[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1850 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1850

 To amend the Agricultural Market Transition Act to convert the price 
 support program for sugarcane and sugar beets into a system of solely 
   recourse loans and to provide for the gradual elimination of the 
                                program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 18, 1999

 Mr. Miller of Florida (for himself, Mr. George Miller of California, 
Mr. Goss, Mr. Kolbe, Mr. Forbes, Mr. Waxman, Mr. Royce, Mr. Shays, Mr. 
Wolf, Mrs. Northup, Mr. Frelinghuysen, Mr. Blagojevich, Mr. Sununu, Mr. 
 Stark, Mr. Meehan, Mr. Sanford, Mr. Bass, Mr. Campbell, Mr. Brady of 
Pennsylvania, Mr. Portman, Mr. Berman, Mr. Visclosky, Mr. Hinchey, Mr. 
 Hutchinson, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Castle, Mr. Hansen, Mr. Cook, Mr. Coyne, 
  Mr. English, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. Souder, Mr. Weiner, Mr. Shaw, Mr. 
 Scarborough, Mr. Porter, Mr. Coburn, Mr. Horn, Mr. Ramstad, Mr. Wamp, 
    Mr. Sensenbrenner, Mrs. Roukema, Mr. Kingston, and Mr. Salmon) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                              Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Agricultural Market Transition Act to convert the price 
 support program for sugarcane and sugar beets into a system of solely 
   recourse loans and to provide for the gradual elimination of the 
                                program.

    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 ``Sugar Program Reform Act''.

SEC. 2. RECOURSE LOANS FOR PROCESSORS OF SUGARCANE AND SUGAR BEETS AND 
              REDUCTION IN LOAN RATES.

    (a) Gradual Reduction in Loan Rates.--
            (1) Sugarcane processor loans.--Subsection (a) of section 
        156 of the Agricultural Market Transition Act (7 U.S.C. 7272) 
        is amended by striking ``equal to 18 cents per pound for raw 
        cane sugar.'' and inserting the following: ``, per pound for 
        raw cane sugar, equal to the following:
            ``(1) In the case of raw cane sugar processed from the 1996 
        through 1998 crops, $0.18.
            ``(2) In the case of raw cane sugar processed from the 1999 
        crop, $0.17.
            ``(3) In the case of raw cane sugar processed from the 2000 
        crop, $0.16.
            ``(4) In the case of raw cane sugar processed from the 2001 
        crop, $0.15.
            ``(5) In the case of raw cane sugar processed from the 2002 
        crop, $0.14.''.
            (2) Sugar beet processor loans.--Subsection (b) of such 
        section is amended by striking ``equal to 22.9 cents per pound 
        for refined beet sugar.'' and inserting the following: ``, per 
        pound of refined beet sugar, that reflects--
            ``(1) an amount that bears the same relation to the loan 
        rate in effect under subsection (a) for a crop as the weighted 
        average of producer returns for sugar beets bears to the 
        weighted average of producer returns for sugarcane, expressed 
        on a cents per pound basis for refined beet sugar and raw cane 
        sugar, for the most recent five-year period for which data are 
        available; plus
            ``(2) an amount that covers sugar beet processor fixed 
        marketing expenses.''.
    (b) Conversion to Recourse Loans.--Subsection (e) of such section 
is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ``only'' after ``this 
        section''; and
            (2) by striking paragraphs (2) and (3) and inserting the 
        following new paragraph:
            ``(2) National loan rates.--Recourse loans under this 
        section shall be made available at all locations nationally at 
        the rates specified in this section, without adjustment to 
        provide regional differentials.''.
    (c) Conversion to Private Sector Financing.--Such section is 
further amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsection (i) as subsection (j);
            (2) by inserting after subsection (h) the following new 
        subsection:
    ``(i) Conversion to Private Sector Financing.--Notwithstanding any 
other provision of law, no processor of the 2003 or subsequent crops of 
sugarcane or sugar beets shall be eligible for loans under this section 
with respect to such crops, and the Secretary of Agriculture may not 
make price support available, whether in the form of loans, payments, 
purchases, or other operations, for the 2003 and subsequent crops of 
sugar beets and sugarcane by using the funds of the Commodity Credit 
Corporation or other funds available to the Secretary.''; and
            (3) in subsection (j), as redesignated by paragraph (1), by 
        striking ``subsection (f)'' and inserting ``subsections (f) and 
        (i)''.
    (d) Termination of Marketing Quotas and Allotments.--
            (1) Termination.--Part VII of subtitle B of title III of 
        the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 (7 U.S.C. 1359aa-
        1359jj) is repealed.
            (2) Conforming amendment.--Section 344(f)(2) of such Act (7 
        U.S.C. 1344(f)(2)) is amended by striking ``sugar cane for 
        sugar, sugar beets for sugar,''.
    (e) Other Conforming Amendments.--
            (1) Price support for nonbasic agricultural commodities.--
        The Agricultural Act of 1949 is amended--
                    (A) in section 201(a) (7 U.S.C. 1446(a)), by 
                striking ``milk, sugar beets, and sugarcane'' and 
                inserting ``, and milk''; and
                    (B) in section 301 (7 U.S.C. 1447), by inserting 
                ``(other than sugarcane and sugar beets)'' after 
                ``title II''.
            (2) Powers of commodity credit corporation.--Section 5(a) 
        of the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act (15 U.S.C. 
        714c(a)) is amended by inserting ``(except for sugarcane and 
        sugar beets of the 2003 and subsequent crops)'' after 
        ``agricultural commodities''.
            (3) Section 32 activities.--The second sentence of the 
        first paragraph of section 32 of the Act of August 24, 1935 (7 
        U.S.C. 612c), is amended by inserting ``(other than sugarcane 
        and sugar beets)'' after ``commodity'' the last place it 
        appears.
    (f) Assurance of Adequate Supplies of Sugar.--Subsection (a) of 
section 902 of the Food Security Act of 1985 (Public Law 99-198; 7 
U.S.C. 1446g note) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(a) Beginning with the quota year for sugar imports which begins 
after the 1998/1999 quota year, the President shall use all authorities 
available to the President as may be necessary to enable the Secretary 
of Agriculture to ensure that adequate supplies of raw cane sugar are 
made available to the United States market at prices no greater than 
the higher of--
            ``(1) the world sugar price (adjusted to a delivered 
        basis); or
            ``(2) the raw cane sugar loan rate in effect under section 
        156 of the Agricultural Market Transition Act (7 U.S.C. 7272), 
        plus interest.''.
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