1.1                          A bill for an act
  1.2             relating to agriculture; providing emergency financial 
  1.3             relief for farm families in certain counties; 
  1.4             establishing a temporary program of assistance for 
  1.5             federal crop insurance premiums; appropriating money. 
  1.6   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.7      Section 1.  [DEFINITIONS.] 
  1.8      Subdivision 1.  [APPLICABILITY.] The definitions in this 
  1.9   section apply to sections 1 and 2. 
  1.10     Subd. 2.  [COMMISSIONER.] "Commissioner" means the 
  1.11  commissioner of agriculture. 
  1.12     Subd. 3.  [CRISIS COUNTY.] "Crisis county" means Beltrami, 
  1.13  Clearwater, Kittson, Lake of the Woods, Mahnomen, Marshall, 
  1.14  Norman, Pennington, Polk, Red Lake, or Roseau county. 
  1.15     Subd. 4.  [FARMER.] "Farmer" means a natural person 
  1.16  residing in Minnesota who operates a family farm as defined in 
  1.17  Minnesota Statutes, section 500.24, subdivision 2, located 
  1.18  wholly or in part in a crisis county.  "Farmer" also means a 
  1.19  resident who is a shareholder in a family farm corporation or a 
  1.20  partner in a family farm partnership as defined in Minnesota 
  1.21  Statutes, section 500.24, subdivision 2, located wholly or in 
  1.22  part in a crisis county. 
  1.23     Sec. 2.  [FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE ASSISTANCE.] 
  1.24     Subdivision 1.  [PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENT.] Within 30 days 
  1.25  after the effective date of sections 1 to 3, the commissioner 
  2.1   shall announce procedures and distribute application forms for 
  2.2   the federal crop insurance assistance program. 
  2.3      Subd. 2.  [ELIGIBILITY.] A farmer is eligible for state 
  2.4   assistance for the cost of federal crop insurance during the 
  2.5   1998 growing season if: 
  2.6      (1) the farmer experienced a 50 percent or greater loss 
  2.7   from the county yield average in wheat or barley yield in one or 
  2.8   more growing seasons between 1993 and 1997; 
  2.9      (2) the crop covered by the insurance is located in a 
  2.10  crisis county; and 
  2.11     (3) the farmer or the farmer's federal crop insurance agent 
  2.12  submits a properly completed application for assistance to the 
  2.13  commissioner on forms provided by the commissioner on or before 
  2.14  August 1, 1998. 
  2.15     Subd. 3.  [REIMBURSEMENT RATE, PRIORITY, AND MAXIMUM 
  2.16  ASSISTANCE.] (a) From funds appropriated for purposes of this 
  2.17  section, the commissioner shall provide reimbursement to an 
  2.18  eligible farmer for premiums and administrative fees paid for 
  2.19  federal crop insurance on wheat and barley grown in a crisis 
  2.20  county for the 1997 growing season.  The maximum reimbursement 
  2.21  available to any farmer, or in the case of a family farm 
  2.22  corporation or a family farm partnership, to the family farm 
  2.23  corporation or partnership, is $4,000. 
  2.24     (b) Properly completed applications for federal crop 
  2.25  insurance assistance take priority in the order in which they 
  2.26  are received by the commissioner. 
  2.27     (c) The farmer must be listed as the payee, or one of the 
  2.28  payees, on the reimbursement check. 
  2.29     Sec. 3.  [APPROPRIATION.] 
  2.30     $8,500,000 is appropriated to the commissioner of 
  2.31  agriculture for purposes of section 2 from the additional money 
  2.32  transferred to the budget reserve and cash flow account under 
  2.33  Minnesota Statutes, section 16A.152, in a bill styled as 1998 
  2.34  House File No. 3840.  Up to $20,000 of this appropriation is 
  2.35  available for necessary program administrative costs of the 
  2.36  department of agriculture. 
  3.1      Sec. 4.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
  3.2      Sections 1 to 3 are effective the day following final 
  3.3   enactment.