Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB5631 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	118THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 5631
5	5	To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to modify
6	6	limitations on amounts of farm ownership loans and operating loans,
7	7	and for other purposes.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	SEPTEMBER21, 2023
10	10	Mr. F
11	11	INSTAD(for himself and Ms. CRAIG) introduced the following bill; which
12	12	was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
13	13	A BILL
14	14	To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development
15	15	Act to modify limitations on amounts of farm ownership
16	16	loans and operating loans, and for other purposes.
17	17	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
18	18	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
19	19	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
20	20	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Producer and Agricul-4
21	21	tural Credit Enhancement Act of 2023’’. 5
22	22	SEC. 2. LIMITATIONS ON LOAN AMOUNTS. 6
23	23	(a) L
24	24	IMITATIONS ONAMOUNT OFFARMOWNERSHIP 7
25	25	L
26	26	OANS.—Section 305(a)(2) of the Consolidated Farm and 8
27	27	Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1925(a)(2)) is amended 9
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31	31	by striking ‘‘$600,000, or, in the case of a loan guaranteed 1
32	32	by the Secretary, $1,750,000 (increased, beginning with 2
33	33	fiscal year 2019’’ and inserting ‘‘$850,000, or, in the case 3
34	34	of a loan guaranteed by the Secretary, $3,500,000 (in-4
35	35	creased, beginning with fiscal year 2023’’. 5
36	36	(b) L
37	37	IMITATIONS ON AMOUNT OF OPERATING 6
38	38	L
39	39	OANS.—Section 313(a)(1) of the Consolidated Farm and 7
40	40	Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1943(a)(1)) is amended 8
41	41	by striking ‘‘$400,000, or, in the case of a loan guaranteed 9
42	42	by the Secretary, $1,750,000 (increased, beginning with 10
43	43	fiscal year 2019’’ and inserting ‘‘$750,000, or, in the case 11
44	44	of a loan guaranteed by the Secretary, $3,000,000 (in-12
45	45	creased, beginning with fiscal year 2023’’. 13
46	46	SEC. 3. INFLATION PERCENTAGE. 14
47	47	Section 305(c) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural 15
48	48	Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1925(c)) is amended— 16
49	49	(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘of the Prices 17
50	50	Paid By Farmers Index (as compiled by the Na-18
51	51	tional Agricultural Statistics Service of the Depart-19
52	52	ment of Agriculture) for the 12-month period ending 20
53	53	on July 31 of the immediately preceding fiscal year’’ 21
54	54	and inserting ‘‘of the per acre average United States 22
55	55	farm real estate value, the per acre average United 23
56	56	States cropland value, and the per acre average 24
57	57	United States pasture value for the preceding year 25
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61	61	(as published in the applicable Agricultural Land 1
62	62	Values report of the National Agricultural Statistics 2
63	63	Service of the Department of Agriculture), weighted 3
64	64	equally’’; and 4
65	65	(2) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘of such index 5
66	66	(as so defined) for the 12-month period that imme-6
67	67	diately precedes the 12-month period described in 7
68	68	paragraph (1)’’ and inserting ‘‘of the per acre aver-8
69	69	age United States farm real estate value, the per 9
70	70	acre average United States cropland value, and the 10
71	71	per acre average United States pasture value for the 11
72	72	year immediately preceding the year described in 12
73	73	paragraph (1) (as so published), weighted equally’’. 13
74	74	SEC. 4. DOWN PAYMENT LOAN PROGRAM. 14
75	75	Section 310E(b)(1) of the Consolidated Farm and 15
76	76	Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1935(b)(1)) is amend-16
77	77	ed— 17
78	78	(1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), 18
79	79	by striking ‘‘exceed 45 percent of the least’’ and in-19
80	80	serting ‘‘exceed, subject to section 305(a), 45 per-20
81	81	cent of the lesser’’; 21
82	82	(2) in subparagraph (A), by adding ‘‘or’’ after 22
83	83	the semicolon; 23
84	84	(3) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘; or’’ and 24
85	85	inserting a period; and 25
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89	89	(4) by striking subparagraph (C). 1
