[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 30 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 30

  To provide countercyclical income loss protection to offset extreme 
 losses resulting from severe economic and weather-related events, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 19, 1999

 Mr. Daschle (for himself, Mr. Harkin, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Wellstone, Mr. 
 Kerrey, Mr. Bingaman, and Mr. Baucus) introduced the following bill; 
  which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, 
                        Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To provide countercyclical income loss protection to offset extreme 
 losses resulting from severe economic and weather-related events, and 
                          for other purposes.

    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 ``Agricultural Market Failure 
Protection Act of 1999''.

SEC. 101. MARKETING ASSISTANCE LOANS.

    (a) In General.--Section 132 of the Agricultural Market Transition 
Act (7 U.S.C. 7232) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(1)--
                    (A) by striking ``be--'' and all that follows 
                through ``(A) not'' and inserting ``be not''; and
                    (B) by striking ``; but'' and all that follows 
                through ``per bushel'';
            (2) in subsection (b)(1)--
                    (A) by striking ``be--'' and all that follows 
                through ``(A) not'' and inserting ``be not''; and
                    (B) by striking ``; but'' and all that follows 
                through ``per bushel'';
            (3) in subsection (c)(2), by striking ``or more than 
        $0.5192 per pound'';
            (4) in subsection (d)--
                    (A) by striking ``be--'' and all that follows 
                through ``(1) not'' and inserting ``be not''; and
                    (B) by striking ``; but'' and all that follows 
                through ``per pound'';
            (5) by striking subsection (e) and inserting the following:
    ``(e) Rice.--The loan rate for a marketing assistance loan under 
section 131 for rice shall be--
            ``(1) not less than 85 percent of the simple average price 
        received by producers of rice, as determined by the Secretary, 
        during the marketing years for the immediately preceding 5 
        crops of rice, excluding the year in which the average price 
        was the highest and the year in which the average price was the 
        lowest in the period; but
            ``(2) not less than $6.50 per hundredweight.''; and
            (6) in subsection (f)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1)(B), by striking ``or more than 
                $5.26''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (2)(B), by striking ``or more than 
                $0.093''.
    (b) Term of Loan.--Section 133 of the Agricultural Market 
Transition Act (7 U.S.C. 7233) is amended by striking subsection (c) 
and inserting the following:
    ``(c) Extensions.--The Secretary may extend the term of a marketing 
assistance loan for any loan commodity for a period not to exceed 6 
months.''.
    (c) Application.--
            (1) In general.--The authority provided by this section 
        applies to the 1999 and subsequent crops of a loan commodity 
        (as defined in section 102 of the Agricultural Market 
        Transition Act (7 U.S.C. 7202)).
            (2) Loans.--This section applies to a marketing assistance 
        loan for a loan commodity made under subtitle C of the 
        Agricultural Market Transition Act (7 U.S.C. 7231 et seq.) for 
        the 1999 crop year before, on, or after the date of enactment 
        of this Act.

SEC. 3. NET OPERATING LOSS OF FARMERS.

    (a) Increase in Carryback Years.--Paragraph (1) of section 172(b) 
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to net operating loss 
carrybacks and carryforwards) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new subparagraph:
                    ``(G) Farming losses.--Subparagraph (A)(i) shall be 
                applied by substituting `10 years' for `2 years' with 
                respect to the portion of the net operating loss of an 
                eligible taxpayer (as defined in subsection (i)) for 
                any taxable year beginning after December 31, 1997, and 
                ending before January 1, 2000, which is a farming loss 
                (as so defined) with respect to the taxpayer.''
    (b) Definitions and Rules Relating to Farming Losses.--Section 172 
of such Code is amended by redesignating subsection (i) as subsection 
(j) and inserting after subsection (h) the following new subsection:
    ``(i) Definitions and Rules Relating to Farming Losses.--For 
purposes of this section--
            ``(1) Farming loss.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The term `farming loss' means 
                the lesser of--
                            ``(i) the net operating loss of the 
                        taxpayer for the taxable year, or
                            ``(ii) the net operating loss of the 
                        taxpayer for the taxable year determined by 
                        only taking into account items of income and 
                        deduction attributable to 1 or more qualified 
                        farming businesses of the taxpayer.
                    ``(B) Dollar limitation.--
                            ``(i) In general.--The farming loss of a 
                        taxpayer for any taxable year shall not exceed 
                        $200,000.
                            ``(ii) Aggregation rules.--
                                    ``(I) In general.--All persons 
                                treated as 1 employer under subsections 
                                (a) or (b) of section 52 shall be 
                                treated as 1 person.
                                    ``(II) Pass-thru entity.--In the 
                                case of a partnership, trust, or other 
                                pass-thru entity, the limitation shall 
                                be applied at both the entity and the 
                                owner level.
                                    ``(III) Owner.--The limitation 
                                shall be reduced by the amount of 
                                farming loss determined for a 
                                corporation for which the taxpayer is a 
                                50 percent owner in the taxable year of 
                                the corporation ending in the taxable 
                                year of the taxpayer owner.
            ``(2) Eligible taxpayer.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The term `eligible taxpayer' 
                means a taxpayer which derives more than 50 percent of 
                its gross income for the 3-year period beginning 2 
                years prior to the current taxable year from qualified 
                farming businesses.
                    ``(B) Qualified farming business.--The term 
                `qualified farming business' means a trade or business 
                of farming (within the meaning of section 2032A)--
                            ``(i) with respect to which--
                                    ``(I) the taxpayer or a member of 
                                the family of the taxpayer materially 
                                participates (within the meaning of 
                                section 2032A(e)(6)), or
                                    ``(II) in the case of a taxpayer 
                                other than an individual, a 20 percent 
                                owner of the taxpayer or a member of 
                                the owner's family materially 
                                participates (as so defined), and
                            ``(ii) which does not receive in excess of 
                        $7,000,000 from sales in a taxable year.
                For purposes of clause (i)(II), owners which are 
                members of a single family shall be treated as a single 
                owner.
            ``(3) Owner.--
                    ``(A) 20 percent owner.--The term `20 percent 
                owner' means any person who would be described in 
                section 416(i)(1)(B)(i) if `20 percent' were 
                substituted for `5 percent' each place it appears in 
                such section.
                    ``(B) 50 percent owner.--The term `50 percent 
                owner' means any person who would be described in 
                section 416(i)(1)(B)(i) if `50 percent' were 
                substituted for `5 percent' each place it appears in 
                such section.
            ``(4) Coordination with subsection (b)(2).--For purposes of 
        applying subsection (b)(2), a farming loss for any taxable year 
        shall be treated as a separate net operating loss for such 
        taxable year to be taken into account after the remaining 
        portion of the net operating loss for such taxable year.
            ``(5) Election.--Any taxpayer entitled to a 10-year 
        carryback under subsection (b)(1)(G) from any loss year may 
        elect to have the carryback period with respect to such loss 
        year, and any portion of the farming loss for such year, 
        determined without regard to subsection (b)(1)(G). Such 
        election shall be made in such manner as may be prescribed by 
        the Secretary and shall be made by the due date (including 
        extensions of time) for filing the taxpayer's return for the 
        taxable year of the net operating loss. Such election, once 
        made for any taxable year, shall be irrevocable for that 
        taxable year.''
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