[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3401 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 3401

 To amend the Federal Crop Insurance Act to authorize the Federal Crop 
Insurance Corporation to carry out research and development on a single 
            index insurance policy, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            December 5, 2023

   Mr. Welch (for himself, Mr. Sanders, Ms. Warren, and Mr. Markey) 
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 authorize the Federal Crop 
Insurance Corporation to carry out research and development on a single 
            index insurance policy, 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 ``Withstanding Extreme Agricultural 
Threats by Harvesting Economic Resilience Act of 2023'' or the 
``WEATHER Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. SINGLE INDEX INSURANCE POLICY.

    (a) In General.--Section 522(c) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act 
(7 U.S.C. 1522(c)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(20) Single index insurance policy.--
                    ``(A) Definitions.--In this paragraph:
                            ``(i) Covered crop or commodity.--The term 
                        `covered crop or commodity' means any crop or 
                        commodity (including a specialty crop) on a 
                        farm except timber, forest products, animals 
                        for sport or show, and pets.
                            ``(ii) Covered policy.--The term `covered 
                        policy' means the single index insurance policy 
                        described in subparagraph (B)(i).
                            ``(iii) Covered weather condition.--
                                    ``(I) In general.--The term 
                                `covered weather condition' means any 
                                of the following weather conditions 
                                that are found to be closely correlated 
                                with agricultural income losses:
                                            ``(aa) High winds.
                                            ``(bb) Excessive moisture 
                                        and flooding.
                                            ``(cc) Extreme heat.
                                            ``(dd) Abnormal freeze 
                                        conditions.
                                            ``(ee) Wildfire.
                                            ``(ff) Hail.
                                            ``(gg) Drought.
                                            ``(hh) Any other severe 
                                        weather or growing conditions 
                                        applicable to small-scale 
                                        farmers, as determined by the 
                                        Secretary.
                                    ``(II) Data.--The existence of a 
                                weather condition described in 
                                subclause (I) shall be determined by 
                                indices that prioritize using data from 
                                the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
                                Administration, as available, but may 
                                use other federally or State certified 
                                weather data sources, public and 
                                private satellite data, and weather and 
                                climate data and models, if necessary, 
                                as determined by the Secretary.
                    ``(B) Policy.--
                            ``(i) In general.--The Corporation shall 
                        carry out research and development, or offer to 
                        enter into 1 or more contracts with 1 or more 
                        qualified persons to carry out research and 
                        development, to develop a single index policy 
                        to insure against agricultural income losses 
                        due to 1 or more covered weather conditions.
                            ``(ii) Coverage.--Research and development 
                        on the covered policy under clause (i) shall 
                        require that coverage is available in all 50 
                        States (including Indian Tribes), the District 
                        of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, the 
                        Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, 
                        the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the Virgin 
                        Islands of the United States.
                            ``(iii) Option to buy-up or buy-down.--
                                    ``(I) In general.--Research and 
                                development on the covered policy under 
                                clause (i) shall consider permitting a 
                                holder of the covered policy to elect 
                                to buy-up to 150 percent, subject to 
                                subclause (II), or buy-down to 5 
                                percent, of the median county-level 
                                adjusted gross income for farms, in 5-
                                percent increments, to reflect the 
                                income of the individual farm business 
                                of the holder insured under the covered 
                                policy.
                                    ``(II) Limitation.--A holder of a 
                                covered policy may buy-up under 
                                subclause (I) only if the farms of the 
                                holder insured under the covered policy 
                                have at least 3 covered crops or 
                                commodities.
                            ``(iv) Priority features of policy.--In 
                        carrying out research and development on the 
                        covered policy under clause (i), the following 
                        features may be given priority:
                                    ``(I) Agricultural income losses 
                                under the covered policy include--
                                            ``(aa) losses for all 
                                        covered crops or commodities; 
                                        and
                                            ``(bb) losses to the value 
                                        of packing, packaging, or any 
                                        other similar on-farm activity 
                                        that the Corporation determines 
                                        necessary to remove a covered 
                                        crop or commodity from the 
                                        field.
                                    ``(II) Payments are made under the 
                                covered policy not later than 30 days 
                                after the occurrence of a covered 
                                weather condition in the county in 
                                which the applicable farm of the farmer 
                                is located or an adjacent county.
                                    ``(III) Provision of seasonal 
                                coverage periods.
                                    ``(IV) Provision of special 
                                consideration to concerns facing 
                                individual farm businesses--
                                            ``(aa) that have less than 
                                        $350,000 in adjusted gross 
                                        income; and
                                            ``(bb) with respect to 
                                        which a farmer is an 
                                        underserved producer (as 
                                        defined in section 
                                        508(a)(7)(A)).
                                    ``(V) Paperwork requirements are 
                                reduced for farmers seeking to obtain a 
                                covered policy.
                            ``(v) Consultation.--In carrying out 
                        research and development on the covered policy 
                        under clause (i), the Corporation--
                                    ``(I) shall hold stakeholder 
                                meetings to solicit producer and agent 
                                feedback; and
                                    ``(II) may consult with licensed 
                                actuaries with experience developing 
                                index policies insuring agricultural 
                                production.
                    ``(C) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date 
                of enactment of this paragraph, the Corporation shall 
                make publicly available a report that describes--
                            ``(i) the results of the research and 
                        development carried out under this paragraph; 
                        and
                            ``(ii) recommendations to Congress with 
                        respect to those results, including--
                                    ``(I) any challenges to developing 
                                the covered policy; and
                                    ``(II) options to address those 
                                challenges.''.
    (b) Technical Amendment.--Section 531(a)(18) of the Federal Crop 
Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1531(a)(18)) is amended by striking ``section 
2501(e) of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 
(7 U.S.C. 2279(e))'' and inserting ``section 2501(a) of the Food, 
Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 2279(a)).''.
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