February 15, 2005
Mr. GRASSLEY (for himself, Mr. DORGAN, Mr. HAGEL, and Mr. JOHNSON) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
- 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 `Rural America Preservation Act'. [Almost always a name, often skewed to form a good acronym, as in the "Patriot Act".]
SEC. 2. PAYMENT LIMITATIONS.
- Section 1001 of the Food Security of 1985 (7 U.S.C. 1308) is amended--[the permanent authority for limitations]
- (1) in subsection (b)(1), by striking `$40,000' and inserting `$20,000';
- (2) in subsection (c)(1), by striking `$65,000' and inserting `$30,000';
- (3) in subsection (d), by striking `(d)' and all that follows through the end of paragraph (1) and inserting the following:
- `(d) Limitations on Marketing Loan Gains, Loan Deficiency Payments, and Commodity Certificate Transactions-[big thing here is including certificates]
- `(1) LOAN COMMODITIES- The total amount of the following gains and payments that a person may receive during any crop year may not exceed $75,000:
- `(A)(i) Any gain realized by a producer from repaying a marketing assistance loan for 1 or more loan commodities under subtitle B of title I of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C. 7931 et seq.) at a lower level than the original loan rate established for the loan commodity under that subtitle.
- `(ii) In the case of settlement of a marketing assistance loan for 1 or more loan commodities under that subtitle by forfeiture, the amount by which the loan amount exceeds the repayment amount for the loan if the loan had been settled by repayment instead of forfeiture.
- `(B) Any loan deficiency payments received for 1 or more loan commodities under that subtitle.
- `(C) Any gain realized from the use of a commodity certificate issued by the Commodity Credit Corporation for 1 or more loan commodities, as determined by the Secretary, including the use of a certificate for the settlement of a marketing assistance loan made under that subtitle, with the gain reported annually to the Internal Revenue Service and to the taxpayer in the same manner as gains under subparagraphs (A) and (B).'; [ouch, presumably it wasn't reported to IRS before. I wonder how many paid taxes on it.]
- (4) by adding at the end the following:
- `(h) Single Farming Operation-
- `(1) IN GENERAL- Notwithstanding subsections (b) through (d), subject to paragraph (2), if a person participates only in a single farming operation and receives, directly or indirectly, any payment or gain covered by this section through the farming operation, the total amount of payments or gains (as applicable) covered by this section that the person may receive during any crop year may be up to but not exceed twice the applicable dollar amounts specified in subsections (b), (c), and (d). [This removes the two entity rule. I read this as doubling the separate limitations for each category of programs/benefits. ]
- `(2) INDIVIDUALS- The total amount of payments or gains (as applicable) covered by this section that an individual person may receive during any crop year may not exceed $250,000. [ "covered by this section" means that farmers can still get more money under disaster programs.
- `(i) Spouse Equity- Notwithstanding subsections (b) through (d), except as provided in subsection (e)(2)(C)(i), if an individual and spouse are covered by subsection (e)(2)(C) and receive, directly or indirectly, any payment or gain covered by this section, the total amount of payments or gains (as applicable) covered by this section that the individual and spouse may jointly receive during any crop year may not exceed twice the applicable dollar amounts specified in subsections (b), (c), and (d). [I'd read this as limiting husband and wife to $250K.]
- `(j) Regulations-
- `(1) IN GENERAL- Not later than 270 days after the date of enactment of this subsection, the Secretary shall promulgate regulations-- [270 days--if the law is passed by July 1, then the final regs should be out by March 1, 2006 covering the 2006 crop year.]
- `(A) to ensure that total payments and gains described in this section made to or through joint operations or multiple entities under the primary control of a person, in combination with the payments and gains received directly by the person, shall not exceed twice the applicable dollar amounts specified in subsections (b), (c), and (d); [Okay, what does "primary control" mean--see below]
- `(B) in the case of a person that in the aggregate owns, conducts farming operations, or provides custom farming services on land with respect to which the aggregate payments exceed the applicable dollar amounts specified in subsections (b), (c), and (d), to attribute all payments and gains made on crops produced on the land to--
- `(i) a person that rents land as lessee or lessor through a crop share lease and receives a share of the payments that is less than the usual and customary share of the crop received by the lessee or lessor, as determined by the Secretary;
- `(ii) a person that provides custom farming services through arrangements under which--
- `(I) all or part of the compensation for the services is at risk;
- `(II) farm management services are provided by--
- `(III) more than 2/3 of the farming operations are conducted as custom farming services provided by--
- `(iii) a person under such other arrangements as the Secretary determines are established to transfer payments from persons that would otherwise exceed the applicable dollar amounts specified in subsections (b), (c), and (d); and
- `(C) to ensure that payments attributed under this section to a person other than the direct recipient shall also count toward the limit of the direct recipient. [This is the messy part--will need further discussion. Basically it's trying to say, write your regs so the schemes used in the past won't work.]
- `(2) PRIMARY CONTROL- The regulations under paragraph (1) shall define `primary control' to include a joint operation or multiple entity in which a person owns an interest that is equal to or greater than the interest of any other 1 or more persons that materially participate on a regular, substantial, and continuous basis in the management of the operation or entity.'. [Problem area--more discussion.]
SEC. 3. SCHEMES OR DEVICES.
- Section 1001B of the Food Security Act of 1985 (7 U.S.C. 1308-2) is amended--
- (1) by inserting `(a) In general- ' before `If'; and
- (2) by adding at the end the following:
- `(b) Fraud- If fraud is committed by a person in connection with a scheme or device to evade, or that has the purpose of evading, section 1001, 1001A, or 1001C, the person shall be ineligible to receive farm program payments (as described in subsections (b), (c), and (d) of section 1001 as being subject to limitation) applicable to the crop year for which the scheme or device is adopted and the succeeding 5 crop years.'. [Bumps up the penalty from 2 to 5 years.]
SEC. 4. REGULATIONS.
- (a) In General- The Secretary of Agriculture may promulgate such regulations as are necessary to implement this Act and the amendments made by this Act.
- (b) Procedure- The promulgation of the regulations and administration of this Act and the amendments made by this Act shall be made without regard to--
- (1) the notice and comment provisions of section 553 of title 5, United States Code;
- (2) the Statement of Policy of the Secretary of Agriculture effective July 24, 1971 (36 Fed. Reg. 13804), relating to notices of proposed rulemaking and public participation in rulemaking; and
- (3) chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code (commonly known as the `Paperwork Reduction Act').
[An instance where Congress has set requirements on the one hand but here, in the fine print where no one except those interested will notice, lifts the requirements.
- (c) Congressional Review of Agency Rulemaking- In carrying out this section, the Secretary shall use the authority provided under section 808 of title 5, United States Code.
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