119-hr3516

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3516 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

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119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 3516

 To prohibit certain practices relating to certain commodity promotion 
 programs, to require greater transparency by those programs, and for 
 other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 May 20, 2025

 Ms. Mace (for herself and Ms. Titus) introduced the following bill; 
 which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To prohibit certain practices relating to certain commodity promotion 
 programs, to require greater transparency by those programs, 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 ``Opportunities for Fairness in 
Farming Act of 2025''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

 Congress finds that--

    (1) the generic programs to promote and provide research 
 and information for an agricultural commodity (commonly known 
 as ``checkoff programs'') are intended to increase demand for 
 all of that agricultural commodity and benefit all assessed 
 producers of that agricultural commodity;

    (2) although the laws establishing checkoff programs 
 broadly prohibit the use of funds in any manner for the purpose 
 of influencing legislation or government action, checkoff 
 programs have repeatedly been shown to use funds to influence 
 policy directly or by partnering with organizations that lobby;

    (3) the unlawful use of checkoff programs funds benefits 
 some agricultural producers while harming many others;

    (4) to more effectively prevent Boards from using funds for 
 unlawful purposes, strict separation of engagement between the 
 Boards and policy entities is necessary;

    (5) conflicts of interest in the checkoff programs allow 
 special interests to use checkoff program funds for the benefit 
 of some assessed agricultural producers at the expense of many 
 others;

    (6) prohibiting conflicts of interest in checkoff programs 
 is necessary to ensure the proper and lawful operation of the 
 checkoff programs;

    (7) checkoff programs are designed to promote agricultural 
 commodities, not to damage other types of agricultural 
 commodities through anticompetitive conduct or otherwise;

    (8) prohibiting anticompetitive and similar conduct is 
 necessary to ensure proper and lawful operation of checkoff 
 programs;

    (9) lack of transparency in checkoff programs enables 
 abuses to occur and conceals abuses from being discovered; and

    (10) requiring transparency in the expenditure of checkoff 
 program funds is necessary to prevent and uncover abuses in 
 checkoff programs.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

 In this Act:

    (1) Board.--The term ``Board'' means a Federal or State 
 board, committee, council, or similar entity established to 
 carry out a checkoff program or an order issued by the 
 Secretary under a checkoff program.

    (2) Checkoff program.--The term ``checkoff program'' means 
 a program to promote and provide research and information for a 
 particular agricultural commodity without reference to specific 
 producers or brands, including a program carried out under any 
 of the following:
        (A) The Cotton Research and Promotion Act (7 U.S.C. 
 2101 et seq.).
        (B) The Potato Research and Promotion Act (7 U.S.C. 
 2611 et seq.).
            (C) The Egg Research and Consumer Information Act 
 (7 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.).
            (D) The Beef Research and Information Act (7 U.S.C. 
 2901 et seq.).
        (E) The Wheat and Wheat Foods Research and 
 Nutrition Education Act (7 U.S.C. 3401 et seq.).
        (F) The Floral Research and Consumer Information 
 Act (7 U.S.C. 4301 et seq.).
        (G) Subtitle B of the Dairy Production 
 Stabilization Act of 1983 (7 U.S.C. 4501 et seq.).
        (H) The Honey Research, Promotion, and Consumer 
 Information Act (7 U.S.C. 4601 et seq.).
            (I) The Pork Promotion, Research, and Consumer 
 Information Act of 1985 (7 U.S.C. 4801 et seq.).
        (J) The Watermelon Research and Promotion Act (7 
 U.S.C. 4901 et seq.).
        (K) The Pecan Promotion and Research Act of 1990 (7 
 U.S.C. 6001 et seq.).
            (L) The Mushroom Promotion, Research, and Consumer 
 Information Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 6101 et seq.).
            (M) The Lime Research, Promotion, and Consumer 
 Information Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 6201 et seq.).
        (N) The Soybean Promotion, Research, and Consumer 
 Information Act (7 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.).
        (O) The Fluid Milk Promotion Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 
 6401 et seq.).
        (P) The Fresh Cut Flowers and Fresh Cut Greens 
 Promotion and Information Act of 1993 (7 U.S.C. 6801 et 
 seq.).
        (Q) The Sheep Promotion, Research, and Information 
 Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.).
        (R) Section 501 of the Federal Agriculture 
 Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 7401).
        (S) The Commodity Promotion, Research, and 
 Information Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 7411 et seq.).
        (T) The Canola and Rapeseed Research, Promotion, 
 and Consumer Information Act (7 U.S.C. 7441 et seq.).
        (U) The National Kiwifruit Research, Promotion, and 
 Consumer Information Act (7 U.S.C. 7461 et seq.).
            (V) The Popcorn Promotion, Research, and Consumer 
 Information Act (7 U.S.C. 7481 et seq.).
        (W) The Hass Avocado Promotion, Research, and 
 Information Act of 2000 (7 U.S.C. 7801 et seq.).

