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Fair Access to Agriculture Disaster Programs Act
To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to establish an exception to certain payment limitations in the case of person or legal entity that derives income from agriculture, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill amends federal agriculture law to create an exception to payment limits on disaster assistance and crop insurance benefits. Farmers and ranchers whose income derives at least 75 percent from farming, ranching, silviculture, agritourism, direct-to-consumer agricultural sales, or related activities would be exempt from the normal caps on these benefits. The exemption applies to disaster assistance and crop insurance payments under two existing federal programs. This would allow qualifying agricultural producers to receive larger total payments without hitting the federal payment limits that otherwise apply.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Sen. Padilla, Alex [D-CA] (D-CA)
1 cosponsor
- Sen. Tillis, Thomas [R-NC] (R-NC)
Actions (2)
- Mar 12, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. (Sponsor introductory remarks on measure: CR S1706) · senate
- Mar 12, 2025 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 12, 2025
Mr. Padilla (for himself and Mr. Tillis) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
A BILL
To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to establish an exception to certain payment limitations in the case of person or legal entity that derives income from agriculture, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Fair Access to Agriculture Disaster Programs Act”.
SEC. 2. EXCEPTION FOR INCOME DERIVED FROM AGRICULTURE.
Section 1001D(b) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (7 U.S.C. 1308- 3a(b)) is amended—
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking “paragraph (3)” and inserting “paragraphs (3) and (4)”; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
“(4) Exception.—
“(A) In general.—In the case of a payment or benefit described in subparagraph (B), the limitation established by paragraph (1) shall not apply to a person or legal entity during a crop, fiscal, or program year, as appropriate, if not less than 75 percent of the average adjusted gross income of the person or legal entity derives from farming, ranching, or silviculture activities, including agritourism, direct-to-consumer marketing of agricultural products, the sale of agricultural equipment owned by such person or entity, and other agriculture-related activities, as determined by the Secretary.
“(B) Payment or benefit described.—A payment or benefit referred to in subparagraph (A) is—
“(i) a payment or benefit under subtitle E of title I of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (7 U.S.C. 9081); or
“(ii) a payment or benefit under section 196 of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 7333).”. <all>
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