[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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