[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 480 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 480

 To require the Secretary of Agriculture to make emergency loans under 
    the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act and to provide 
  emergency assistance to greenhouse farming operations whose energy 
                     costs have escalated sharply.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 6, 2001

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require the Secretary of Agriculture to make emergency loans under 
    the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act and to provide 
  emergency assistance to greenhouse farming operations whose energy 
                     costs have escalated sharply.

    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 ``Greenhouse Farming Emergency Energy 
Assistance Act of 2001''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) sudden and dramatic increases in energy prices have 
        caused an economic disaster for greenhouse farming operations; 
        and
            (2) such an economic disaster is as devastating to a 
        community as a natural disaster and should be regarded as such.

SEC. 3. EMERGENCY LOANS FOR GREENHOUSE FARMING OPERATIONS WHOSE ENERGY 
              COSTS HAVE ESCALATED SHARPLY.

    A qualified energy price increase found by the Secretary of 
Agriculture to have been experienced by a greenhouse farming operation 
shall be considered a natural disaster for purposes of subtitle C of 
the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act, but only with respect 
to such an operation.

SEC. 4. IMMEDIATE EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE FOR GREENHOUSE FARMING 
              OPERATIONS WHOSE ENERGY COSTS HAVE ESCALATED SHARPLY.

    (a) Availability of Assistance.--As soon as practicable after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall 
provide financial assistance directly to greenhouse farming operations 
that the Secretary finds had a qualified energy price increase to 
assist the operations in covering all or a portion of the higher 
operating costs incurred as a result of the increase in energy prices.
    (b) Emergency Designation.--The eligibility of a greenhouse farming 
operation for assistance under this section does not require either the 
existence of a natural disaster in the county in which the greenhouse 
farming operation is located or an emergency designation by the 
President or the Secretary.
    (c) Funding.--The Secretary shall use funds made available under 
section 815 of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug 
Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001 (as 
enacted by Public Law 106-387; 114 Stat. 1549A-55), to provide 
assistance to greenhouse farming operations under this section.

SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Greenhouse farming operation.--The term ``greenhouse 
        farming operation'' means a farming operation that produces 
        nursery or other horticultural commodities in a greenhouse or 
        similar enclosed structure for commercial purposes.
            (2) Qualified energy price increase.--The term ``qualified 
        energy price increase'' means, with respect to a greenhouse 
        farming operation, that the average price paid for energy 
        supplies for the operation during the period that began on 
        January 1, 2000, and ended on the date of the enactment of this 
        Act is at least 25 percent greater than the average price paid 
        for energy supplies for the operation during the period that 
        began on January 1, 1997, and ended on December 31, 1999.
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