[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2421 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2421

 To require the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation to revise the terms 
     of the Standard Reinsurance Agreement and the Livestock Price 
             Reinsurance Agreement, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 20, 2023

Mr. Booker (for himself, Mr. Blumenthal, and Mr. Welch) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                  Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation to revise the terms 
     of the Standard Reinsurance Agreement and the Livestock Price 
             Reinsurance Agreement, 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 ``Insuring Fairness for Family Farmers 
Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. TERMS FOR STANDARD REINSURANCE AGREEMENT AND LIVESTOCK PRICE 
              REINSURANCE AGREEMENT.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) A&O subsidy.--The term ``A&O subsidy'' means the 
        subsidy for administrative and operating expenses paid by the 
        Corporation on behalf of the policyholder to the applicable 
        approved insurance provider for eligible crop insurance 
        contracts for additional coverage levels, in accordance with 
        section 508(k)(4) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 
        1508(k)(4)).
            (2) Corporation.--The term ``Corporation'' has the meaning 
        given the term in section 502(b) of the Federal Crop Insurance 
        Act (7 U.S.C. 1502(b)).
            (3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Agriculture.
    (b) Renegotiation of Standard Reinsurance Agreement and the 
Livestock Price Reinsurance Agreement.--
            (1) In general.--The Corporation shall revise the financial 
        terms and conditions of the Standard Reinsurance Agreement and 
        the Livestock Price Reinsurance Agreement to modify the 
        calculation of A&O subsidies--
                    (A) to improve the equity of the distribution of 
                payments to crop insurance agents across farm sizes; 
                and
                    (B) to improve the equity of policies sold across 
                farm sizes.
            (2) Terms.--The terms that shall be included in the revised 
        Standard Reinsurance Agreement and Livestock Price Reinsurance 
        Agreement under paragraph (1) are the following:
                    (A) Subject to paragraph (3), there shall be a 
                fixed minimum amount and maximum amount for the amount 
                of A&O subsidy that may be paid per insurance 
                policyholder, and the maximum amount shall not be more 
                than 400 percent greater than the minimum amount.
                    (B) The amount of an A&O subsidy, within the 
                minimum and maximum amounts established under 
                subparagraph (A), shall correspond to the complexity, 
                for a crop insurance agent, of issuing 1 or more 
                insurance plans for a specific policyholder--
                            (i) taking into account factors including 
                        the number of crops being insured by the 
                        policyholder, the type of insurance policies 
                        being issued, the number of insurance policies 
                        or endorsements being issued, and whether the 
                        policyholder has had crop insurance previously; 
                        but
                            (ii) not taking into account the insurance 
                        policy premium.
                    (C)(i) A bonus of 10 percent of the applicable A&O 
                subsidy amount shall be added to the total amount of 
                the applicable A&O subsidy, for each condition 
                described in clause (ii) that is satisfied.
                    (ii) The conditions referred to in clause (i) are 
                the following:
                            (I) The applicable farm operates less than 
                        180 acres.
                            (II) The insurance policy insures at least 
                        1 specialty crop that is not eligible for a 
                        crop-specific insurance policy in the county in 
                        which the specialty crop is grown.
                            (III) The applicable farm is owned by a 
                        farmer who has never purchased crop insurance 
                        before.
            (3) Exceptions to minimum and maximum amounts.--
                    (A) Minimum for standard reinsurance agreement.--In 
                the case of the Standard Reinsurance Agreement, the 
                Corporation may reduce the minimum amount of an A&O 
                subsidy established under paragraph (2)(A) as needed to 
                comply with section III(a)(2)(G) of the 2024 Standard 
                Reinsurance Agreement.
                    (B) Maximum.--An A&O subsidy amount may exceed the 
                maximum amount established under paragraph (2)(A) if a 
                bonus or multiple bonuses under paragraph (2)(C) are 
                applied to the A&O subsidy amount.
            (4) Budget.--The Corporation shall ensure that the Standard 
        Reinsurance Agreement and the Livestock Price Reinsurance 
        Agreement renegotiated under paragraph (1) shall each, to the 
