[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3408 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3408

  To reauthorize the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999 and to 
           amend the swine reporting provisions of that Act.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 22, 2005

 Mr. Goodlatte (for himself and Mr. Peterson of Minnesota) introduced 
 the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To reauthorize the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999 and to 
           amend the swine reporting provisions of that Act.

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

SECTION 1. EXTENSION.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 5 of subtitle B of the Agricultural 
Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1636 et seq.) is amended by adding at 
the end the following new section:

``SEC. 260. TERMINATION OF AUTHORITY.

    ``The authority provided by this subtitle terminates on September 
30, 2010.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment and Extension.-- Section 942 of the 
Livestock Mandatory Price Reporting Act of 1999 (7 U.S.C. 1635 note; 
Public Law 106-78) is amended by striking ``terminate on September 30, 
2005'' and inserting ``(other than section 911 of subtitle A and the 
amendments made by that section) terminate on September 30, 2010''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    (a) Base Market Hogs.--Section 231(4) of the Agricultural Marketing 
Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1635i(4)) is amended to read as follows:
            ``(4) Base market hog.--The term `base market hog' means a 
        barrow or gilt for which no discounts are subtracted from and 
        no premiums are added to the base price.''.
    (b) Boars.--Section 231(5) of such Act (7 U.S.C. 1635i(5)) is 
amended to read as follows:
            ``(5) Boar.--The term `boar' means a sexually-intact male 
        swine.''.
    (c) Packer of Sows and Boars.--Section 231(12) of such Act (7 
U.S.C. 1635i(12)) is amended by--
            (1) striking subparagraph (B) and inserting the following 
        new subparagraph:
                    ``(B) for any calendar year, the term includes 
                only--
                            ``(i) a swine processing plant that 
                        slaughtered an average of at least 100,000 
                        swine per year during the immediately preceding 
                        five calendar years; and
                            ``(ii) a person that slaughtered an average 
                        of at least 200,000 sows, boars, or any 
                        combination thereof, per year during the 
                        immediately preceding five calendar years; 
                        and''; and
            (2) in subparagraph (C)--
                    (A) by inserting ``or person'' after ``swine 
                processing plant'';
                    (B) by inserting ``or person'' after ``plant 
                capacity of the processing plant''; and
                    (C) by inserting ``or person'' after ``determining 
                whether the processing plant''.

SEC. 3. REPORTING; BARROWS AND GILTS.

