[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 91 (Tuesday, June 9, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H3929-H3931]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
MANDATORY PRICE REPORTING ACT OF 2015
Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 2051) to amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to
extend the livestock mandatory price reporting requirements, and for
other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 2051
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 ``Mandatory Price Reporting
Act of 2015''.
SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF LIVESTOCK MANDATORY REPORTING.
(a) Extension of Authority.--Section 260 of the
Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1636i) is
amended by striking ``September 30, 2015'' and inserting
``September 30, 2020''.
(b) Emergency Authority.--Section 212(12)(C) of the
Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1635a(12)(C)) is
amended by inserting ``, including any day on which any
Department employee is on shutdown or emergency furlough as a
result of a lapse in appropriations'' after ``conduct
business''.
(c) Conforming Amendment.--Section 942 of the Livestock
Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999 (7 U.S.C. 1635 note; Public
Law 106-78) is amended by striking ``September 30, 2015'' and
inserting ``September 30, 2020''.
SEC. 3. SWINE REPORTING.
(a) Definitions.--Section 231 of the Agricultural Marketing
Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1635i) is amended--
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (9) through (22) as
paragraphs (10) through (23), respectively;
(2) by inserting after paragraph (8) the following new
paragraph:
``(9) Negotiated formula purchase.--The term `negotiated
formula purchase' means a purchase of swine by a packer from
a producer under which--
``(A) the pricing mechanism is a formula price for which
the formula is determined by negotiation on a lot-by-lot
basis; and
``(B) the swine are scheduled for delivery to the packer
not later than 14 days after the date on which the formula is
negotiated and swine are committed to the packer.'';
(3) in paragraph (12)(A) (as so redesignated), by inserting
``negotiated formula purchase,'' after ``pork market formula
purchase,''; and
(4) in paragraph (23) (as so redesignated)--
(A) in subparagraph (C), by striking ``and'' at the end;
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(B) by redesignating subparagraph (D) as subparagraph (E);
and
(C) by inserting after subparagraph (C) the following new
subparagraph:
``(D) a negotiated formula purchase; and''.
(b) Daily Reporting.--Section 232(c) of the Agricultural
Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1635j(c)) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1)(D), by striking clause (ii) and
inserting the following new clause:
``(ii) Price distributions.--The information published by
the Secretary under clause (i) shall include--
``(I) a distribution of net prices in the range between and
including the lowest net price and the highest net price
reported;
``(II) a delineation of the number of barrows and gilts at
each reported price level or, at the option of the Secretary,
the number of barrows and gilts within each of a series of
reasonable price bands within the range of prices; and
``(III) the total number and weighted average price of
barrows and gilts purchased through negotiated purchases and
negotiated formula purchases.''; and
(2) in paragraph (3), by adding at the end the following
new subparagraph:
``(C) Late in the day report information.--The Secretary
shall include in the morning report and the afternoon report
for the following day any information required to be reported
under subparagraph (A) that is obtained after the time of the
reporting day specified in such subparagraph.''.
SEC. 4. LAMB REPORTING.
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of
this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall revise section
59.300 of title 7, Code of Federal Regulations, so that--
(1) the definition of the term ``importer''--
(A) includes only those importers that imported an average
of 1,000 metric tons of lamb meat products per year during
the immediately preceding 4 calendar years; and
(B) may include any person that does not meet the
requirement referred to in subparagraph (A), if the Secretary
determines that the person should be considered an importer
based on their volume of lamb imports; and
(2) the definition of the term ``packer''--
(A) applies to any entity with 50 percent or more ownership
in a facility;
(B) includes a federally inspected lamb processing plant
which slaughtered or processed the equivalent of an average
of 35,000 head of lambs per year during the immediately
preceding 5 calendar years; and
(C) may include any other lamb processing plant that did
not meet the requirement referred to in subparagraph (B), if
the Secretary determines that the processing plant should be
considered a packer after considering its capacity.
SEC. 5. STUDY ON LIVESTOCK MANDATORY REPORTING.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of Agriculture, acting
through the Agricultural Marketing Service in conjunction
with the Office of the Chief Economist and in consultation
with cattle, swine, and lamb producers, packers, and other
market participants, shall conduct a study on the program of
information regarding the marketing of cattle, swine, lambs,
and products of such livestock under subtitle B of the
Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1635 et seq.).
Such study shall--
(1) analyze current marketing practices in the cattle,
swine, and lamb markets;
(2) identify legislative or regulatory recommendations made
by cattle, swine, and lamb producers, packers, and other
market participants to ensure that information provided under
such program--
(A) can be readily understood by producers, packers, and
other market participants;
(B) reflects current marketing practices; and
(C) is relevant and useful to producers, packers, and other
market participants;
(3) analyze the price and supply information reporting
services of the Department of Agriculture related to cattle,
swine, and lamb; and
(4) address any other issues that the Secretary considers
appropriate.