90	90	SEC. 5. LIMITATION ON MICROLOAN AMOUNTS. 2
91	91	Section 313(c)(2) of the Consolidated Farm and 3
92	92	Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1943(c)(2)) is amended 4
93	93	by striking ‘‘$50,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$100,000’’. 5
94	94	SEC. 6. REFINANCING OF GUARANTEED LOANS INTO DI-6
95	95	RECT LOANS. 7
96	96	(a) I
97	97	NGENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 8
98	98	date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agri-9
99	99	culture, acting through the Administrator of the Farm 10
100	100	Service Agency (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Sec-11
101	101	retary’’), shall promulgate regulations allowing certain 12
102	102	loans guaranteed by the Farm Service Agency to be refi-13
103	103	nanced into direct loans issued by the Farm Service Agen-14
104	104	cy, in accordance with this section. 15
105	105	(b) R
106	106	EQUIREMENTS.— 16
107	107	(1) I
108	108	N GENERAL.—The regulations promulgated 17
109	109	under subsection (a) shall provide that a guaranteed 18
110	110	loan described in that subsection may be refinanced 19
111	111	into a direct loan described in that subsection only 20
112	112	if the Secretary determines that— 21
113	113	(A) the guaranteed loan is distressed; 22
114	114	(B) the borrower on that guaranteed loan 23
115	115	has attempted to work with the lender and has 24
116	116	been unsuccessful; 25
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120	120	(C) a reasonable chance for the success of 1
121	121	the operation financed by the guaranteed loan 2
122	122	exists; and 3
123	123	(D) all other criteria established by the 4
124	124	Secretary for purposes of this section to protect 5
125	125	taxpayer funds and the loan programs of the 6
126	126	Farm Service Agency have been satisfied. 7
127	127	(2) R
128	128	EASONABLE CHANCE OF SUCCESS .—For 8
129	129	purposes of paragraph (1)(C), the Secretary may de-9
130	130	termine that a reasonable chance for the success of 10
131	131	an operation exists if the Secretary determines 11
132	132	that— 12
133	133	(A) all relevant problems with the oper-13
134	134	ation financed by the guaranteed loan— 14
135	135	(i) have been identified; and 15
136	136	(ii) can be corrected; and 16
137	137	(B) on correction of those problems, the 17
138	138	operation can achieve, or be returned to, a 18
139	139	sound financial basis. 19
140	140	(c) N
141	141	OEFFECT ONSUBSIDIES.—In carrying out this 20
142	142	section, the Secretary shall ensure that the refinancing of 21
143	143	guaranteed loans into direct loans has no impact on the 22
144	144	subsidy rate of— 23
145	145	(1) loans guaranteed by the Farm Service 24
146	146	Agency; or 25
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150	150	(2) direct loans issued by the Farm Service 1
151	151	Agency. 2
152	152	(d) L
153	153	OANPROGRAMS.—In making direct loans pur-3
154	154	suant to the regulations promulgated under subsection 4
155	155	(a), the Secretary may refinance a loan guaranteed under 5
156	156	1 program of the Farm Service Agency into a direct loan 6
157	157	issued under another program of the Farm Service Agen-7
158	158	cy, as the Secretary determines to be appropriate and in 8
159	159	accordance with the laws applicable to the program under 9
160	160	which the new direct loan is issued. 10
161	161	(e) M
162	162	AXIMUMAMOUNT OF DIRECTREFINANCING 11
163	163	L
164	164	OANS.—A direct loan issued by the Farm Service Agency 12
165	165	pursuant to the regulations promulgated under subsection 13
166	166	(a) shall be subject to any otherwise applicable limitation 14
167	167	on the maximum amount of a direct loan issued by the 15
168	168	Farm Service Agency, including, if applicable, the limita-16
169	169	tions described in— 17
170	170	(1) section 305 of the Consolidated Farm and 18
171	171	Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1925); and 19
172	172	(2) section 313 of that Act (7 U.S.C. 1943). 20
173	173	SEC. 7. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS. 21
174	174	It is the sense of the Congress that— 22
175	175	(1) access to credit is essential to the success 23
176	176	of farmers and ranchers; and 24
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180	180	(2) microloans, direct loans, and guaranteed 1
181	181	loans provided by the Farm Service Agency should 2
182	182	be fully funded to meet producer demand, help be-3
183	183	ginning farmers and ranchers, and support family 4
184	184	farms. 5
185	185	Æ
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