Appropriations bill FY99, Agriculture

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Title I: Agricultural Programs

Title II: Conservation Programs

Title III: Rural Economic and Community Development Programs

Title IV: Domestic Food Programs

Title V: Foreign Assistance and Related Programs

Title VI: Related Agencies and Food and Drug Administration

Title VII: General Provisions

Title VIII: Agricultural Credit

Title IX: India-Pakistan Relief Act

Title X: Under Secretary of Agriculture for Marketing and

Regulatory Programs

Title XI: Emergency and Market Loss Assistance

Subtitle A: Emergency Assistance for Crop and Livestock

Feed Losses Due to Disasters

Subtitle B: Market loss Assistance

Subtitle C: Other Assistance

Subtitle D: Administration

Title XII: Biodiesel

Title XIII: Emergency Appropriations

Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999 - Title I: Agricultural Programs - Appropriates funds for FY 1999 for the following Department of Agriculture programs and services: (1) Office of the Secretary of Agriculture; (2) executive operations (Chief Economist, National Appeals Division) (3) Office of Budget and Program Analysis; (4) Office of the Chief Information Officer; (5) Chief Financial Officer; (6) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration; (7) Agriculture buildings and facilities and rental payments; (8) hazardous waste management; (9) departmental administration; (10) outreach for socially disadvantaged farmers; (11) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations; (12) Office of Communications; (13) Office of the Inspector General; (14) Office of the General Counsel; (15) Office of the Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics; (16) Economic Research Service; (17) National Agricultural Statistics Service; (18) Agricultural Research Service; (19) Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service; (20) Native American Institutions Endowment Fund; (21) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs; (22) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service; (23) Agricultural Marketing Service; (24) funds for strengthening markets, income, and supply; (25) payments to States and possessions; (26) Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration; (27) Food Safety and Inspection Service; (28) Office of the Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services; (29) Farm Service Agency; (30) State mediation grants; (31) dairy indemnity program; (32) Agricultural Credit Insurance Fund account; (33) Risk Management Agency; (34) Federal Crop Insurance Corporation Fund; (35) Commodity Credit Corporation Fund; and (36) extension activities.

Title II: Conservation Programs - Appropriates funds for the: (1) Office of the Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment; and (2) Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Title III: Rural Economic and Community Development Programs - Appropriates funds for the following: (1) Office of the Under Secretary for Rural Development; (2) Rural Housing Service; (3) Rural Business-Cooperative Service; and (4) Rural Utilities Service. Title IV: Domestic Food Programs - Appropriates funds for the following: (1) Office of the Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services; (2) Food and Nutrition Service; and (3) food stamps.

Title V: Foreign Assistance and Related Programs - Appropriates funds for the Foreign Agricultural Service and General Sales Manager.

Title VI: Related Agencies and Food and Drug Administration - Appropriates funds for the following: (1) Food and Drug Administration; (2) Farm Credit System Financial Assistance Corporation; (3) Commodity Futures Trading Commission; and (4) Farm Credit Administration.

Title VII: General Provisions - Specifies certain uses and limits on or prohibitions against the use of funds appropriated by this Act.

(Sec. 728) Designates the United States National Rice Germplasm Evaluation and Enhancement Center, Stuttgart, Arkansas, as the "Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center."

(Sec. 729) Authorizes the transfer of specified funds for the Lower Mississippi Delta Region.

(Sec. 730) Prohibits funds available under this Act from being used to enroll more than 120,000 acres in the FY 1999 wetlands reserve program.

(Sec. 731) Prohibits funds available under this Act from being used to carry out the emergency food assistance program if such program exceeds $90 million.

(Sec. 732) Prohibits funds available under this Act from being used for the Initiative for Future Agricultural and Food Systems.

(Sec. 733) States that the City of Big Spring, Texas, shall be eligible for certain rural housing programs.

(Sec. 734) States that the Municipality of Carolina, Puerto Rico, shall be eligible for certain rural utility grants and loans.

(Sec. 735) States that the definition of "rural areas" for certain business and community facilities programs shall be as provided by statute and regulation prior to enactment of P.L.104-127.

(Sec. 736) Prohibits funds available under this Act from being used for any commodity purchase program that would prohibit farmer- owned cooperative participation.

(Sec. 737) Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to exclude the ionophore or arsenical classes of animal drugs from the definition of antibacterial ingredient or animal drug for certain animal drug application purposes.

(Sec. 738) Prohibits the use of any funds to implement: (1) specified milk marketing orders other than during the period February 1, 1999 through April 4, 1999, and only if effective on October 1, 1999; and (2) a clause under such orders designating California as a separate Federal milk marketing order other than during the period from final rule issuance through September 30, 1999.

