Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB231 Compare Versions

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

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 231
5	5	To amend the Federal Crop Insurance Act to authorize the Federal Crop
6	6	Insurance Corporation to carry out research and development on a single
7	7	index insurance policy, and for other purposes.
8	8	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
9	9	JANUARY23, 2025
10	10	Mr. W
11	11	ELCH(for himself, Ms. WARREN, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. MURPHY, Mr.
12	12	P
13	13	ADILLA, Mr. SANDERS, and Mr. VANHOLLEN) introduced the following
14	14	bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture,
15	15	Nutrition, and Forestry
16	16	A BILL
17	17	To amend the Federal Crop Insurance Act to authorize the
18	18	Federal Crop Insurance Corporation to carry out re-
19	19	search and development on a single index insurance pol-
20	20	icy, and for other purposes.
21	21	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
22	22	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
23	23	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
24	24	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Withstanding Extreme 4
25	25	Agricultural Threats by Harvesting Economic Resilience 5
26	26	Act of 2025’’ or the ‘‘WEATHER Act of 2025’’. 6
27	27	VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:00 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S231.IS S231
28	28	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2
29	29	•S 231 IS
30	30	SEC. 2. SINGLE INDEX INSURANCE POLICY. 1
31	31	(a) I
32	32	NGENERAL.—Section 522(c) of the Federal 2
33	33	Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1522(c)) is amended by 3
34	34	adding at the end the following: 4
35	35	‘‘(20) S
36	36	INGLE INDEX INSURANCE POLICY .— 5
37	37	‘‘(A) D
38	38	EFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 6
39	39	‘‘(i) C
40	40	OVERED CROP OR COM -7
41	41	MODITY.—The term ‘covered crop or com-8
42	42	modity’ means any crop or commodity (in-9
43	43	cluding a specialty crop) on a farm except 10
44	44	timber, forest products, animals for sport 11
45	45	or show, and pets. 12
46	46	‘‘(ii) C
47	47	OVERED POLICY.—The term 13
48	48	‘covered policy’ means the single index in-14
49	49	surance policy described in subparagraph 15
50	50	(B)(i). 16
51	51	‘‘(iii) C
52	52	OVERED WEATHER CONDI -17
53	53	TION.— 18
54	54	‘‘(I) I
55	55	N GENERAL.—The term 19
56	56	‘covered weather condition’ means any 20
57	57	of the following weather conditions 21
58	58	that are found to be closely correlated 22
59	59	with agricultural income losses: 23
60	60	‘‘(aa) High winds. 24
61	61	‘‘(bb) Excessive moisture 25
62	62	and flooding. 26
63	63	VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:00 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S231.IS S231
64	64	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3
65	65	•S 231 IS
66	66	‘‘(cc) Extreme heat. 1
67	67	‘‘(dd) Abnormal freeze con-2
68	68	ditions. 3
69	69	‘‘(ee) Wildfire. 4
70	70	‘‘(ff) Hail. 5
71	71	‘‘(gg) Drought. 6
72	72	‘‘(hh) Any other severe 7
73	73	weather or growing conditions 8
74	74	applicable to small-scale farmers, 9
75	75	as determined by the Secretary. 10
76	76	‘‘(II) D
77	77	ATA.—The existence of a 11
78	78	weather condition described in sub-12
79	79	clause (I) shall be determined by indi-13
80	80	ces that prioritize using data from the 14
81	81	National Oceanic and Atmospheric 15
82	82	Administration, as available, but may 16
83	83	use other federally or State certified 17
84	84	weather data sources, public and pri-18
85	85	vate satellite data, and weather and 19
86	86	climate data and models, if necessary, 20
87	87	as determined by the Secretary. 21
88	88	‘‘(B) P
89	89	OLICY.— 22
90	90	‘‘(i) I
91	91	N GENERAL.—The Corporation 23
92	92	shall carry out research and development, 24
93	93	or offer to enter into 1 or more contracts 25
94	94	VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:00 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S231.IS S231
95	95	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4
96	96	•S 231 IS
97	97	with 1 or more qualified persons to carry 1
98	98	out research and development, to develop a 2
99	99	single index policy to insure against agri-3
100	100	cultural income losses due to 1 or more 4
101	101	covered weather conditions. 5
102	102	‘‘(ii) C
103	103	OVERAGE.—Research and de-6
104	104	velopment on the covered policy under 7
105	105	clause (i) shall require that coverage is 8
106	106	available in all 50 States (including Indian 9
107	107	Tribes), the District of Columbia, Amer-10
108	108	ican Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of 11
109	109	the Northern Mariana Islands, the Com-12
110	110	monwealth of Puerto Rico, and the Virgin 13
111	111	Islands of the United States. 14
112	112	‘‘(iii) O
