[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 385 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 385

  To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to restore integrity to and 
    strengthen payment limitation rules for commodity payments and 
                               benefits.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 15, 2005

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to restore integrity to and 
    strengthen payment limitation rules for commodity payments and 
                               benefits.

    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 ``Rural America Preservation Act''.

SEC. 2. PAYMENT LIMITATIONS.

    Section 1001 of the Food Security of 1985 (7 U.S.C. 1308) is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (b)(1), by striking ``$40,000'' and 
        inserting ``$20,000'';
            (2) in subsection (c)(1), by striking ``$65,000'' and 
        inserting ``$30,000'';
            (3) in subsection (d), by striking ``(d)'' and all that 
        follows through the end of paragraph (1) and inserting the 
        following:
    ``(d) Limitations on Marketing Loan Gains, Loan Deficiency 
Payments, and Commodity Certificate Transactions.--
            ``(1) Loan commodities.--The total amount of the following 
        gains and payments that a person may receive during any crop 
        year may not exceed $75,000:
                    ``(A)(i) Any gain realized by a producer from 
                repaying a marketing assistance loan for 1 or more loan 
                commodities under subtitle B of title I of the Farm 
                Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C. 
                7931 et seq.) at a lower level than the original loan 
                rate established for the loan commodity under that 
                subtitle.
                    ``(ii) In the case of settlement of a marketing 
                assistance loan for 1 or more loan commodities under 
                that subtitle by forfeiture, the amount by which the 
                loan amount exceeds the repayment amount for the loan 
                if the loan had been settled by repayment instead of 
                forfeiture.
                    ``(B) Any loan deficiency payments received for 1 
                or more loan commodities under that subtitle.
                    ``(C) Any gain realized from the use of a commodity 
                certificate issued by the Commodity Credit Corporation 
                for 1 or more loan commodities, as determined by the 
                Secretary, including the use of a certificate for the 
                settlement of a marketing assistance loan made under 
                that subtitle, with the gain reported annually to the 
                Internal Revenue Service and to the taxpayer in the 
                same manner as gains under subparagraphs (A) and 
                (B).'';
            (4) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(h) Single Farming Operation.--
            ``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding subsections (b) through 
        (d), subject to paragraph (2), if a person participates only in 
        a single farming operation and receives, directly or 
        indirectly, any payment or gain covered by this section through 
        the farming operation, the total amount of payments or gains 
        (as applicable) covered by this section that the person may 
        receive during any crop year may be up to but not exceed twice 
        the applicable dollar amounts specified in subsections (b), 
        (c), and (d).
            ``(2) Individuals.--The total amount of payments or gains 
        (as applicable) covered by this section that an individual 
        person may receive during any crop year may not exceed 
        $250,000.
    ``(i) Spouse Equity.--Notwithstanding subsections (b) through (d), 
except as provided in subsection (e)(2)(C)(i), if an individual and 
spouse are covered by subsection (e)(2)(C) and receive, directly or 
indirectly, any payment or gain covered by this section, the total 
amount of payments or gains (as applicable) covered by this section 
that the individual and spouse may jointly receive during any crop year 
may not exceed twice the applicable dollar amounts specified in 
subsections (b), (c), and (d).
    ``(j) Regulations.--
            ``(1) In general.--Not later than 270 days after the date 
        of enactment of this subsection, the Secretary shall promulgate 
        regulations--
                    ``(A) to ensure that total payments and gains 
                described in this section made to or through joint 
                operations or multiple entities under the primary 
                control of a person, in combination with the payments 
                and gains received directly by the person, shall not 
                exceed twice the applicable dollar amounts specified in 
                subsections (b), (c), and (d);
                    ``(B) in the case of a person that in the aggregate 
                owns, conducts farming operations, or provides custom 
                farming services on land with respect to which the 
                aggregate payments exceed the applicable dollar amounts 
                specified in subsections (b), (c), and (d), to 
                attribute all payments and gains made on crops produced 
                on the land to--
                            ``(i) a person that rents land as lessee or 
                        lessor through a crop share lease and receives 
                        a share of the payments that is less than the 
                        usual and customary share of the crop received 
                        by the lessee or lessor, as determined by the 
                        Secretary;
                            ``(ii) a person that provides custom 
                        farming services through arrangements under 
                        which--
                                    ``(I) all or part of the 
                                compensation for the services is at 
                                risk;
                                    ``(II) farm management services are 
                                provided by--
                                            ``(aa) the same person;
                                            ``(bb) an immediate family 
                                        member; or
                                            ``(cc) an entity or 
                                        individual that has a business 
                                        relationship that is not an 
                                        arm's length relationship, as 
                                        determined by the Secretary; or
                                    ``(III) more than \2/3\ of the 
                                farming operations are conducted as 
                                custom farming services provided by--
                                            ``(aa) the same person;
                                            ``(bb) an immediate family 
                                        member; or
                                            ``(cc) an entity or 
                                        individual that has a business 
                                        relationship that is not an 
                                        arm's length relationship, as 
                                        determined by the Secretary; or
                            ``(iii) a person under such other 
                        arrangements as the Secretary determines are 
                        established to transfer payments from persons 
                        that would otherwise exceed the applicable 
                        dollar amounts specified in subsections (b), 
                        (c), and (d); and
                    ``(C) to ensure that payments attributed under this 
                section to a person other than the direct recipient 
                shall also count toward the limit of the direct 
                recipient.
            ``(2) Primary control.--The regulations under paragraph (1) 
        shall define `primary control' to include a joint operation or 
        multiple entity in which a person owns an interest that is 
        equal to or greater than the interest of any other 1 or more 
        persons that materially participate on a regular, substantial, 
        and continuous basis in the management of the operation or 
        entity.''.

SEC. 3. SCHEMES OR DEVICES.

     Section 1001B of the Food Security Act of 1985 (7 U.S.C. 1308-2) 
is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(a) In general.--'' before ``If''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) Fraud.--If fraud is committed by a person in connection with 
a scheme or device to evade, or that has the purpose of evading, 
section 1001, 1001A, or 1001C, the person shall be ineligible to 
receive farm program payments (as described in subsections (b), (c), 
and (d) of section 1001 as being subject to limitation) applicable to 
the crop year for which the scheme or device is adopted and the 
succeeding 5 crop years.''.

SEC. 4. REGULATIONS.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of Agriculture may promulgate such 
regulations as are necessary to implement this Act and the amendments 
made by this Act.
    (b) Procedure.--The promulgation of the regulations and 
administration of this Act and the amendments made by this Act 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; and
            (3) chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code (commonly 
        known as the ``Paperwork Reduction Act'').
    (c) Congressional Review of Agency Rulemaking.--In carrying out 
this section, the Secretary shall use the authority provided under 
section 808 of title 5, United States Code.
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