[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 34 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 H. R. 34

  To amend the Agricultural Market Transition Act to provide for the 
   payment of special loan deficiency payments to producers who are 
 eligible for loan deficiency payments, but who suffered yield losses 
 due to damaging weather or related condition in a federally declared 
                             disaster area.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 3, 2001

 Mr. Bereuter introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                        Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Agricultural Market Transition Act to provide for the 
   payment of special loan deficiency payments to producers who are 
 eligible for loan deficiency payments, but who suffered yield losses 
 due to damaging weather or related condition in a federally declared 
                             disaster area.

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

SECTION 1. SPECIAL LOAN DEFICIENCY PAYMENTS IN FEDERALLY DECLARED 
              DISASTER AREAS.

    (a) Availability of Payments.--Section 135 of the Agricultural 
Market Transition Act (7 U.S.C. 7235) is amended by adding at the end 
the following new subsection:
    ``(g) Payments in Federal Disaster Areas.--
            ``(1) Eligibility.--At the request of a producer eligible 
        for a loan deficiency payment under subsection (a) for a loan 
        commodity, the Secretary shall make a payment to the producer 
        under this subsection if the producer--
                    ``(A) insured the commodity under a federally-
                approved crop insurance policy;
                    ``(B) planted the commodity in a county that, 
                during that crop year, was included in a federally 
                declared disaster area or in a contiguous county; and
                    ``(C) suffered yield losses to the commodity due to 
                damaging weather or related condition.
            ``(2) Relation to other payment authority.--A payment under 
        this subsection is in lieu of a payment under subsection (a).
            ``(3) Payment calculation.--The payment under this 
        subsection shall be calculated by multiplying--
                    ``(A) the loan deficiency payment rate determined 
                under subsection (c) in effect, as of the date of the 
                agreement, in the county in which the acreage is 
                located; by
                    ``(B) the quantity of the loan commodity involved, 
                which shall be determined by multiplying--
                            ``(i) the total acreage on which the 
                        producer has a federally approved crop 
                        insurance policy; by
                            ``(ii) the higher of the producer's 
                        established yield for the commodity or the 
                        county average yield for the commodity, as 
                        determined by the Secretary.
            ``(4) Time for payment.--A payment under this subsection 
        shall be made as soon as practicable after the producer makes 
        the request for the payment under paragraph (1).
            ``(5) Federally declared disaster area defined.--In this 
        subsection, the term `federally declared disaster area' means 
        an area--
                    ``(A) covered by a Presidential declaration of 
                major disaster issued under section 401 of the Robert 
                T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 
                Act (42 U.S.C. 5170); or
                    ``(B) determined to be a disaster area by the 
                Secretary under subpart A of part 1945 of title 7, Code 
                of Federal Regulations.''.
    (b) Implementation.--Within 60 days after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall issue regulations to 
carry out the amendment made by subsection (a). The issuance of the 
regulations shall be made without regard to--
            (1) the notice and comment provisions of section 553 of 
        title 5, United States Code;
            (2) 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;
            (3) chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code (commonly 
        known as the ``Paperwork Reduction Act''); and
            (4) other provisions of law which would delay the 
        implementation of the amendment made by subsection (a) beyond 
        90 days.
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