I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 243
To amend the Agricultural Act of 2014 and the Consolidated Farm and
Rural Development Act to require producers to establish disaster pre-
paredness plans to be eligible for certain disaster assistance programs,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY10, 2023
Mr. C
OHEN(for himself, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. CARSON, Mr. DOGGETT, Ms.
N
ORTON, and Ms. TITUS) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To amend the Agricultural Act of 2014 and the Consolidated
Farm and Rural Development Act to require producers
to establish disaster preparedness plans to be eligible
for certain disaster assistance programs, and for other
purposes.
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 ‘‘Emergency and Dis-4
aster Preparedness for Farm Animals Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Congress finds the following: 7
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(1) American farms continue to experience dev-1
astating impacts from extreme weather events that 2
have resulted in the death of millions of livestock 3
and poultry in recent years. 4
(2) During 2020 and 2021, the United States 5
experienced a record-breaking hurricane season, 6
record-breaking heat waves and the hottest month 7
on record, a record-breaking wildfire season, and 8
record-breaking droughts across the county. 9
(3) Extreme weather events continue to become 10
more frequent and severe, putting the country’s ag-11
riculture operations and livestock herds at increased 12
risk. 13
(4) To help producers recover from weather-re-14
lated losses, numerous Federal disaster assistance 15
programs have been established that provide signifi-16
cant funding to compensate producers each year, but 17
do not require emergency planning. 18
(5) Leading agricultural and animal health en-19
tities, including the Department of Agriculture, the 20
American Veterinary Medical Association, and the 21
World Organisation for Animal Health, as well as 22
the Federal Emergency Management Agency, all 23
recognize the importance of emergency planning and 24
recommend the development of disaster prepared-25
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ness plans on farms to help mitigate the impacts of 1
extreme weather. 2
(6) As we continue to adapt to a rapidly chang-3
ing climate, emergency planning requirements are 4
necessary to help ensure farmers are prepared, fi-5
nancial losses are reduced, and farm animals are 6
protected. 7
SEC. 3. DISASTER PREPAREDNESS PLANS REQUIRED 8
UNDER CERTAIN DISASTER ASSISTANCE PRO-9
GRAMS. 10
(a) L
IVESTOCKINDEMNITY PAYMENTS.—Section 11
1501(b) of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (7 U.S.C. 12
9081(b)) is amended— 13
(1) in paragraph (1)(B), by inserting ‘‘(other 14
than a disaster preparedness plan under paragraph 15
(5))’’ after ‘‘management practice’’; and 16
(2) by adding at the end the following: 17
‘‘(5) S
PECIAL RULE FOR PAYMENTS DUE TO 18
ADVERSE WEATHER .— 19
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—An eligible producer 20
may only receive a payment under this sub-21
section for a loss described in paragraph (1)(B) 22
if— 23
‘‘(i) on a date before the 180-day pe-24
riod preceding such loss, the eligible pro-25
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ducer submitted to the Secretary, acting 1
through the Administrator of the Farm 2
Service Agency, an initial disaster pre-3
paredness plan; 4
‘‘(ii) in the case of a disaster pre-5
paredness plan that was submitted to the 6
Secretary on a date before the 2-year pe-7
riod preceding such loss, the producer sub-8
mitted a renewal of such plan during such 9
2-year period; and 10
‘‘(iii) not later than 30 days after 11
such loss is incurred, the eligible producer 12
provides to the Secretary a description of 13
how the most recently submitted disaster 14
preparedness plan was implemented on the 15
farm to attempt to prevent such loss. 16
‘‘(B) E
LEMENTS.—For purposes of sub-17
paragraph (A), a disaster preparedness plan 18
shall include— 19
‘‘(i) an adverse weather plan for each 20
potential adverse weather event (based on 21
the region the applicable farm is located 22
and size of the farm) for each species of 23
livestock on the farm; and 24
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‘‘(ii) such other information as the 1
Secretary may require. 2
‘‘(C) P
UBLICATION.—The Secretary shall 3
make the plans received by the Secretary under 4
subparagraph (A)(i) available to State or local 5
agencies upon request.’’. 6
(b) C
ONSOLIDATED FARM ANDRURALDEVELOP-7
MENTACT.—Section 333 of the Consolidated Farm and 8
Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1983) is amended— 9
(1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 10
(6); 11
(2) by striking the period at the end of para-12
graph (7) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 13
(3) by adding at the end the following: 14
‘‘(8) in the case of an emergency loan to replace 15
livestock lost due to a natural disaster or major dis-16
aster or emergency designated by the President 17
under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 18
Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.), 19
require the applicant to develop a disaster prepared-20
ness plan that includes an adverse weather plan for 21
each potential adverse weather event (based on the 22
region the applicable farm is located and size of the 23
farm) for each species of livestock on the farm.’’. 24
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(c) EFFECTIVEDATE.—This section, and the amend-1
ments made by this section, shall take effect on the date 2
that is 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act. 3
Æ
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