(Sec. 739) Requires milk marketing orders to include estimates of regional production costs, including transportation and marketing.

(Sec. 740) Prohibits funds available under this Act from being used to carry out a conservation farm option program.

(Sec. 741) Waives the statute of limitations on certain Department of Agriculture (Department) nonemployment discrimination complaints.

(Sec. 742) Provides compensatory damages to farmers found to have been discriminated against under a Department loan program or other activity in violation of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

(Sec. 743) Amends Federal law with respect to brown tree snake introduction from Guam.

(Sec. 744) Makes conservation funds available for construction of the Franklin County Lake Project, Mississippi.

(Sec. 745) Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act with respect to the water systems program for rural and Native Alaskan villages to: (1) reduce Alaska's matching fund requirement; and (2) increase the annual authorization of appropriations.

(Sec. 746) Prohibits funds available under this Act for the Food and Drug Administration from being used to plan for, or close or relocate the Food and Drug Administration Division of Drug Analysis in St. Louis, Missouri.

(Sec. 747) Prohibits funds available under this Act or any other Act for any fiscal year from being used to inspect and certify agricultural processing equipment unless the Secretary imposes a fee and performs such activities in a manner similar to that for agricultural products under the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946. Exempts the Secretary's authority under the Federal Meat Inspection Act, the Poultry Products Inspection Act, and the Egg Products Inspection Act from such requirement.

(Sec. 748) Limits producer administrative fees for crop insurance catastrophic risk protection to not more than $50 per crop per county.

(Sec. 749) Makes a specified Department personnel management demonstration project permanent.

(Sec. 750) Amends the Housing Act of 1949 to extend through FY 2000: (1) set-aside authority for targeted rural underserved areas and colonias, and for rural rental housing funds; (2) loan authority for housing and related facilities for elderly persons and families; (3) set-aside authority for nonprofit entities; and (4) loan guarantee authority for multifamily rental housing (prohibits guarantee denial due to tax-exempt financing).

(Sec. 751) Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to exempt 30-year easements from certain payment limitations under the wetlands reserve program.

(Sec. 753) Amends the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Research Act of 1978, as amended by the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998, with respect to the Northeastern States Research Cooperative.

Amends the Honey Research, Promotion, and Consumer Information Act, as amended by the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998, to increase the honey assessment rate.

Amends the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 to make State agricultural experiment stations eligible for certain research grants.

Amends the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 to make State agricultural experiment stations eligible for new agricultural research, extension, and educational initiatives.

Amends the Hatch Act of 1887 and the Smith-Lever Act, respectively, with respect to specified agricultural matching fund provisions for Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam.

(Sec. 754) Prohibits funds appropriated by this Act or any other Act from being used for an agricultural budget submission to the Congress that assumes reductions from the previous year's budget due to user fee proposals unless the submission also identifies spending reductions to occur if the user fees are not enacted.

(Sec. 755) Amends the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 with respect to inspections and certifications in interstate commerce to consider shell eggs packed under a Department voluntary grading program as not having been shipped for sale prior to such packing.

Directs the Secretary and the Secretary of Health and Human Services to submit a shell egg and egg product safety report.

(Sec. 756) Caps certain FY 1999 computer-related Department activities.

(Sec. 757) Authorizes the Secretary to use specified funds for certain disaster or emergency tree loss assistance due to fire blight.

(Sec. 758) Prohibits funds available under this Act from being used to establish an Office of Community Food Security or similar office within the Department without prior approval by the House and Senate Committees of Appropriations.

(Sec. 759) Makes the city of Vineland, New Jersey, eligible for Rural Housing Service and Rural Business-Cooperative Service programs.

(Sec. 760) Places a moratorium on the rule making authority of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over swaps and derivatives through March 30, 1999.

(Sec. 761) Prohibits the use of funds to allow the Agricultural Research Service to accept and administer the National Swine Research Center in Ames, Iowa.

(Sec. 762) Amends the Agricultural Market Transition Act to revise upland cotton special marketing loan provisions regarding marketing certificates and special import imposition.

(Sec. 763) Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to obligate specified emergency assistance appropriations for: (1) low-income families adversely affected by utilizing Federal Emergency Management Agency guidelines; (2) Department of Commerce administrative costs, trade adjustment assistance, and disaster research and prevention; and (3) Small Business Administration direct loans.

(Sec. 764) Amends the Clean Air Act with respect to methyl bromide production, production termination (not to terminate before January 1, 2005), and critical use exemption.

