[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2237 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2237

    To authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to provide emergency 
 assistance to apple producers and onion producers in the State of New 
            York who incurred extensive crop losses in 1998.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 16, 1999

    Mr. Gilman (for himself, Mr. Walsh, Mr. McHugh, and Mrs. Kelly) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                              Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to provide emergency 
 assistance to apple producers and onion producers in the State of New 
            York who incurred extensive crop losses in 1998.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. EMERGENCY CROP LOSS ASSISTANCE FOR NEW YORK APPLE PRODUCERS.

    (a) Assistance Authorized.--In addition to other authorities 
available to the Secretary of Agriculture to provide assistance to 
apple producers who incur crop losses, the Secretary may provide 
assistance under this section to apple producers in the State of New 
York who incurred losses in 1998 to apple crops due to damaging weather 
or related conditions.
    (b) Special Rules.--In providing assistance to apple producers 
under this section, the Secretary shall calculate the amount of a apple 
producer's payment in a manner that--
            (1) does not discount excess juice production;
            (2) allows producers in 1998 to use their historical 
        production as a yield basis;
            (3) ensures that losses in each marketing category 
        (primary, secondary, and tertiary) are only added together, and 
        not subtracted as currently proposed by the Department of 
        Agriculture; and
            (4) uses the 5-year average market price for apples in New 
        York as established by the National Agriculture Statistics 
        Service.
    (c) Maximum Payment Limitation.--In providing assistance to apple 
producers under this section, the maximum payment limitation per farm 
shall be equal to the higher of--
            (1) $80,000; or
            (2) the product of $1,350 and the total farm orchard 
        acreage.
    (d) Implementation.--The Secretary shall issue guidelines for the 
provision of assistance under this section, which shall be available to 
affected apple producers not later than 30 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act. Subject to the availability of funds for this 
purpose, the Secretary shall make payments available under this section 
in an expeditious time frame in order to alleviate the severe financial 
strain of New York State apple producers.

SEC. 2. EMERGENCY CROP LOSS ASSISTANCE FOR NEW YORK ONION PRODUCERS.

    (a) Assistance Authorized.--In addition to other authorities 
available to the Secretary of Agriculture to provide assistance to 
onion producers who incur crop losses, the Secretary may provide 
assistance under this section to onion producers in the State of New 
York who incurred losses in 1998 to onion crops due to damaging weather 
or related conditions.
    (b) Eligibility Requirements.--To be eligible for assistance under 
this section, the Secretary must conclude that, because of damaging 
weather or related condition in 1998, the total quantity of the 1998 
onion crop that a New York onion producer was able to harvest was less 
than 65 percent of the producer's historical yield. The Secretary may 
accept information provided by insurance adjustors or the Cooperative 
Extension Service to verify a producer's loss in yield.
    (c) Calculation of Payment.--
            (1) Payment formula.--In providing assistance to an 
        eligible onion producer under this section, the per acre amount 
        of the producer's payment shall be equal to the product of--
                    (A) .65;
                    (B) the applicable annual percentage history; and
                    (C) payment rate.
            (2) Annual percentage history.--For purposes of paragraph 
        (1)(B), a producer may select as the producer's annual 
        percentage history either the producer's own historical yield 
        before 1996, per hundredweight, or the New York State average 
        of 298 cwt.
            (3) Payment rate.--For purposes of paragraph (1)(C), the 
        Secretary shall use the 5-year average market price for yellow 
        onions of $15.00 cwt.
    (d) Implementation.--The Secretary shall issue guidelines for the 
provision of assistance under this section, which shall be available to 
affected onion producers not later than 30 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act. Subject to the availability of funds for this 
purpose, the Secretary shall make payments available under this section 
in an expeditious time frame in order to alleviate the severe financial 
strain of New York State onion producers.

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There is authorized to be appropriated $40,000,000 to carry out 
this Act.
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