[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3678 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3678

     To amend the Plant Protection Act to direct the Secretary of 
Agriculture to provide assistance to certain owners as compensation for 
       economic losses due to quarantine, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 15, 2011

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To amend the Plant Protection Act to direct the Secretary of 
Agriculture to provide assistance to certain owners as compensation for 
       economic losses due to quarantine, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Fairness for Family Farmers Act''.

SEC. 2. PAYMENTS FOR PRODUCTION LOSSES DUE TO QUARANTINE.

    (a) Payments.--Subtitle A of the Plant Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 
7111 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 416 the following 
new section:

``SEC. 416A. PAYMENTS FOR PRODUCTION LOSSES DUE TO QUARANTINE.

    ``(a) Payments.--Notwithstanding section 415(e), for each covered 
article quarantined by the Secretary under section 412, 414, or 415, 
the Secretary shall provide a payment to the owner of such covered 
article as compensation for economic losses (as defined by the 
Secretary) incurred by the owner due to the quarantine of such covered 
article.
    ``(b) Regulations: Application and Payment Amounts.--The Secretary 
shall issue regulations to carry out this section, including 
regulations describing--
            ``(1) the form, time, and manner in which the owner of a 
        covered article shall submit an application to receive a 
        payment under this section;
            ``(2) the payment amount the owner of a covered article 
        shall receive under this section for such covered article; and
            ``(3) the maximum total amount of payments an owner of 
        covered articles may receive under this section.
    ``(c) Definition.--In this section the term `covered article' means 
a plant, plant biological control organism, plant product, plant pest, 
noxious weed, article, or means of conveyance quarantined under section 
412, 414, or 415.
    ``(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section such sums as may be necessary, 
to be available until expended.''.
    (b) Effect on Maximum Amount of Emergency Loans.--Section 324(a)(1) 
of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 
1964(a)(1)) is amended by inserting ``less the total amount of any 
payments received under section 416A of the Plant Protection Act'' 
before the semicolon.
    (c) Regulations.--Not later than 120 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall issue 
regulations to carry out the amendments made by this section.

SEC. 3. ELIMINATION OF REQUIREMENT OF DEMONSTRATION OF INABILITY TO 
              OBTAIN CREDIT FOR EMERGENCY LOANS.

    (a) Elimination of Requirement of Demonstration of Inability To 
Obtain Credit.--Section 321(a) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural 
Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1961(a)) is amended in the proviso of the 
first sentence by striking ``and are not able to obtain sufficient 
credit elsewhere''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--
            (1) Definition.--Section 321(d) of the Consolidated Farm 
        and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1961(d)) is amended--
                    (A) by striking ``subtitle'' and all that follows 
                through ``husbandry'' and inserting ``subtitle, 
                `aquaculture' means the husbandry'';
                    (B) by striking ``; and'' and inserting a period; 
                and
                    (C) by striking paragraph (2).
            (2) Determination of creditworthiness.--Section 322 of the 
        Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1962) is 
        amended--
                    (A) by striking subsection (b); and
                    (B) by striking ``(a)''.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The amendments made by this Act shall apply with respect to covered 
articles quarantined under section 412, 414, or 415 of the Plant 
Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 7712, 7714, and 7715) on or after January 1, 
2011.
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