Title VIII: Agricultural Credit - Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to prohibit: (1) loans to a borrower who has received loan or loan guarantee debt forgiveness; and (2) loan guarantees to a borrower who has received debt forgiveness after April 4, 1996, or who has received debt forgiveness on more than three occasions as of such date.

Authorizes direct or guaranteed farm operating loans to a borrower whose loan has been restructured or whose reorganized payments are current.

Authorizes emergency loans to a borrower who: (1) has not received loan or loan guarantee debt forgiveness after April 4, 1996; or (2) has not received more than one forgiveness as of such date.

(Sec. 802) Prohibits loan denial based upon lack of a specific amount of collateral if repayment is otherwise reasonably certain.

(Sec. 803) Amends the Federal Crop Insurance Act and the Agricultural Market Transition Act to exempt emergency loans from their respective multiple benefits restriction.

(Sec. 804) Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to require borrower notification of impending real estate loan ineligibility.

(Sec. 806) Increases farm ownership and operating loan limits.

(Sec. 808) Reduces certain cash flow margin criteria for loan restructuring purposes.

Title IX: India-Pakistan Relief Act - India-Pakistan Relief Act of 1998 - Authorizes the President to waive for up to one year certain export control laws for India or Pakistan under the Arms Export Control Act, the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, or the Export Import Bank Act of 1945.

Title X: Under Secretary of Agriculture for Marketing and Regulatory Programs - Amends the Federal Crop Insurance Reform and Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 to authorize the Secretary to establish the position of Under Secretary of Agriculture for Marketing and Regulatory Programs. Directs the Secretary to delegate those Department functions related to agricultural marketing, animal and plant health inspection, grain inspection, and packers and stockyards.

Title XI: Emergency and Market Loss Assistance - Subtitle A: Emergency Assistance for Crop and Livestock Feed Losses Due to Disasters - Directs: (1) the Secretary to administer a disaster crop loss assistance program, with specified spending limits for 1998 disaster crop losses and multiyear (1998 and preceding year) disaster and disease crop losses; (2) producers without 1998 crop insurance to purchase 1999 and 2000 insurance in order to qualify for assistance; and (3) the Secretary to use specified amounts for livestock feed assistance to producers affected by 1998 disasters.

Subtitle B: Market Loss Assistance - Directs the Secretary to use specified amounts for owners and producers eligible for FY 1998 production flexibility contract payments to partially compensate them for 1998 market losses. Establishes a dairy producer set-aside.

Subtitle C: Other Assistance - Directs the Secretary to provide matching assistance to Georgia for an indemnity fund for cotton producers whose properly stored and harvested crops were lost by bankrupt warehouses in 1998 or 1999.

(Sec. 1122) Provides 1998 honey recourse loans.

(Sec. 1123) Provides FY 1999 noninsured crop assistance to specified raisin producers.

(Sec. 1124) Appropriates additional Department funds for emergency assistance for certain losses incurred under the Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976.

(Sec. 1125) Amends the Food for Progress Act of 1985 to: (1) increase FY 1999 funding limits for the food for progress program; and (2) direct the Secretary to use private voluntary organizations to the maximum extent in carrying out the FY 1999 program.

(Sec. 1126) Amends the Agricultural Market Transition Act to provide FY 1999 recourse loans for mohair.

Subtitle D: Administration - Directs the Secretary to carry out this title through the Commodity Credit Corporation.

(Sec. 1132) Designates amounts made available under this title as emergency requirements pursuant to the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control of 1985, as amended.

Title XII: Biodiesel - (Language of this title was included as section 7 of P.L.105-388.) Amends the Energy Policy Act of 1992 to set forth a statutory mechanism for the allocation of credit for specified biodiesel fuel use by a fleet or covered person.

Directs the Secretary of Energy to allocate one credit to a fleet or covered person for each qualifying volume of the biodiesel component of fuel containing at least 20 percent biodiesel by volume (B-20) purchased for use by the fleet or covered person in vehicles that weigh more than 8,500 pounds gross vehicle weight rating. Permits the Secretary to lower the B-20 requirement for reasons related to cold start, safety, or vehicle function considerations.

Prohibits the allocation of credits for a purchase of biodiesel: (1) for use in alternative fueled vehicles; or (2) required by Federal or State law.

Directs the Secretary, upon the request of a fleet or covered person receiving a credit allocation, to treat a purchase as the required annual acquisition of one alternative fueled vehicle.

Title XIII: Emergency Appropriations - Makes emergency appropriations (designated pursuant to the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, as amended) to the Department for the: (1) Farm Service Agency; and (2) Natural Resources Conservation Service.