Opportunities for Fairness in Farming Act of 2017
This bill establishes restrictions and requirements for checkoff programs, which are programs overseen by the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to promote and provide research and information for a particular agricultural commodity without reference to specific producers or brands.
The bill prohibits boards established to carry out a checkoff program or a USDA order issued under a checkoff program from entering into a contract or agreement to carry out program activities with a party that engages in activities to influence any government policy or action that relates to agriculture.
A board or its employees or agents acting in their official capacity may not engage in any:
Upon approval of USDA, a board may enter directly into contracts and agreements to carry out generic promotion, research, or other activities authorized by law if the agreement or contract requires records accounting for the funds received to be submitted to the board.
The board must meet specified requirements regarding the publication of budgets and disbursements of funds.
The USDA Inspector General and the Government Accountability Office must conduct specified audits regarding checkoff programs.
[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1753 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
115th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1753
To prohibit certain practices relating to certain commodity promotion
programs, to require greater transparency by those programs, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 28, 2017
Mr. Brat (for himself and Ms. Titus) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prohibit certain practices relating to certain commodity promotion
programs, to require greater transparency by those programs, 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 ``Opportunities for Fairness in
Farming Act of 2017''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that--
(1) the generic programs to promote and provide research
and information for an agricultural commodity (commonly known
as ``checkoff programs'') are intended to increase demand for
all of that agricultural commodity and benefit all assessed
producers of that agricultural commodity;
(2) although the laws establishing checkoff programs
broadly prohibit the use of funds in any manner for the purpose
of influencing legislation or government action, checkoff
programs have repeatedly been shown to use funds to influence
policy directly or by partnering with organizations that lobby;
(3) the unlawful use of checkoff programs funds benefits
some agricultural producers while harming many others;
(4) to more effectively prevent Boards from using funds for
unlawful purposes, strict separation of engagement between the
Boards and policy entities is necessary;
(5) conflicts of interest in the checkoff programs allow
special interests to use checkoff program funds for the benefit
of some assessed agricultural producers at the expense of many
others;
(6) prohibiting conflicts of interest in checkoff programs
is necessary to ensure the proper and lawful operation of the
checkoff programs;
(7) checkoff programs are designed to promote agricultural
commodities, not to damage other types of agricultural
commodities through anticompetitive conduct or otherwise;
(8) prohibiting anticompetitive and similar conduct is
necessary to ensure proper and lawful operation of checkoff
programs;
(9) lack of transparency in checkoff programs enables
abuses to occur and conceals abuses from being discovered; and
(10) requiring transparency in the expenditure of checkoff
program funds is necessary to prevent and uncover abuses in
checkoff programs.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Board.--The term ``Board'' means a board, committee, or
similar entity established to carry out a checkoff program or
an order issued by the Secretary under a checkoff program.
(2) Checkoff program.--The term ``checkoff program'' means
a program to promote and provide research and information for a
particular agricultural commodity without reference to specific
producers or brands, including a program carried out under any
of the following:
(A) The Cotton Research and Promotion Act (7 U.S.C.
2101 et seq.).
(B) The Potato Research and Promotion Act (7 U.S.C.
2611 et seq.).
(C) The Egg Research and Consumer Information Act
(7 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.).
(D) The Beef Research and Information Act (7 U.S.C.
2901 et seq.).
(E) The Wheat and Wheat Foods Research and
Nutrition Education Act (7 U.S.C. 3401 et seq.).
(F) The Floral Research and Consumer Information
Act (7 U.S.C. 4301 et seq.).
(G) Subtitle B of the Dairy Production
Stabilization Act of 1983 (7 U.S.C. 4501 et seq.).
(H) The Honey Research, Promotion, and Consumer
Information Act (7 U.S.C. 4601 et seq.).
(I) The Pork Promotion, Research, and Consumer
Information Act of 1985 (7 U.S.C. 4801 et seq.).
(J) The Watermelon Research and Promotion Act (7
U.S.C. 4901 et seq.).
(K) The Pecan Promotion and Research Act of 1990 (7
U.S.C. 6001 et seq.).
(L) The Mushroom Promotion, Research, and Consumer
Information Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 6101 et seq.).
(M) The Lime Research, Promotion, and Consumer
Information Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 6201 et seq.).
(N) The Soybean Promotion, Research, and Consumer
Information Act (7 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.).
(O) The Fluid Milk Promotion Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C.
6401 et seq.).
(P) The Fresh Cut Flowers and Fresh Cut Greens
Promotion and Information Act of 1993 (7 U.S.C. 6801 et
seq.).
(Q) The Sheep Promotion, Research, and Information
Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.).
(R) Section 501 of the Federal Agriculture
Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 7401).
