[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1905 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1905

 To amend the Federal Crop Insurance Act to support crop insurance for 
                specialty crops, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           November 18, 2011

Mrs. Gillibrand introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Federal Crop Insurance Act to support crop insurance for 
                specialty crops, 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 ``Specialty Crop Insurance Act of 
2011''.

SEC. 2. ADVANCE PAYMENTS FOR UNDERSERVED REGIONS AND CROPS.

    Section 522(b)(2) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 
1522(b)(2)) is amended by striking subparagraph (E) and inserting the 
following:
                    ``(E) Approval.--
                            ``(i) In general.--The Board may approve up 
                        to 50 percent of the projected total research 
                        and development costs to be paid in advance to 
                        an applicant, in accordance with the procedures 
                        developed by the Board for the making of the 
                        payments, if, after consideration of the 
                        reviewer reports described in subparagraph (D) 
                        and such other information as the Board 
                        determines appropriate, the Board determines--
                                    ``(I) the concept, in good faith, 
                                will likely result in a viable and 
                                marketable policy consistent with 
                                section 508(h);
                                    ``(II) in the sole opinion of the 
                                Board, the concept, if developed into a 
                                policy and approved by the Board, would 
                                provide crop insurance coverage--
                                            ``(aa) in a significantly 
                                        improved form;
                                            ``(bb) to a crop or region 
                                        not traditionally served by the 
                                        Federal crop insurance program; 
                                        or
                                            ``(cc) in a form that 
                                        addresses a recognized flaw or 
                                        problem in the program;
                                    ``(III) the applicant agrees to 
                                provide such reports as the Corporation 
                                determines are necessary to monitor the 
                                development effort;
                                    ``(IV) the proposed budget and 
                                timetable are reasonable; and
                                    ``(V) the concept proposal meets 
                                any other requirements that the Board 
                                determines appropriate.
                            ``(ii) Waiver.--The Board may waive the 50-
                        percent cap on costs paid under clause (i) if, 
                        in the sole discretion of the Board, the Board 
                        determines that--
                                    ``(I) the concept proposal provides 
                                coverage for a region or crop that is 
                                underserved by the Federal crop 
                                insurance program, including specialty 
                                crops; and
                                    ``(II) the submitter of the concept 
                                proposal does not have sufficient 
                                financial resources to fund the 
                                development of the concept or the 
                                submission.''.

SEC. 3. AUTHORITY TO CONDUCT RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.

    (a) In General.--Section 522(c) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act 
(7 U.S.C. 1522(c)) is amended--
            (1) in the subsection heading by striking ``Contracting'';
            (2) in paragraph (1), in the matter preceding subparagraph 
        (A), by striking ``may enter into contracts to carry out 
        research and development to'' and inserting ``may conduct 
        activities or enter into contracts to carry out research and 
        development to maintain or improve existing policies or develop 
        new policies to'';
            (3) in paragraph (2)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ``conduct 
                research and development or'' after ``The Corporation 
                may''; and
                    (B) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ``conducting 
                research and development or'' after ``Before'';
            (4) in paragraph (5), by inserting ``after expert review in 
        accordance with section 505(e)'' after ``approved by the 
        Board''; and
            (5) in paragraph (6), by striking ``a pasture, range, and 
        forage program'' and inserting ``policies that increase 
        participation by producers of underserved agricultural 
        commodities, including specialty crops''.
    (b) Funding.--Section 522(e) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 
U.S.C. 1522(e)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (2)--
                    (A) by striking ``(A) Authority.--'' and inserting 
                ``(A) Conducting and contracting for research and 
                development.--'';
                    (B) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ``conduct 
                research and development and'' after ``the Corporation 
                may use to''; and
                    (C) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ``conduct 
                research and development and'' after ``for the fiscal 
                year to'';
            (2) in paragraph (3), by striking ``to provide either 
        reimbursement payments or contract payments''; and
            (3) by striking paragraph (4).
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