[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1543 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        S.1543

                       One Hundred Sixth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE FIRST SESSION

         Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday,
   the sixth day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine


                                 An Act


 
To amend the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 to release and protect 
      the release of tobacco production and marketing information.

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

SECTION 1. TOBACCO PRODUCTION AND MARKETING INFORMATION.

    Part I of subtitle B of title III of the Agricultural Adjustment 
Act of 1938 (7 U.S.C. 1311 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:

``SEC. 320D. TOBACCO PRODUCTION AND MARKETING INFORMATION.

    ``(a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 
Secretary may, subject to subsection (b), release marketing information 
submitted by persons relating to the production and marketing of 
tobacco to State trusts or similar organizations engaged in the 
distribution of national trust funds to tobacco producers and other 
persons with interests associated with the production of tobacco, as 
determined by the Secretary.
    ``(b) Limitations.--
        ``(1) In general.--Information may be released under subsection 
    (a) only to the extent that--
            ``(A) the release is in the interest of tobacco producers, 
        as determined by the Secretary; and
            ``(B) the information is released to a State trust or other 
        organization that is created to, or charged with, distributing 
        funds to tobacco producers or other parties with an interest in 
        tobacco production or tobacco farms under a national or State 
        trust or settlement.
        ``(2) Exemption from release.--The Secretary shall, to the 
    maximum extent practicable, in advance of making a release of 
    information under subsection (a), allow, by announcement, a period 
    of at least 15 days for persons whose consent would otherwise be 
    required by law to effectuate the release, to elect to be exempt 
    from the release.
    ``(c) Assistance.--
        ``(1) In general.--In making a release under subsection (a), 
    the Secretary may provide such other assistance with respect to 
    information released under subsection (a) as will facilitate the 
    interest of producers in receiving the funds that are the subject 
    of a trust described in subsection (a).
        ``(2) Funds.--The Secretary shall use amounts made available 
    for salaries and expenses of the Department to carry out paragraph 
    (1).
    ``(d) Records.--
        ``(1) In general.--A person that obtains information described 
    in subsection (a) shall maintain records that are consistent with 
    the purposes of the release and shall not use the records for any 
    purpose not authorized under this section.
        ``(2) Penalty.--A person that knowingly violates this 
    subsection shall be fined not more than $10,000, imprisoned not 
    more than 1 year, or both.
    ``(e) Application.--This section shall not apply to--
        ``(1) records submitted by cigarette manufacturers with respect 
    to the production of cigarettes;
        ``(2) records that were submitted as expected purchase 
    intentions in connection with the establishment of national tobacco 
    quotas; or
        ``(3) records that aggregate the purchases of particular 
    buyers.''.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.