(S) The Commodity Promotion, Research, and
Information Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 7411 et seq.).
(T) The Canola and Rapeseed Research, Promotion,
and Consumer Information Act (7 U.S.C. 7441 et seq.).
(U) The National Kiwifruit Research, Promotion, and
Consumer Information Act (7 U.S.C. 7461 et seq.).
(V) The Popcorn Promotion, Research, and Consumer
Information Act (7 U.S.C. 7481 et seq.).
(W) The Hass Avocado Promotion, Research, and
Information Act of 2000 (7 U.S.C. 7801 et seq.).
(3) Conflict of interest.--The term ``conflict of
interest'' means a direct or indirect financial interest in a
person or entity that performs a service for, or enters into a
contract or agreement with, a Board for anything of economic
value.
(4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of Agriculture.
SEC. 4. REQUIREMENTS OF CHECKOFF PROGRAMS.
(a) Prohibitions.--
(1) In general.--A Board shall not enter into any contract
or agreement to carry out checkoff program activities with a
party that engages in activities for the purpose of influencing
any government policy or action that relates to agriculture.
(2) Conflict of interest.--A Board shall not engage in, and
shall prohibit the employees and agents of the Board, acting in
their official capacity, from engaging in, any act that may
involve a conflict of interest.
(3) Other prohibitions.--A Board shall not engage in, and
shall prohibit the employees and agents of the Board, acting in
their official capacity, from engaging in--
(A) any anticompetitive activity;
(B) any unfair or deceptive act or practice; or
(C) any act that may be disparaging to, or in any
way negatively portray, another agricultural commodity
or product.
(b) Authority To Enter Into Contracts.--Notwithstanding any other
provision of law, on approval of the Secretary, a Board may enter
directly into contracts and agreements to carry out generic promotion,
research, or other activities authorized by law.
(c) Production of Records.--
(1) In general.--Each contract or agreement of a checkoff
program shall provide that the entity that enters into the
contract or agreement shall produce to the Board accurate
records that account for all funds received under the contract
or agreement, including any goods or services provided or costs
incurred in connection with the contract or agreement.
(2) Maintenance of records.--A Board shall maintain any
records received under paragraph (1).
(d) Publication of Budgets and Disbursements.--
(1) In general.--The Board shall publish and make available
for public inspection all budgets and disbursements of funds
entrusted to the Board that are approved by the Secretary,
immediately on approval by the Secretary.
(2) Required disclosures.--In carrying out paragraph (1),
the Board shall disclose--
(A) the amount of the disbursement;
(B) the purpose of the disbursement, including the
activities to be funded by the disbursement;
(C) the identity of the recipient of the
disbursement; and
(D) the identity of any other parties that may
receive the disbursed funds, including any contracts or
subcontractors of the recipient of the disbursement.
(e) Audits.--
(1) Periodic audits by inspector general of usda.--
(A) In general.--Not later than 2 years after the
date of enactment of this Act, and not less frequently
than every 5 years thereafter, the Inspector General of
the Department of Agriculture shall conduct an audit to
determine the compliance of each checkoff program with
this section during the period of time covered by the
audit.
(B) Review of records.--An audit conducted under
subparagraph (A) shall include a review of any records
produced to the Board under subsection (c)(1).
(C) Submission of reports.--On completion of each
audit under subparagraph (A), the Inspector General of
the Department of Agriculture shall--
(i) prepare a report describing the audit;
and
(ii) submit the report described in clause
(i) to--
(I) the appropriate committees of
Congress, including the Subcommittee on
Antitrust, Competition Policy and
Consumer Rights of the Committee on the
Judiciary of the Senate; and
(II) the Comptroller General of the
United States.
(2) Audit by comptroller general.--
(A) In general.--Not earlier than 3 years, and not
later than 5 years, after the date of enactment of this
Act, the Comptroller General of the United States
shall--
(i) conduct an audit to assess--
(I) the status of actions taken for
each checkoff program to ensure
compliance with this section; and
(II) the extent to which actions
described in subclause (I) have
improved the integrity of a checkoff
program; and
(ii) prepare a report describing the audit
conducted under clause (i), including any
recommendations for--
(I) strengthening the effect of
actions described in clause (i)(I); and
(II) improving Federal legislation
relating to checkoff programs.
(B) Consideration of inspector general reports.--
The Comptroller General of the United States shall
consider reports described in paragraph (1)(C) in
preparing any recommendations in the report under
subparagraph (A)(ii).
SEC. 5. SEVERABILITY.
If any provision of this Act or the application of such provision
to any person or circumstance is held to be unconstitutional, the
remainder of this Act, and the application of the provision to any
other person or circumstance, shall not be affected.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture.
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