[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3091 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3091

 To implement the recommendations of the General Accounting Office on 
improving the administration of the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 by 
                     the Department of Agriculture.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 21, 2000

Mr. Grassley (for himself, Mr. Grams, Mr. Ashcroft, and Mr. Brownback) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
           Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To implement the recommendations of the General Accounting Office on 
improving the administration of the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 by 
                     the Department of Agriculture.

    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 ``Packers and Stockyards Enforcement 
Improvement Act of 2000''.

SEC. 2. ENFORCEMENT.

    (a) Implementation of the General Accounting Office Report.--Not 
later than 1 year after September 21, 2000, the Secretary of 
Agriculture shall implement the recommendations of the report issued by 
the General Accounting Office entitled ``Packers and Stockyards 
Programs: Actions Needed to Improve Investigations of Competitive 
Practices'', GAO/RCED-00-242, dated September 21, 2000.
    (b) Consultation.--During the implementation period referred to in 
subsection (a), and for such an additional time period as needed to 
assure effective implementation, the Secretary of Agriculture shall 
consult and work with the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade 
Commission in order to--
            (1) implement the investigation management, operations, and 
        case methods development processes recommendations in the 
        report; and
            (2) effectively identify and investigate complaints of 
        unfair and anti-competitive practices, and enforce the Packers 
        and Stockyards Act, 1921.
    (c) Training.--Not later than September 21, 2001, the Secretary of 
Agriculture shall develop and implement a training program for staff of 
the Department of Agriculture engaged in investigations of complaints 
of unfair and anti-competitive activity, drawing on existing training 
materials and programs available at the Department of Justice and the 
Federal Trade Commission, to the extent practicable.

SEC. 3. REPORT.

    Title IV of the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 is amended by--
            (1) redesignating section 415 (7 U.S.C. 229) as section 
        416; and
            (2) inserting after section 414 the following:
    ``Sec. 415. Not later than March 1 of each year, the Secretary 
shall submit to Congress and make publicly available a report that--
            ``(1) assesses the general economic state of the cattle and 
        hog industries; and
            ``(2) identifies business practices or market operations or 
        activities in those industries that represent possible 
        violations of this Act or are inconsistent with the goals of 
        this Act.''.

SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION REPORT.

    The Secretary of Agriculture shall report to Congress on October 1, 
2001, on the actions taken to comply with section 2.
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