Farm Subsidy Transparency Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3794 To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to track the distribution of all farm subsidies by race, gender, and size of the farm operation and to make such information about farm subsidies available to the public. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 8, 2021 Mr. RUSH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to track the distribu- tion of all farm subsidies by race, gender, and size of the farm operation and to make such information about farm subsidies available to the public. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Farm Subsidy Trans- 4 parency Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:19 Jun 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3794.IH H3794 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3794 IH SEC. 2. DATA ON RECEIPT OF BENEFITS UNDER AGRI- 1 CULTURE IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2018. 2 Subtitle G of title I of the Agriculture Improvement 3 Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–334) is amended by adding 4 at the end the following: 5 ‘‘SEC. 1708. DATA ON THOSE RECEIVING BENEFITS. 6 ‘‘As soon as practicable after the date of enactment 7 of this section and notwithstanding any other provision of 8 law, the Secretary shall— 9 ‘‘(1) track— 10 ‘‘(A) the benefits provided, directly or indi- 11 rectly, to individuals and entities under this 12 title, title II, and title VII and the amendments 13 made by those titles, including— 14 ‘‘(i) the race and gender of the indi- 15 viduals directly or indirectly receiving the 16 benefits; 17 ‘‘(ii) the race and gender of individual 18 receiving the benefits through an entity 19 and the race and gender of all individuals 20 who comprise such entity; and 21 ‘‘(iii) the rented, owned, or controlled 22 acreage of the farm or ranch of the recipi- 23 ent; and 24 ‘‘(B) the race and gender of individuals 25 who applied for the benefits described in sub- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:19 Jun 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3794.IH H3794 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3794 IH paragraph (A) and did not receive such bene- 1 fits; 2 ‘‘(2) annually make the information tracked 3 pursuant to paragraph (1) publicly available on the 4 website of the Department of Agriculture; and 5 ‘‘(3) annually submit to the Committee on Agri- 6 culture of the House of Representatives and the 7 Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 8 of the Senate, a report that includes the information 9 tracked pursuant to paragraph (1).’’. 10 SEC. 3. DISCLOSURE OF CERTAIN INFORMATION RELATING 11 TO INDIVIDUALS AND ENTITIES THAT OB- 12 TAINED FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE. 13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 506(m) of the Federal 14 Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1506(m)) is amended— 15 (1) by redesignating paragraph (4) as para- 16 graph (5); and 17 (2) by inserting after paragraph (3), the fol- 18 lowing: 19 ‘‘(4) COLLECTION AND RELEASE OF INFORMA- 20 TION IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST.— 21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 22 other provision of law, except as provided in 23 subparagraph (C), the Corporation shall on an 24 annual basis shall require the collection of— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:19 Jun 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3794.IH H3794 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3794 IH ‘‘(i) the name, race, and gender of 1 each individual or each individual that 2 comprises an entity that directly or indi- 3 rectly obtained a federally subsidized crop 4 insurance, livestock, or forage policy or 5 plan of insurance during the previous rein- 6 surance year or had a substantial bene- 7 ficial interest in such entity; 8 ‘‘(ii) the rented, owned, or controlled 9 acreage of the farm or ranch attributable 10 to individuals disclosed under clause (i); 11 and 12 ‘‘(iii) the amount of premium subsidy 13 received, directly or indirectly, by an indi- 14 vidual or entity from the Corporation, in- 15 cluding individuals receiving benefits 16 through an entity, and the race and gender 17 of each such individual or each individual 18 that comprises such an entity. 19 ‘‘(B) RELEASE OF INFORMATION.—Not- 20 withstanding any other provision of law, the 21 Corporation shall annually release to the public 22 the information described in subparagraph (A) 23 by individual, entity, and agricultural oper- 24 ation.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:19 Jun 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3794.IH H3794 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3794 IH (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 502(c)(2) 1 of the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1502(c)(2)) 2 is amended by adding at the end the following: 3 ‘‘(C) MANDATORY DISCLOSURE.—The Cor- 4 poration shall disclose information to the public 5 described in section 506(m)(4).’’. 6 SEC. 4. BENEFITS UNDER THE COMMODITY CREDIT COR- 7 PORATION CHARTER ACT. 8 Section 5 (15 U.S.C. 714c) of the Commodity Credit 9 Corporation Charter Act is amended by adding at the end 10 the following: ‘‘The Secretary shall track the benefits pro- 11 vided, directly or indirectly, to individuals and entities 12 under this section, including the race and gender of the 13 individuals directly receiving the benefits or receiving the 14 benefits through an entity, and the rented, owned, or con- 15 trolled acreage of the farm or ranch of the recipient. The 16 Secretary shall also track the race and gender of the indi- 17 viduals who applied for the benefits described in the pre- 18 ceding sentence and did not receive such benefits. The 19 Secretary shall annually make the information tracked 20 pursuant to the preceding two sentences publicly available 21 on the website of the Department of Agriculture and an- 22 nually submit to the Committee on Agriculture of the 23 House of Representatives and the Committee on Agri- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:19 Jun 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3794.IH H3794 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3794 IH culture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate, a report 1 that includes such information.’’. 2 SEC. 5. FARM CREDIT TRANSPARENCY. 3 Section 704B(b) of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act 4 (15 U.S.C. 1691c–2(b)) is amended by inserting ‘‘farm 5 or ranch,’’ after ‘‘minority-owned,’’ both places it appears. 6 SEC. 6. SERVICE CENTER INFORMATION MANAGEMENT 7 SYSTEM. 8 The Secretary of Agriculture shall collect and track 9 the race and gender of any individual, or in the case of 10 an entity, the individuals comprising such entity, that reg- 11 isters on the service center information management sys- 12 tem of the Department of Agriculture. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:19 Jun 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3794.IH H3794 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS