocessed timber for domestic 
                manufacturing purposes exists in any State or region; 
                and
                    ``(vi) if such a shortage or shortages exist, 
                specify the export restrictions deemed necessary to 
                satisfy domestic needs.
            ``(4) Small woodlands.--Whenever the Secretary imposes 
        export restrictions under this subsection, the Secretary shall 
        give preference in the allocation of any available export 
        licenses to persons who own or have ownership interests in 
        fewer than 3,000 acres of forest land and are exporting timber 
        from that ownership, or persons who can demonstrate in a manner 
        to be prescribed by the Secretary that the timber to be 
        exported under such licenses originates from such ownerships.
            ``(5) Definitions.--For purposes of this subsection--
                    ``(A) the term `unprocessed timber' has the meaning 
                given that term in section 493(7) of the Forest 
                Resources Conservation and Shortage Relief Act of 1990 
                (16 U.S.C. 620e(7));
                    ``(B) the term `private lands' means lands held or 
                owned by a person, except that such term does not 
                include Federal lands or State lands, or any lands the 
                title to which is--
                            ``(i) held in trust by the United States 
                        for the benefit of any Indian tribe or 
                        individual,
                            ``(ii) held by any Indian tribe or 
                        individual subject to a restriction by the 
                        United States against alienation, or
                            ``(iii) held by any Native Corporation as 
                        defined in section 3 of the Alaska Native 
                        Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1602);
                    ``(C) the term `Federal lands' means lands that are 
                owned by the United States, but does not include any 
                lands described in clause (i), (ii), or (iii) of 
                subparagraph (B);
                    ``(D) the term `State lands' means lands that are 
                held or owned by a State or political subdivision 
                thereof, but does not include any lands described in 
                clause (i), (ii), or (iii) of subparagraph (B);
                    ``(E)(i) a `critical shortage of unprocessed timber 
                for domestic manufacturing purposes' includes any 
                period in which the volume of exports of such 
                unprocessed timber in relation to supplies for domestic 
                manufacturing purposes is contributing to a significant 
                inflationary increase in domestic wood products prices 
                or a shortage of such unprocessed timber for domestic 
                manufacturing purposes, and such price increase or 
                shortage has, or may have, a serious impact on the 
                economy or any sector thereof;
                    ``(ii) for purposes of clause (i), a `serious 
                impact on the economy or any sector thereof' may 
                include a situation in which domestic lumber, paper or 
                wood products mills are terminating or curtailing 
                operations due to a shortage of unprocessed timber;
                    ``(F) the term `person' means any individual, 
                partnership, corporation, association, or other legal 
                entity and includes any subsidiary, subcontractor, or 
                parent company, and business affiliates where 1 
                affiliate controls or has the power to control the 
                other or when both are controlled directly or 
                indirectly by a third person; and
                    ``(G) the term `forest land' means land that is at 
                least 10 percent stocked by live trees or land formerly 
                having such tree cover and not currently developed for 
                nonforest use.
            ``(6) Relationship to other provisions.--Unprocessed timber 
        shall not be considered to be an agricultural commodity for the 
        purposes of subsection (g) of this section.
            ``(7) Inapplicability of termination provision.--The 
        provisions of section 20 do not apply to this subsection, or to 
        any authority under this Act that is necessary to carry out 
        this subsection.
            ``(8) Presidential authority.--The President is authorized, 
        after suitable notice and a public comment period of not less 
        than 90 days, to suspend any export restrictions imposed under 
        paragraph (2) if a ruling is issued under the formal dispute 
        resolution procedures of the General Agreement on Tariffs and 
        Trade finding that such restrictions violate Article XI 
        prohibitions on export restrictions and are not allowable under 
        the exceptions to Article XI.''.

SEC. 3. IMPOSITION OF EXPORT CONTROLS ON CERTAIN STATES.

    (a) Finding.--The Congress finds that a critical shortage of 
unprocessed timber for domestic manufacturing purposes exists, within 
the meaning of section 7(1) of the Export Administration Act of 1979, 
in the States of Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho and Montana.
    (b) Export Controls.--The Secretary of Commerce shall, upon the 
enactment of this Act, impose quantitative restrictions under section 
7(1) of the Export Administration Act of 1979, on exports of 
unprocessed timber from each State referred to in subsection (a).

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