113	113	PTION TO BUY-UP OR BUY- 15
114	114	DOWN.— 16
115	115	‘‘(I) I
116	116	N GENERAL.—Research and 17
117	117	development on the covered policy 18
118	118	under clause (i) shall consider permit-19
119	119	ting a holder of the covered policy to 20
120	120	elect to buy-up to 150 percent, subject 21
121	121	to subclause (II), or buy-down to 5 22
122	122	percent, of the median county-level 23
123	123	adjusted gross income for farms, in 5- 24
124	124	percent increments, to reflect the in-25
125	125	VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:00 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S231.IS S231
126	126	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5
127	127	•S 231 IS
128	128	come of the individual farm business 1
129	129	of the holder insured under the cov-2
130	130	ered policy. 3
131	131	‘‘(II) L
132	132	IMITATION.—A holder of 4
133	133	a covered policy may buy-up under 5
134	134	subclause (I) only if the farms of the 6
135	135	holder insured under the covered pol-7
136	136	icy have at least 3 covered crops or 8
137	137	commodities. 9
138	138	‘‘(iv) P
139	139	RIORITY FEATURES OF POL -10
140	140	ICY.—In carrying out research and devel-11
141	141	opment on the covered policy under clause 12
142	142	(i), the following features may be given 13
143	143	priority: 14
144	144	‘‘(I) Agricultural income losses 15
145	145	under the covered policy include— 16
146	146	‘‘(aa) losses for all covered 17
147	147	crops or commodities; and 18
148	148	‘‘(bb) losses to the value of 19
149	149	packing, packaging, or any other 20
150	150	similar on-farm activity that the 21
151	151	Corporation determines necessary 22
152	152	to remove a covered crop or com-23
153	153	modity from the field. 24
154	154	VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:00 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S231.IS S231
155	155	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 6
156	156	•S 231 IS
157	157	‘‘(II) Payments are made under 1
158	158	the covered policy not later than 30 2
159	159	days after the occurrence of a covered 3
160	160	weather condition in the county in 4
161	161	which the applicable farm of the farm-5
162	162	er is located or an adjacent county. 6
163	163	‘‘(III) Provision of seasonal cov-7
164	164	erage periods. 8
165	165	‘‘(IV) Provision of special consid-9
166	166	eration to concerns facing individual 10
167	167	farm businesses— 11
168	168	‘‘(aa) that have less than 12
169	169	$350,000 in adjusted gross in-13
170	170	come; and 14
171	171	‘‘(bb) with respect to which 15
172	172	a farmer is an underserved pro-16
173	173	ducer (as defined in section 17
174	174	508(a)(7)(A)). 18
175	175	‘‘(V) Paperwork requirements are 19
176	176	reduced for farmers seeking to obtain 20
177	177	a covered policy. 21
178	178	‘‘(v) C
179	179	ONSULTATION.—In carrying out 22
180	180	research and development on the covered 23
181	181	policy under clause (i), the Corporation— 24
182	182	VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:00 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S231.IS S231
183	183	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 7
184	184	•S 231 IS
185	185	‘‘(I) shall hold stakeholder meet-1
186	186	ings to solicit producer and agent 2
187	187	feedback; and 3
188	188	‘‘(II) may consult with licensed 4
189	189	actuaries with experience developing 5
190	190	index policies insuring agricultural 6
191	191	production. 7
192	192	‘‘(C) R
193	193	EPORT.—Not later than 1 year 8
194	194	after the date of enactment of this paragraph, 9
195	195	the Corporation shall make publicly available a 10
196	196	report that describes— 11
197	197	‘‘(i) the results of the research and 12
198	198	development carried out under this para-13
199	199	graph; and 14
200	200	‘‘(ii) recommendations to Congress 15
201	201	with respect to those results, including— 16
202	202	‘‘(I) any challenges to developing 17
203	203	the covered policy; and 18
204	204	‘‘(II) options to address those 19
205	205	challenges.’’. 20
206	206	(b) T
207	207	ECHNICALAMENDMENT.—Section 531(a)(18) 21
208	208	of the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1531(a)(18)) 22
209	209	is amended by striking ‘‘section 2501(e) of the Food, Agri-23
210	210	culture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 24
211	211	2279(e))’’ and inserting ‘‘section 2501(a) of the Food, Ag-25
212	212	VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:00 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S231.IS S231
213	213	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 8
214	214	•S 231 IS
215	215	riculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 1
216	216	2279(a)).’’. 2
217	217	Æ
218	218	VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:00 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S231.IS S231
219	219	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS