[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3198 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3198

   To provide a pool credit under Federal milk marketing orders for 
     handlers of certified organic milk used for Class I purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

            October 12 (legislative day, September 22), 2000

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To provide a pool credit under Federal milk marketing orders for 
     handlers of certified organic milk used for Class I purposes.

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

SECTION 1. POOL CREDIT FOR HANDLERS OF ORGANIC MILK.

    (a) In General.--Section 8c(5) of the Agricultural Adjustment Act 
(7 U.S.C. 608c(5)), reenacted with amendments by the Agricultural 
Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, is amended by adding at the end the 
following:
                    ``(M) Pool credit for handlers of organic milk.--
                            ``(i) Definitions.--In this subparagraph:
                                    ``(I) Class i milk price.--The term 
                                `Class I milk price' means the minimum 
                                price payable for milk classified as 
                                Class I milk under an order issued 
                                pursuant to this section.
                                    ``(II) Organic milk handler.--The 
                                term `organic milk handler' means--
                                            ``(aa) a person that is 
                                        considered to be a handler 
                                        under an order issued pursuant 
                                        to this section to the extent 
                                        that the person performs the 
                                        functions of a handler with 
                                        respect to organic milk; and
                                            ``(bb) to the extent 
                                        determined necessary by the 
                                        Secretary, any other person 
                                        that purchases organic milk 
                                        directly from a producer of 
                                        organic milk.
                                    ``(III) Organic milk.--The term 
                                `organic milk' means milk that is 
                                certified as organically produced in 
                                accordance with the Organic Foods 
                                Production Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 6501 
                                et seq.).
                                    ``(IV) Organic milk pay price.--The 
                                term `organic milk pay price' means the 
                                price paid by an organic milk handler 
                                to a producer of organic milk for the 
                                entire volume of milk purchased from 
                                the producer, including the price paid 
                                for transporting the milk to the 
                                organic milk handler.
                            ``(ii) Credit.--In the case of an order 
                        applicable to milk and milk products, an 
                        organic milk handler shall be entitled to 
                        receive a credit against the pool obligation of 
                        the organic milk handler for a month that is 
                        equal to the product obtained by multiplying--
                                    ``(I) the quantity of the pool 
                                obligation of the organic milk handler 
                                for the preceding month; and
                                    ``(II) the applicable credit factor 
                                for the preceding month determined 
                                under clause (iii).
                            ``(iii) Amount.--Except as provided in 
                        clause (iv), the amount of a credit provided to 
                        an organic milk handler under this subparagraph 
                        shall be based on the amount by which the 
                        organic milk pay price paid by the organic milk 
                        handler for the organic milk exceeds the Class 
                        I milk price in accordance with the following 
                        table:

``If the organic milk pay price     The credit factor shall be:
        exceeds the Class I milk 
        price by:
    Less than $2.00................
                                        80 percent.
    More than $2.00 but not more 
        than $3.00.
                                        85 percent.
    More than $3.00 but not more 
        than $4.00.
                                        90 percent.
    More than $4.00................
                                        95 percent.
                            ``(iv) Limitations.--
                                    ``(I) In general.--Except as 
                                provided in subclause (II), the amount 
                                of the pool obligation of an organic 
                                milk handler for organic milk under 
                                this subparagraph shall be not less 
                                than 10 nor more than 50 cents per 
                                hundredweight of organic milk.
                                    ``(II) Lower pool obligation for 
                                nonorganic milk.--If the amount of the 
                                pool obligation for milk that is not 
                                organic milk (as calculated under an 
                                order issued pursuant to this section) 
                                is less than the amount of the pool 
                                obligation for organic milk (as 
                                calculated under such an order), the 
                                amount of the pool obligation of an 
                                organic milk handler for organic milk 
                                under this subparagraph shall be equal 
                                to the amount of the pool obligation 
                                for milk that is not organic milk.''.
    (b) Regulations.--
            (1) In general.--As soon as practicable after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall 
        promulgate such regulations as are necessary to implement the 
        amendment made by subsection (a).
            (2) Informal rulemaking.--Notwithstanding section 8c(5) of 
        the Agricultural Adjustment Act (7 U.S.C. 608c(5)), reenacted 
        with amendments by the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 
        1937, except as provided in paragraph (3)(A), the Secretary 
        shall carry out paragraph (1) in accordance with section 553 of 
        title 5, United States Code.
            (3) Procedure.--The promulgation of the regulations and 
        administration of the amendment made by subsection (a) shall be 
        made without regard to--
                    (A) the notice and comment provisions of section 
                553 of title 5, United States Code;
                    (B) the Statement of Policy of the Secretary of 
                Agriculture effective July 24, 1971 (36 Fed. Reg. 
                13804), relating to notices of proposed rulemaking and 
                public participation in rulemaking; and
                    (C) chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code 
                (commonly known as the ``Paperwork Reduction Act'').
            (4) Congressional review of agency rulemaking.--In carrying 
        out this subsection, the Secretary shall use the authority 
        provided under section 808 of title 5, United States Code.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) takes 
effect on the earlier of--
            (1) the date on which the Secretary of Agriculture 
        promulgates final regulations to carry out the Organic Foods 
        Production Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 6501 et seq.); or
            (2) January 1, 2001.
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