To amend the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 to release and protect
the release of tobacco production and marketing information. (Introduced
in the Senate)
S 1481 IS
106th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1481
To amend the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 to release
and protect the release of tobacco production and marketing information.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
August 4, 1999
Mr. MCCONNELL (for himself, Mr. HELMS, Mr. BUNNING, Mr. COVERDELL, Mr.
EDWARDS, Mr. ROBB, and Mr. WARNER) introduced the following bill; which
was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition,
and Forestry
A BILL
To amend the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 to release
and protect the release of tobacco production and marketing information.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. TOBACCO PRODUCTION AND MARKETING INFORMATION.
Part I of subtitle B of title III of the Agricultural Adjustment Act
of 1938 (7 U.S.C. 1311 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
`SEC. 320D. TOBACCO PRODUCTION AND MARKETING INFORMATION.
`(a) IN GENERAL- Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary
may, subject to subsection (b), release marketing information submitted
by persons relating to the production and marketing of tobacco to State
trusts or similar organizations engaged in the distribution of national
trust funds to tobacco producers and other persons with interests associated
with the production of tobacco, as determined by the Secretary.
`(1) IN GENERAL- Information may be released under subsection (a) only
to the extent that--
`(A) the release is in the interest of tobacco producers, as determined
by the Secretary; and
`(B) the information is released to a State trust or other organization
that is created to, or charged with, distributing funds to tobacco producers
or other parties with an interest in tobacco production or tobacco farms
under a national or State trust or settlement.
`(2) EXEMPTION FROM RELEASE- The Secretary shall, to the maximum extent
practicable, in advance of making a release of information under subsection
(a), allow, by announcement, a period of at least 15 days for persons whose
consent would otherwise be required by law to effectuate the release, to
elect to be exempt from the release.
`(1) IN GENERAL- In making a release under subsection (a), the Secretary
may provide such other assistance with respect to information released
under subsection (a) as will facilitate the interest of producers in receiving
the funds that are the subject of a trust described in subsection (a).
`(2) FUNDS- The Secretary shall use amounts made available for salaries
and expenses of the Department to carry out paragraph (1).
`(1) IN GENERAL- A person that obtains information described in subsection
(a) shall maintain records that are consistent with the purposes of the
release and shall not use the records for any purpose not authorized under
this section.
`(2) PENALTY- A person that knowingly violates this subsection shall
be fined not more than $10,000, imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both.
`(e) APPLICATION- This section shall not apply to--
`(1) records submitted by cigarette manufacturers with respect to the
production of cigarettes;
`(2) records that were submitted as expected purchase intentions in
connection with the establishment of national tobacco quotas; or
`(3) records that aggregate the purchases of particular buyers.'.