    Section 232(c) of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 
1635j(c)) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(c) Daily Reporting; Barrows and Gilts.--
            ``(1) Prior day report.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The corporate officers or 
                officially designated representatives of each packer 
                processing plant that processes barrows or gilts shall 
                report to the Secretary, for each business day of the 
                packer, such information as the Secretary determines 
                necessary and appropriate to--
                            ``(i) comply with the publication 
                        requirements of this section; and
                            ``(ii) provide for the timely access to the 
                        information by producers, packers, and other 
                        market participants.
                    ``(B) Reporting deadline and plants required to 
                report.--A packer required to report under subparagraph 
                (A) shall--
                            ``(i) not later than 7:00 a.m. Central Time 
                        on each reporting day, report information 
                        regarding all barrows and gilts purchased or 
                        priced, and
                            ``(ii) not later than 9:00 a.m. Central 
                        Time on each reporting day, report information 
                        regarding all barrows and gilts slaughtered,
                during the prior business day of the packer.
                    ``(C) Information required.--The information from 
                the prior business day of a packer required under this 
                paragraph shall include--
                            ``(i) all purchase data, including--
                                    ``(I) the total number of--
                                            ``(aa) barrows and gilts 
                                        purchased; and
                                            ``(bb) barrows and gilts 
                                        scheduled for delivery; and
                                    ``(II) the base price and purchase 
                                data for slaughtered barrows and gilts 
                                for which a price has been established;
                            ``(ii) all slaughter data for the total 
                        number of barrows and gilts slaughtered, 
                        including--
                                    ``(I) information concerning the 
                                net price, which shall be equal to the 
                                total amount paid by a packer to a 
                                producer (including all premiums, less 
                                all discounts) per hundred pounds of 
                                carcass weight of barrows and gilts 
                                delivered at the plant--
                                            ``(aa) including any sum 
                                        deducted from the price per 
                                        hundredweight paid to a 
                                        producer that reflects the 
                                        repayment of a balance owed by 
                                        the producer to the packer or 
                                        the accumulation of a balance 
                                        to later be repaid by the 
                                        packer to the producer; and
                                            ``(bb) excluding any sum 
                                        earlier paid to a producer that 
                                        must later be repaid to the 
                                        packer;
                                    ``(II) information concerning the 
                                average net price, which shall be equal 
                                to the quotient (stated per hundred 
                                pounds of carcass weight of barrows and 
                                gilts) obtained by dividing--
                                            ``(aa) the total amount 
                                        paid for the barrows and gilts 
                                        slaughtered at a packing plant 
                                        during the applicable reporting 
                                        period, including all premiums 
                                        and discounts, and including 
                                        any sum deducted from the price 
                                        per hundredweight paid to a 
                                        producer that reflects the 
                                        repayment of a balance owed by 
                                        the producer to the packer, or 
                                        the accumulation of a balance 
                                        to later be repaid by the 
                                        packer to the producer, less 
                                        all discounts; by
                                            ``(bb) the total carcass 
                                        weight (in hundred pound 
                                        increments) of the barrows and 
                                        gilts;
                                    ``(III) information concerning the 
                                lowest net price, which shall be equal 
                                to the lowest net price paid for a 
                                single lot or a group of barrows or 
                                gilts slaughtered at a packing plant 
                                during the applicable reporting period 
                                per hundred pounds of carcass weight of 
                                barrows and gilts;
                                    ``(IV) information concerning the 
                                highest net price, which shall be equal 
                                to the highest net price paid for a 
                                single lot or group of barrows or gilts 
                                slaughtered at a packing plant during 
                                the applicable reporting period per 
                                hundred pounds of carcass weight of 
                                barrows and gilts;
                                    ``(V) the average carcass weight, 
                                which shall be equal to the quotient 
                                obtained by dividing--
                                            ``(aa) the total carcass 
                                        weight of the barrows and gilts 
                                        slaughtered at the packing 
                                        plant during the applicable 
                                        reporting period, by
                                            ``(bb) the number of the 
                                        barrows and gilts described in 
                                        item (aa),
                                adjusted for special slaughter 
                                situations (such as skinning or foot 
                                removal), as the Secretary determines 
                                necessary to render comparable carcass 
                                weights;
                                    ``(VI) the average sort loss, which 
                                shall be equal to the average discount 
                                (in dollars per hundred pounds carcass 
                                weight) for barrows and gilts 
                                slaughtered during the applicable 
                                reporting period, resulting from the 
                                fact that the barrows and gilts did not 
                                fall within the individual packer's 
                                established carcass weight or lot 
                                variation range;
                                    ``(VII) the average backfat, which 
                                shall be equal to the average of the 
                                backfat thickness (in inches) measured 
                                between the third and fourth from the 
                                last ribs, 7 centimeters from the 
                                carcass split (or adjusted from the 
                                individual packer's measurement to that 
                                reference point using an adjustment 
                                made by the Secretary) of the barrows 
                                and gilts slaughtered during the 
                                applicable reporting period;
                                    ``(VIII) the average lean 
                                percentage, which shall be equal to the 
                                average percentage of the carcass 
                                weight comprised of lean meat for the 
                                barrows and gilts slaughtered during 
                                the applicable reporting period, except 
                                that when a packer is required to 
                                report the average lean percentage 
                                under this subclause, the packer shall 
                                make available to the Secretary the 
                                underlying data, applicable methodology 
                                and formulae, and supporting materials 
                                used to determine the average lean 
                                percentage, which the Secretary may 
                                convert to the carcass measurements or 
                                lean percentage of the barrows and 
                                gilts of the individual packer to 
                                correlate to a common percent lean 
                                measurement; and
                                    ``(IX) the total slaughter 
                                quantity, which shall be equal to the 
                                total number of barrows and gilts 
                                slaughtered during the applicable 
                                reporting period, including all types 
                                of purchases and barrows and gilts that 
                                qualify as packer-owned swine; and
                            ``(iii) packer purchase commitments, which 
                        shall be equal to the number of barrows and 
                        gilts scheduled for delivery to a packer for 
                        slaughter for each of the next 14 calendar 
                        days.
                    ``(D) Publication.--
                            ``(i) In general.--The Secretary shall 
                        publish the information obtained under this 
                        paragraph in a prior day report--
                                    ``(I) in the case of information 
                                regarding barrows and gilts purchased 
                                or priced, not later than 8:00 a.m. 
                                Central Time, and
                                    ``(II) in the case of information 
                                regarding barrows and gilts 
                                slaughtered, not later than 10:00 a.m. 
                                Central time,
                        on the reporting day on which the information 
                        is received from the packer.
                            ``(ii) Price distributions.--The 
                        information published by the Secretary under 
                        clause (i) shall include a distribution of net 
                        prices in the range between and including the 
                        lowest net price and the highest net price 
                        reported. The publication shall include a 
                        delineation of the number of barrows and gilts 
                        at each reported price level or, at the option 
                        of the Secretary, the number of barrows and 
                        gilts within each of a series of reasonable 
                        price bands within the range of prices.
            ``(2) Morning report.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The corporate officers or 
                officially designated representatives of each packer 
                processing plant that processes barrows or gilts shall 
                report to the Secretary not later than 10:00 a.m. 
                Central Time each reporting day--
                            ``(i) the packer's best estimate of the 
                        total number of barrows and gilts, and barrows 
                        and gilts that qualify as packer-owned swine, 
                        expected to be purchased throughout the 
                        reporting day through each type of purchase;
                            ``(ii) the total number of barrows and 
                        gilts, and barrows and gilts that qualify as 
                        packer-owned swine, purchased up to that time 
                        of the reporting day through each type of 
                        purchase;
                            ``(iii) the base price paid for all base 
                        market hogs purchased up to that time of the 
                        reporting day through negotiated purchases; and
                            ``(iv) the base price paid for all base 
                        market hogs purchased through each type of 
                        purchase other than negotiated purchase up to 
                        that time of the reporting day, unless such 
                        information is unavailable due to pricing that 
                        is determined on a delayed basis.
                    ``(B) Publication.--The Secretary shall publish the 
                information obtained under this paragraph in the 
                morning report as soon as practicable, but not later 
                than 11:00 a.m. Central Time, on each reporting day.
            ``(3) Afternoon report.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The corporate officers or 
                officially designated representatives of each packer 
                processing plant that processes barrows or gilts shall 
                report to the Secretary not later than 2:00 p.m. 
                Central Time each reporting day--
                            ``(i) the packer's best estimate of the 
                        total number of barrows and gilts, and barrows 
                        and gilts that qualify as packer-owned swine, 
                        expected to be purchased throughout the 
                        reporting day through each type of purchase;
                            ``(ii) the total number of barrows and 
                        gilts, and barrows and gilts that qualify as 
                        packer-owned swine, purchased up to that time 
                        of the reporting day through each type of 
                        purchase;
                            ``(iii) the base price paid for all base 
                        market hogs purchased up to that time of the 
                        reporting day through negotiated purchases; and
                            ``(iv) the base price paid for all base 
                        market hogs purchased up to that time of the 
                        reporting day through each type of purchase 
                        other than negotiated purchase, unless such 
                        information is unavailable due to pricing that 
                        is determined on a delayed basis.
                    ``(B) Publication.--The Secretary shall publish the 
                information obtained under this paragraph in the 
                afternoon report as soon as practicable, but not later 
                than 3:00 p.m. Central Time, on each reporting day.''.

