[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1803 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 1803

      To reform agricultural credit programs of the Department of 
                  Agriculture, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 19, 1998

   Mr. Robb introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
      To reform agricultural credit programs of the Department of 
                  Agriculture, 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 ``Agricultural Credit Restoration 
Act''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSOLIDATED FARM AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT ACT.

    (a) Section 343(a)(12)(B) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural 
Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1991(a)(12)(B)) is amended to read as 
follows:
                    ``(B) Exceptions.--The term `debt forgiveness' does 
                not include--
                            ``(i) consolidation, rescheduling, 
                        reamortization, or deferral of a loan;
                            ``(ii) 1 debt forgiveness in the form of a 
                        restructuring, write-down, or net recovery buy-
                        out during the lifetime of the borrower that is 
                        due to a financial problem of the borrower 
                        relating to a natural disaster or a medical 
                        condition of the borrower or of a member of the 
                        immediate family of the borrower (or, in the 
                        case of a borrower that is an entity, a 
                        principal owner of the borrower or a member of 
                        the immediate family of such an owner); and
                            ``(iii) any restructuring, write-down, or 
                        net recovery buy-out provided as a part of a 
                        resolution of a discrimination complaint 
                        against the Secretary.''.
    (b) Section 353(m) of such Act (7 U.S.C. 2001(m)) is amended by 
striking all that precedes paragraph (2) and inserting the following:
    ``(m) Limitation on Number of Write-Downs and Net Recovery Buy-Outs 
Per Borrower.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary may provide a write-down 
        or net recovery buy-out under this section on not more than 2 
        occasions per borrower with respect to loans made after January 
        6, 1988.''.
    (c) Section 353 of such Act (7 U.S.C. 2001) is amended by striking 
subsection (o).
    (d) Section 355(c)(2) of such Act (7 U.S.C. 2003(c)(2)) is amended 
to read as follows:
            ``(2) Reservation and allocation.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Secretary shall, to the 
                greatest extent practicable, reserve and allocate the 
                proportion of each State's loan funds made available 
                under subtitle B that is equal to that State's target 
                participation rate for use by the socially 
                disadvantaged farmers or ranchers in that State. The 
                Secretary shall, to the extent practicable, distribute 
                the total so derived on a county by county basis 
                according to the number of socially disadvantaged 
                farmers or ranchers in the county.
                    ``(B) Reallocation of unused funds.--The Secretary 
                may pool any funds reserved and allocated under this 
                paragraph with respect to a State that are not so used 
                as described in subparagraph (A) in a State in the 
                first 10 months of a fiscal year with the funds 
                similarly not so used in other States, and may 
                reallocate such pooled funds in the discretion of the 
                Secretary for use by socially disadvantaged farmers and 
                ranchers in other States.''.
    (e) Section 373(b)(1) of such Act (7 U.S.C. 2008h(b)(1)) is amended 
to read as follows:
            ``(1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), the 
        Secretary may not make or guarantee a loan under subtitle A or 
        B to a borrower who on, 2 or more occasions, received debt 
        forgiveness on a loan made or guaranteed under this title.''.
    (f) Section 373(c) of such Act (7 U.S.C. 2008h(c)) is amended to 
read as follows:
    ``(c) No More Than 2 Debt Forgivenesses Per Borrower On Direct 
Loans.--The Secretary may not, on 2 or more occasions, provide debt 
forgiveness to a borrower on a direct loan made under this title.''.

SEC. 2. REGULATIONS.

    Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
the Secretary of Agriculture shall promulgate regulations necessary to 
carry out the amendments made by this Act, without regard to--
            (1) the notice and comment provisions of section 553 of 
        title 5, United States Code; and
            (2) the statement of policy of the Secretary of Agriculture 
        relating to notices of proposed rulemaking and public 
        participation in rulemaking that became effective on July 24, 
        1971 (36 Fed. Reg. 13804).
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