[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4788 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4788

To amend the United States Grain Standards Act to extend the authority 
 of the Secretary of Agriculture to collect fees to cover the cost of 
   services performed under the Act, to extend the authorization of 
 appropriations for the Act, and to improve the administration of the 
                                  Act.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 29, 2000

  Mr. Barrett of Nebraska (for himself and Mr. Minge) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the United States Grain Standards Act to extend the authority 
 of the Secretary of Agriculture to collect fees to cover the cost of 
   services performed under the Act, to extend the authorization of 
 appropriations for the Act, and to improve the administration of the 
                                  Act.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE AND TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``United States 
Grain Standards Reauthorization Act of 2000''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title and table of contents.
    TITLE I--EXTENSION OF EXPIRING AUTHORITIES AND AUTHORIZATION OF 
                             APPROPRIATIONS

Sec. 101. Collection of certain fees.
Sec. 102. Limitation on administrative and supervisory costs.
Sec. 103. Advisory committee.
Sec. 104. Authorization of appropriations.
                    TITLE II--ADMINISTRATION OF ACT

Sec. 201. Increased flexibility in obtaining sample of export grain for 
                            inspection and weighing.
Sec. 202. Geographic boundaries for official agencies.
Sec. 203. Elimination of annual requirement regarding testing of 
                            equipment.
Sec. 204. Prohibition on use of grain additives to disguise quality of 
                            grain.
                TITLE III--REPEAL OF OBSOLETE PROVISIONS

Sec. 301. United States Grain Standards Act of 1976.

    TITLE I--EXTENSION OF EXPIRING AUTHORITIES AND AUTHORIZATION OF 
                             APPROPRIATIONS

SEC. 101. COLLECTION OF CERTAIN FEES.

    (a) Inspection and Supervisory Fees.--Section 7(j)(4) of the United 
States Grain Standards Act (7 U.S.C. 79(j)(4)) is amended by striking 
``2000'' and inserting ``2005''.
    (b) Weighing and Supervisory Fees.--Section 7A(l)(3) of the United 
States Grain Standards Act (7 U.S.C. 79a(l)(3)) is amended by striking 
``2000'' and inserting ``2005''.

SEC. 102. LIMITATION ON ADMINISTRATIVE AND SUPERVISORY COSTS.

    Section 7D of the United States Grain Standards Act (7 U.S.C. 79d) 
is amended by striking ``2000'' and inserting ``2005''.

SEC. 103. ADVISORY COMMITTEE.

    Section 21(e) of the United States Grain Standards Act (7 U.S.C. 
87j(e)) is amended by striking ``2000'' and inserting ``2005''.

SEC. 104. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    Section 19 of the United States Grain Standards Act (7 U.S.C. 87h) 
is amended by striking ``2000'' and inserting ``2005''.

                    TITLE II--ADMINISTRATION OF ACT

SEC. 201. INCREASED FLEXIBILITY IN OBTAINING SAMPLE OF EXPORT GRAIN FOR 
              INSPECTION AND WEIGHING.

    Section 5(a)(1) of the United States Grain Standards Act (7 U.S.C. 
77(a)(1)) is amended by striking ``(on the basis'' and all that follows 
through ``United States)''.

SEC. 202. GEOGRAPHIC BOUNDARIES FOR OFFICIAL AGENCIES.

    (a) Inspection Authority.--Section 7(f) of the United States Grain 
Standards Act (7 U.S.C. 79(f)(2)) is amended by striking paragraph (2) 
and inserting the following:
    ``(2) Not more than one official agency designated under paragraph 
(1) or State delegated authority under subsection (e)(2) to carry out 
the inspection provisions of this Act shall be operative at the same 
time in any geographic area defined by the Secretary, except that the 
Secretary--
            ``(A) may implement a pilot program (or continue an 
        existing pilot program) to allow more than one official agency 
        designated under paragraph (1) to carry out inspections within 
        the same geographical area without undermining the policy 
        stated in section 2; and
            ``(B) may allow an official agency designated under 
        paragraph (1) or State agency delegated authority pursuant to 
        subsection (e)(2) to cross boundary lines to carry out 
        inspections in another geographic area if the Secretary 
        determines, after consultation with the current designated 
        official agency or delegated State agency for that geographic 
        area, that the presence of more than one designated official 
        agency or delegated State agency in that geographic area will 
        maintain the integrity and viability of the official grain 
        inspection system and that--
                    ``(i) the current designated official agency or 
                delegated State agency for that geographic area is 
                unable to provide inspection services in a timely 
                manner;
                    ``(ii) a person requesting inspection services in 
                that geographic area has not been receiving official 
                inspection services from the current designated 
                official agency or delegated State agency for that 
                geographic area; or
                    ``(iii) a person requesting inspection services in 
                that geographic area requests a probe inspection on a 
                barge-lot basis.''.
    (b) Weighing Authority.--Section 7A(i) of the United States Grain 
Standards Act (7 U.S.C. 79a(i)) is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(1)'' after ``(i)'';
            (2) by striking the second sentence; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(2) Not more than one designated official agency referred to in 
paragraph (1) or State agency delegated authority pursuant to 
subsection (c)(2) to carry out the weighing provisions of this Act 
shall be operative at the same time in any geographic area defined by 
the Secretary, except that the Secretary--
            ``(A) may implement a pilot program (or continue an 
        existing pilot program) to allow more than one official agency 
        to carry out the weighing provisions within the same 
        geographical area without undermining the policy stated in 
        section 2; and
            ``(B) may allow a designated official agency or State 
        agency delegated authority pursuant to subsection (c)(2) to 
        cross boundary lines to carry out the weighing provisions in 
        another geographic area if the Secretary determines, after 
        consultation with the current designated official agency or 
        delegated State agency for that geographic area, that the 
        presence of more than one designated official agency or 
        delegated State agency in that geographic area will maintain 
        the integrity and viability of the official grain inspection 
        system and that--
                    ``(i) the current designated official agency or 
                delegated State agency for that geographic area is 
                unable to provide the weighing services in a timely 
                manner; or
                    ``(ii) a person requesting weighing services in 
                that geographic area has not been receiving official 
                weighing services from the current designated official 
                agency or delegated State agency for that geographic 
                area.''.

SEC. 203. ELIMINATION OF ANNUAL REQUIREMENT REGARDING TESTING OF 
              EQUIPMENT.

    Section 7B(a) of the United States Grain Standards Act (7 U.S.C. 
79b(a)) is amended by striking ``but at least annually and''.

SEC. 204. PROHIBITION ON USE OF GRAIN ADDITIVES TO DISGUISE QUALITY OF 
              GRAIN.

    Section 13(e)(1) of the United States Grain Standards Act (7 U.S.C. 
87b(e)(1)) is amended by inserting ``, or prohibit disguising the 
quality of grain,'' after ``sound and pure grain''.

                TITLE III--REPEAL OF OBSOLETE PROVISIONS

SEC. 301. UNITED STATES GRAIN STANDARDS ACT OF 1976.

    The following provisions of the United States Grain Standards Act 
of 1976 (Public Law 94-582) are repealed:
            (1) Section 8(b) (7 U.S.C. 79 note).
            (2) Section 23 (7 U.S.C. 87e-1).
            (3) Section 24 (7 U.S.C. 76 note).
            (4) Section 25.
            (5) Section 27 (7 U.S.C. 74 note).
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