SEC. 4. REPORTING; SOWS AND BOARS.

    Section 232 of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 
1635j) is amended by--
            (1) redesignating subsection (d) as subsection (e); and
            (2) inserting after subsection (c) the following new 
        subsection:
    ``(d) Daily Reporting; Sows and Boars.--
            ``(1) Prior day report.--The corporate officers or 
        officially designated representatives of each packer of sows 
        and boars shall report to the Secretary, for each business day 
        of the packer, such information reported by hog class as the 
        Secretary determines necessary and appropriate to--
                    ``(A) comply with the publication requirements of 
                this section; and
                    ``(B) provide for the timely access to the 
                information by producers, packers, and other market 
                participants.
            ``(2) Reporting.--Not later than 9:30 a.m. Central Time, or 
        such other time as the Secretary considers appropriate, on each 
        reporting day, a packer required to report under paragraph (1) 
        shall report information regarding all sows and boars purchased 
        or priced during the prior business day of the packer.
            ``(3) Information required.--The information from the prior 
        business day of a packer required under this subsection shall 
        include all purchase data, including--
                    ``(A) the total number of sows purchased and the 
                total number of boars purchased, each divided into at 
                least three reasonable and meaningful weight classes 
                specified by the Secretary;
                    ``(B) the number of sows that qualify as packer-
                owned swine;
                    ``(C) the number of boars that qualify as packer-
                owned swine;
                    ``(D) the average price paid for all sows;
                    ``(E) the average price paid for all boars;
                    ``(F) the average price paid for sows in each 
                weight class specified by the Secretary under 
                subparagraph (A);
                    ``(G) the average price paid for boars in each 
                weight class specified by the Secretary under 
                subparagraph (A);
                    ``(H) the number of sows and the number of boars 
                for which prices are determined, by each type of 
                purchase;
                    ``(I) the average prices for sows and the average 
                prices for boars for which prices are determined, by 
                each type of purchase; and
                    ``(J) such other information as the Secretary 
                considers appropriate to carry out this subsection.
            ``(4) Price calculations without packer-owned swine.--A 
        packer shall omit the prices of sows and boars that qualify as 
        packer-owned swine from all average price calculations, price 
        range calculations, and reports required by this subsection.
            ``(5) Reporting exception: public auction purchases.--The 
        information required to be reported under this subsection shall 
        not include purchases of sows or boars made by agents of the 
        reporting packer at a public auction at which the title of the 
        sows and boars is transferred directly from the producer to 
        such packer.
            ``(6) Publication.--The Secretary shall publish the 
        information obtained under this paragraph in a prior day report 
        not later than 11:00 a.m. Central Time on the reporting day on 
        which the information is received from the packer.
            ``(7) Electronic submission of information.--The Secretary 
        of Agriculture shall provide for the electronic submission of 
        any information required to be reported under this subsection 
        through an Internet website or equivalent electronic means 
        maintained by the Department of Agriculture.''.
                                 <all>