Reference is to Printer's Date 2/11/14-H.
Amend the bill, as and if amended, by striking SECTION 2 and inserting:
/ SECTION 2. Chapter 1, Title 46 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:
"Section 46-1-160.
(A)(1) There is created the 'South
Carolina Farm Aid Fund'. This fund is separate and distinct
from the general fund of the State and all other funds. Earnings
on this fund must be credited to it and any balance in this fund
at the end of a fiscal year carries forward in the fund in the
succeeding fiscal year. Revenues credited to this fund in a
fiscal year must be used to operate a loan program that provides
financial assistance to farmers.
(2)
To be eligible for a loan, the person must have:
(a)
experienced a verifiable loss of agricultural commodities
of at least forty percent as a result of a natural disaster,
excluding drought, for which:
(i)
the Governor declares a state of emergency in the State;
and
(ii)
the United States Secretary of Agriculture has issued a
Secretarial Disaster Declaration for the county in which the
farm is located;
(b)
a farm number issued by the Farm Service Agency; and
(c)
signed an affidavit, under penalty of perjury, certifying
that each fact of the loss presented by the person is accurate.
(B)(1) There is created
the Farm Aid Board. The board is composed of the following
members:
(a)
the Commissioner of Agriculture, ex officio, or his
designee, who shall serve as chairman;
(b)
one member representing South Carolina Farm Bureau
Federation appointed by the Chairman of the Senate Finance
Committee;
(c)
one member representing a Farm Credit Association
appointed by the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee;
(d)
one member of the crop insurance industry appointed by the
Chairman of the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources
Committee;
(e)
one agricultural commodities producer appointed by the
Chairman of the House Agriculture, Natural Resources and
Environmental Affairs Committee;
(f)
the Vice President for Public Service and Agriculture of
Clemson Public Service Activities, or his designee; and
(g)
the Vice President for Land Grant Services of South
Carolina State Public Service Activities, or his designee.
(2)(a)
Within twenty days of the effective date of this section,
the board shall hold its initial meeting to adopt an application
process by which a person with a loss resulting from the
flooding in October 2015, may apply for a loan. A person shall
apply not later than forty-five days after the initial meeting
of the board. The initial deposit of monies into the fund only
may be used for such claims.
(b)
For any other loss, the board shall set forth the process
and application process by which a person may apply for
loans.
(3)(a)
Each loan awarded by the board must equal twenty percent
of the person's verifiable loss of agricultural commodities.
However, a person, including any loan made to a related person,
may not receive loans aggregating more than one hundred thousand
dollars with respect to any single major disaster. Also, a
person, including any loan made to a related person, may not
receive loans that when combined with losses covered by
insurance, exceed one hundred percent of the actual loss. If a
loan is made to a related person, the amount to be included in
the limits set by this section must be the amount of the loan
multiplied by the person's ownership interest in the related
person. However, a person who shares an ownership interest with
another person or entity may not be refused a loan solely
because the other person or related person has otherwise
received the maximum loan amount, but in this case, the person's
loan amount is limited by the person's ownership interest.
(b)
If the total amount of loans allowed pursuant to subitem
(a) for a single major disaster exceeds the monies in the fund,
then each person's loan must be reduced proportionately.
(4)
To determine loss, the board:
(a)
must measure the person's cumulative total loss of all
affected agricultural commodities for the calendar year in which
the eligible loss occurred against the person's expected
production of all agricultural commodities affected by a
qualifying natural disaster in the same year;
(b)
shall use the person's applicable actual production
history yield, as determined by the Federal Crop Insurance
Corporation, to determine loss for insured agricultural
commodities. In determining loss for uninsured agricultural
commodities, the board shall use the most recent year's county
price and county yield, as applicable, as determined by the
National Agriculture Statistics Service, United States
Department of Agriculture; and
(c)
may require any documentation or proof it considers
necessary to efficiently administer the loan program, including
the ownership structure of each entity and the social security
numbers of each owner. Minimally, in order to verify loss, the
board shall require the submission of dated, signed, and
continuous records. These records may include, but are not
limited to, commercial receipts, settlement sheets, warehouse
ledger sheets, pick records, load summaries, contemporaneous
measurements, truck scale tickets, contemporaneous diaries,
appraisals, ledgers of income, income statements of deposit
slips, cash register tape, invoices for custom harvesting,
u-pick records, and insurance documents.
(5)
Any loan made pursuant to this section must be an
interest-free loan, and must be repaid in full by no later than
the fifth December thirty-first after the loan was granted.
(C) Loan awards must be
used for agricultural production expenses and losses due to the
declared disaster but does not include the purchase of new
equipment or the paying down of debt. The board shall require
any documentation it determines necessary to verify the
appropriate use of loan awards, including receipts.
(D) If the board
determines that a person who received a loan provided inaccurate
information, then the person shall refund the entire amount of
the loan within ninety days. If the board determines that a
person who received a loan used the funds for ineligible
expenses, then the person must refund the amount of the
ineligible expenses within ninety days. If the person does not
refund the appropriate amount, the Department of Revenue shall
utilize the provisions of the Setoff Debt Collection Act to
collect the money from the person.
(E) From the 2014-2015
Contingency Reserve Fund, there is appropriated $40,000,000 to
the South Carolina Farm Aid Fund. Any funds from this
appropriation remaining in the fund on June 30, 2017, shall
lapse to the general fund.
(F) For tax year 2015,
a taxpayer eligible for a loan pursuant to this section
resulting from the flooding in October 2015, may elect to claim
a property tax credit or income tax credit equal to the amount
of loss, as determined by the board, minus any amounts covered
by insurance and any loan amounts made pursuant to this section.
However, the amount of the credit may not exceed the taxpayer's
property tax or income tax liability, as applicable.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a taxpayer may file
an amended income tax return for 2015 or claim a refund for
property tax year 2015 for the purpose of claiming the credit.
The Department of Revenue or appropriate county official, in
consultation with the board, may require the taxpayer to produce
whatever proof the department determines necessary to implement
the provisions of this credit.
(G) The board may
accept private funds, grants, and property to be used to make
financial awards from the loan program.
(H) Staffing for the
board must be provided by the staff of the Department of
Agriculture.
(I) For purposes of
this section:
(1)
'Agricultural commodities' means wheat, cotton, flax,
corn, dry beans, oats, barley, rye, tobacco, rice, peanuts,
soybeans, sugar beets, sugar cane, tomatoes, grain sorghum,
sunflowers, raisins, oranges, sweet corn, dry peas, freezing and
canning peas, forage, apples, grapes, potatoes, timber and
forests, nursery crops, citrus, and other fruits and vegetables,
nuts, tame hay, native grass, aquacultural species including,
but not limited to, any species of finfish, mollusk, crustacean,
or other aquatic invertebrate, amphibian, reptile, or aquatic
plant propagated or reared in a controlled or selected
environment, excluding stored grain.
(2)
'Person' means any individual, trust, estate, partnership,
receiver, association, company, limited liability company,
corporation, or other entity or group.
(3)
'Related person' means any person, joint venture, or
entity that has a direct or indirect ownership interest of a
person or legal entity."
/
Renumber sections to conform.
Amend title to conform.