[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 222 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 222

To amend the Dairy Production Stabilization Act of 1983 to ensure that 
 all persons who benefit from the dairy promotion and research program 
contribute to the cost of the program, to provide for periodic producer 
 referenda on continuation of the program, and to prohibit bloc voting 
 by cooperative associations of milk producers in connection with the 
                    program, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

             January 12 (legislative day, January 10), 1995

Mr. Feingold (for himself and Mr. Kohl) introduced the following bill; 
  which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, 
                        Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Dairy Production Stabilization Act of 1983 to ensure that 
 all persons who benefit from the dairy promotion and research program 
contribute to the cost of the program, to provide for periodic producer 
 referenda on continuation of the program, and to prohibit bloc voting 
 by cooperative associations of milk producers in connection with the 
                    program, and for other 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 ``Dairy Promotion Program Improvement 
Act of 1995''.

SEC. 2. FUNDING OF DAIRY PROMOTION AND RESEARCH PROGRAM.

    (a) Declaration of Policy.--The first sentence of section 110(b) of 
the Dairy Production Stabilization Act of 1983 (7 U.S.C. 4501(b)) is 
amended--
            (1) by inserting after ``commercial use'' the following: 
        ``and on imported dairy products''; and
            (2) by striking ``products produced in'' and inserting 
        ``products produced in or imported into''.
    (b) Definitions.--Section 111 of the Act (7 U.S.C. 4502) is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (k), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in subsection (l), by striking the period at the end 
        and inserting a semicolon; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new subsections:
            ``(m) the term `imported dairy product' means--
                    ``(1) any dairy product, including milk and cream 
                and fresh and dried dairy products;
                    ``(2) butter and butterfat mixtures;
                    ``(3) cheese;
                    ``(4) casein and mixtures; and
                    ``(5) other dairy products;
        that are imported into the United States; and
            ``(n) the term `importer' means a person that imports an 
        imported dairy product into the United States.''.
    (c) Funding.--
            (1) Representation on board.--Section 113(b) of the Act (7 
        U.S.C. 4504(b)) is amended--
                    (A) by designating the first through ninth 
                sentences as paragraphs (1) through (5) and paragraphs 
                (7) through (10), respectively;
                    (B) in paragraph (1) (as so designated), by 
                striking ``thirty-six'' and inserting ``38'';
                    (C) in paragraph (2) (as so designated), by 
                striking ``Members'' and inserting ``Of the members of 
                the Board, 36 members''; and
                    (D) by inserting after paragraph (5) (as so 
                designated) the following new paragraph:
    ``(6) Of the members of the Board, 2 members shall be 
representatives of importers of imported dairy products. The importer 
representatives shall be appointed by the Secretary from nominations 
submitted by importers under such procedures as the Secretary 
determines to be appropriate.''.
            (2) Assessment.--Section 113(g) of the Act is amended--
                    (A) by designating the first through fifth 
                sentences as paragraphs (1) through (5), respectively; 
                and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following new 
                paragraph:
    ``(6)(A) The order shall provide that each importer of imported 
dairy products shall pay an assessment to the Board in the manner 
prescribed by the order.
    ``(B) The rate of assessment on imported dairy products shall be 
determined in the same manner as the rate of assessment per 
hundredweight or the equivalent of milk.
    ``(C) For the purpose of determining the assessment on imports 
under subparagraph (B), the value to be placed on imported dairy 
products shall be established by the Secretary in a fair and equitable 
manner.''.
            (3) Records.--The first sentence of section 113(k) of the 
        Act is amended by striking ``person receiving'' and inserting 
        ``importer of imported dairy products, each person receiving''.
            (4) Referendum.--Section 116 of the Act (7 U.S.C. 4507) is 
        amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(d)(1) On the request of a representative group comprising 10 
percent or more of the number of producers subject to the order, the 
Secretary shall--
            ``(A) conduct a referendum to determine whether the 
        producers favor suspension of the application of the amendments 
        made by section 2 of the Dairy Promotion Program Improvement 
        Act of 1995; and
            ``(B) suspend the application of the amendments until the 
        results of the referendum are known.
    ``(2) The Secretary shall continue the suspension of the 
application of the amendments made by section 2 only if the Secretary 
determines that suspension of the application of the amendments is 
favored by a majority of the producers voting in the referendum who, 
during a representative period (as determined by the Secretary), have 
been engaged in the production of milk for commercial use.''.

SEC. 3. PERIODIC REFERENDA.

    Section 115(a) of the Dairy Production Stabilization Act of 1983 (7 
U.S.C. 4506(a)) is amended--
            (1) in the first sentence, by striking ``Within the sixty-
        day period immediately preceding September 30, 1985'' and 
        inserting ``Every 5 years''; and
            (2) in the second sentence, by striking ``six months'' and 
        inserting ``3 months''.

SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON BLOC VOTING.

    Section 117 of the Dairy Production Stabilization Act of 1983 (7 
U.S.C. 4508) is amended--
            (1) in the first sentence, by striking ``Secretary shall'' 
        and inserting ``Secretary shall not''; and
            (2) by striking the second through fifth sentences.
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