    (3) Conflict of interest.--The term ``conflict of 
 interest'' means a direct or indirect financial interest in a 
 person or entity that performs a service for, or enters into a 
 contract or agreement with, a Board for anything of economic 
 value.

    (4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
 of Agriculture.

SEC. 4. REQUIREMENTS OF CHECKOFF PROGRAMS.

    (a) Prohibitions.--

    (1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph

    (4) , for 
 any checkoff program with an annual assessment revenue equal to 
 more than $20,000,000, a Board shall not enter into any 
 contract or agreement to carry out activities under the 
 checkoff program with a party that engages in activities for 
 the purpose of influencing any government policy or action that 
 relates to agriculture.

    (2) Conflicts of interest.--A Board shall not engage in, 
 and shall prohibit the employees and agents of the Board, 
 acting in their official capacity, from engaging in, any act 
 that may involve a conflict of interest.

    (3) Other prohibitions.--A Board shall not engage in, and 
 shall prohibit the employees and agents of the Board, acting in 
 their official capacity, from engaging in--
        (A) any anticompetitive activity;
        (B) any unfair or deceptive act or practice; or
            (C) any act that may be disparaging to, or in any 
 way negatively portray, another agricultural commodity 
 or product.

    (4) Exception for certain contracts with institutions of 
 higher education.--Paragraph

    (1) shall not apply to a contract 
 or agreement entered into between a Board and an institution of 
 higher education for the purpose of research, extension, and 
 education.

    (b) Authority To Enter Into Contracts.--Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, on approval of the Secretary, a Board may enter 
directly into contracts and agreements to carry out generic promotion, 
research, or other activities authorized by law.
            (c) Production of Records.--

    (1) In general.--Each contract or agreement of a checkoff 
 program shall provide that the entity that enters into the 
 contract or agreement shall produce to the applicable Board, on 
 a quarterly basis, accurate records that account for all funds 
 received under the contract or agreement, including any goods 
 or services provided or costs incurred in connection with the 
 contract or agreement.

    (2) Maintenance and publication of records.--Each Board 
 shall--
        (A) maintain any records received under paragraph

    (1) ; and
        (B) publish and make available for public 
 inspection those records by not later than 30 days 
 after the date of receipt.
            (d) Publication of Budgets and Disbursements.--

    (1) In general.--A Board shall publish and make available 
 for public inspection all budgets and disbursements of funds 
 entrusted to the Board that are approved by the Secretary, 
 immediately on approval by the Secretary.

    (2) Required disclosures.--In carrying out paragraph

    (1) , a 
 Board shall disclose--
        (A) the amount of the disbursement;
        (B) the purpose of the disbursement, including the 
 activities to be funded by the disbursement;
            (C) the identity of the recipient of the 
 disbursement; and
            (D) the identity of any other parties that may 
 receive the disbursed funds, including any contracts or 
 subcontractors of the recipient of the disbursement.

    (e) Audits.--

    (1) Periodic audits by inspector general.--
        (A) In general.--Not later than 2 years after the 
 date of enactment of this Act, and not less frequently 
 than once every 5 years thereafter, the Inspector 
 General of the Department of Agriculture shall conduct 
 an audit to determine the compliance of each checkoff 
 program with this section during the period of time 
 covered by the audit.
        (B) Review of records.--An audit conducted under 
 subparagraph
        (A) shall include a review of any records 
 produced to a Board under subsection
            (c) (1) .
            (C) Submission of reports.--On completion of each 
 audit under subparagraph
        (A) , the Inspector General of 
 the Department of Agriculture shall--
            (i) prepare a report describing the audit; 
 and
            (ii) submit the report described in clause
            (i) to--
            (I) the appropriate committees of 
 Congress, including the Subcommittee on 
 Competition Policy, Antitrust, and 
 Consumer Rights of the Committee on the 
 Judiciary of the Senate; and
            (II) the Comptroller General of the 
 United States.

    (2) Audit by comptroller general.--
        (A) In general.--Not earlier than 3 years, and not 
 later than 5 years, after the date of enactment of this 
 Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 
 shall--
            (i) conduct an audit to assess--
            (I) the status of actions taken for 
 each checkoff program to ensure 
 compliance with this section; and
            (II) the extent to which actions 
 described in subclause
            (I) have 
 improved the integrity of a checkoff 
 program; and
            (ii) prepare a report describing the audit 
 conducted under clause
            (i) , including any 
 recommendations for--
            (I) strengthening the effect of 
 actions described in clause
            (i) 
            (I) ; and
            (II) improving Federal legislation 
 relating to checkoff programs.
        (B) Consideration of inspector general reports.--
 The Comptroller General of the United States shall 
 consider reports described in paragraph

    (1)
            (C) in 
 preparing any recommendations in the report under 
 subparagraph
        (A)
            (ii) .

SEC. 5. SEVERABILITY.

 If any provision of this Act or the application of such provision 
to any person or circumstance is held to be unconstitutional, the 
remainder of this Act, and the application of the provision to any 
other person or circumstance, shall not be affected.
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