        maximum extent practicable, be estimated as budget neutral with 
        respect to the total amount of A&O subsidy payments as compared 
        to the total amount of such payments estimated to be made under 
        the immediately preceding Standard Reinsurance Agreement or 
        Livestock Price Reinsurance Agreement, as applicable, if that 
        Agreement were extended over the same period of time.
            (5) Tracking data.--The Administrator of the Risk 
        Management Agency may establish a program that maintains a list 
        of farmers that have purchased crop insurance previously to 
        share with approved insurance providers for purposes of 
        implementing the bonus described in paragraph (2)(C).
    (c) Public Data.--
            (1) Guidance.--The Corporation shall develop and publish 
        the methodology used to determine the amount of an A&O subsidy, 
        within the minimum and maximum amounts established pursuant to 
        subsection (b)(2)(A), based on the complexity of issuing an 
        insurance policy for 1 or more farms of a policyholder.
            (2) A&O subsidy data.--
                    (A) In general.--The Secretary shall make publicly 
                available, on an annual basis, A&O subsidy data 
                regarding--
                            (i) the total amount of A&O subsidy 
                        payments, organized by State, commodity, 
                        insurance plan type, and practice type;
                            (ii) the average and median A&O subsidy 
                        payments per insured acre, organized by State, 
                        commodity, insurance plan type, and practice 
                        type;
                            (iii) the total amount of compensation paid 
                        by approved insurance providers to crop 
                        insurance agents, organized by State, 
                        commodity, insurance plan type, and practice 
                        type;
                            (iv) the average and median compensation 
                        per insured acre paid by approved insurance 
                        providers to crop insurance agents, organized 
                        by State, commodity, insurance plan type, and 
                        practice type;
                            (v) the average and median A&O subsidy 
                        payment per policyholder, organized by State, 
                        commodity, insurance plan type, and practice 
                        type;
                            (vi) the average and median A&O subsidy 
                        payment per insured acre, organized by State, 
                        commodity, insurance plan type, and practice 
                        type;
                            (vii) whether and how much total additional 
                        A&O subsidies were paid due to the SnapBack 
                        program or 1 or more bonuses described in 
                        subsection (b)(2)(C), organized by State, 
                        insurance plan type, and commodity; and
                            (viii) whether A&O subsidies were subject 
                        to the Standard Reinsurance Agreement or 
                        Livestock Price Reinsurance Agreement, as 
                        applicable, cap for A&O subsidies, and if so, 
                        what the total amount of A&O subsidy amounts 
                        would have been without the cap, organized by 
                        State, insurance plan type, and commodity.
                    (B) Confidentiality.--The data made publicly 
                available under subparagraph (A) shall be aggregated 
                and anonymized to protect the privacy of individuals 
                and approved insurance providers.
    (d) Data From Approved Insurance Providers.--An approved insurance 
provider shall annually submit data on agent compensation, by 
individual agent, agency, and policy, to the Secretary and the 
Comptroller General of the United States on request.
    (e) Study.--The Administrator of the Risk Management Agency shall 
use data mining and other available information--
            (1) to analyze the impact of the changes to A&O subsidy 
        amounts required under this section on--
                    (A) the distribution of A&O subsidy amounts across 
                policies and farming operations; and
                    (B) agent and producer choices on how to insure 
                crops; and
            (2) to assess whether changes in the number of policies per 
        farming operation and other factors indicate attempts to 
        undermine the goal of this section to improve the equity of the 
        distribution of A&O subsidy amounts.
    (f) Regulations.--The Administrator of the Risk Management Agency 
shall promulgate regulations, if needed, to limit the attempts 
described in subsection (e)(2).

SEC. 3. GAO REPORT.

    Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Comptroller General of the United States shall make publicly available 
a report that--
            (1) assesses the structure of the Federal crop insurance 
        program; and
            (2) provides recommendations on how to reform that program 
        to best reflect generally accepted insurance and market 
        principles.
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