(b) Report.--Not later than January 1, 2020, the Secretary
of Agriculture shall submit to the Committee on Agriculture
of the House of Representatives and the Committee on
Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate a report
containing the findings of the study conducted under
subsection (a).
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Conaway) and the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Walz) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas.
General Leave
Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their
remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Texas?
There was no objection.
Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume,
and I rise in support of H.R. 2051, the Mandatory Price Reporting Act
of 2015.
I want to begin by thanking my colleagues on the Agriculture
Committee, Ranking Member Peterson and Congressman Rouzer, for joining
me in introducing this legislation. I am especially appreciative of Mr.
Rouzer's work as subcommittee chairman in holding a hearing to foster
discussions that led to this important legislation.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2051 is a bill to reauthorize the Livestock
Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999. This bill, like the underlying act and
each subsequent reauthorization, has been the result of dialogue and
consensus between livestock producers and other industry participants.
I would like to extend my gratitude to our Nation's livestock
producers, capably represented by their trade associations--the
National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the National Pork Producers
Council, and the American Sheep Industry Association--for their hard
work and dedication on this effort.
We fully understand that government mandates, like price reporting,
can be onerous, and that not all industry participants may fully
embrace this program.
That said, it is apparent that over the preceding 16 years, mandatory
reporting has become an essential tool that allows for greater
transparency and price discovery within the livestock industry,
especially as the industry continues to evolve.
This reauthorization contains a number of industry-specific
modifications proposed by the pork producers and sheep producers. We,
likewise, include a provision that responds generally to industry
concern regarding USDA's arbitrary decision to shut this mandatory
program down for several days during the lapse in appropriations that
occurred in 2013, while other mandatory programs were deemed essential.
Following extensive negotiations, the cattlemen have opted to support
a simple reauthorization without any statutory modifications. I
appreciate their hard work and look forward to continuing to work with
them on future improvements that they may choose to pursue.
Mr. Speaker, this is a simple, bipartisan reauthorization that
represents consensus among industry participants. I urge Members to
support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.
{time} 1515
Mr. WALZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise in support of the Mandatory Price Reporting Act of 2015.
Mr. Speaker, I would say let's hope that what you see is a pattern
developing here: smart, bipartisan legislation passed in a timely
fashion to make sure this country's business goes on uninterrupted.
You heard it from the chairman, these programs are important for
producers, who rely on access to transparent, accurate, and timely
market information. The bill makes an important change to mandatory
price reporting by making it an ``essential'' government program.
As you also heard, the 2013 government shutdown disrupted price
reporting. This designation will ensure that, if we ever find ourselves
in that situation again, price reporting will continue on. This is the
very least we can do for the hard-working folks who are out there. It
gives our producers the certainty that it will be there. It is the
right thing to do. Again, it is smart; it is bipartisan; it is timely.
And I would urge my colleagues not only to support this, but to make
this a habit in much of what we do.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
North Carolina (Mr. Rouzer), chairman of the Subcommittee on Livestock
and Foreign Agriculture.
Mr. ROUZER. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the chairman for his good
and hard work on this important piece of legislation.
As chairman of the Livestock and Foreign Agriculture Subcommittee in
which the Mandatory Price Reporting Act originated, I too want to thank
the stakeholders for their hard work in coming together on the
provisions of this bill.
Mandatory price reporting was developed in response to changing
markets, with an increasing number of animals being sold with little
information publicly accessible. As these structural changes continued,
livestock producers requested that price reporting be made mandatory.
Even today, livestock markets are continuing to evolve, and it was
the
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goal and intent of the committee to bring all parties together to
strike a balance that promotes fairness, transparency, and stability in
the market. No one knows how to make this process work better than
those directly involved, and I appreciate the willingness of these
stakeholders to work together with the committee to craft this
legislation.
I also look forward to working with our Senate colleagues to continue
the tradition of a healthy dialogue between both Chambers of Congress,
producers, and packers on this reauthorization so that we can make sure
that the requested modifications are executed as smoothly as possible.
In closing, I would like to again thank Chairman Conaway, Ranking
Member Collin Peterson, and the committee staff for their tremendous
help and guidance.
Mr. Speaker, I commend this legislation to my colleagues, and I
appreciate their support.
Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the remainder of the time.
Mr. Speaker, I too want to thank my colleagues across the aisle as
well as colleagues on the committee with me, but I also was remiss
earlier in not thanking the dedicated staff of the Ag Committee that
worked on the grain standards bill and the group that has worked on
this one as well.
We are blessed. Our country is blessed to have dedicated
professionals on both sides of the aisle and the committee staff who do
a great job working together, trying to avoid the kind of partisanship
that sometimes permeates this body.
Again, I rise in support of this mandatory price reporting
reauthorization. I will remind my colleagues that this does not expire
until September 30 of this year. We are actually ahead of the curve and
would commend this process to the House on other important issues like
that. I ask my colleagues to support the bill.
I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Conaway) that the House suspend the rules and
pass the bill, H.R. 2051, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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