[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1543 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

  1st Session
                                S. 1543

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 5, 1999

Mr. McConnell (for himself, Mr. Helms, Mr. Bunning, Mr. Coverdell, Mr. 
Edwards, Mr. Robb, and Mr. Warner) introduced the following bill; which 
           was read twice, considered, and read a third time

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
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.''.
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