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GAO-18-55R 1 (2017-10-24)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaalgn0001 and id is 1 raw text is: c(AO U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 441 G St. N.W. Washington, DC 20548 October 24, 2017 The Honorable Mike Lee Chairman Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate The Honorable Richard Blumenthal United States Senate The Honorable Cory A. Booker United States Senate Agricultural Promotion Programs: Status of Freedom of Information Act Requests The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is responsible for the oversight of 22 research and promotion programs, more commonly known as check-off programs.1 Check-off programs are authorized by the Secretary of Agriculture through an order issued after public notice and comment. The Secretary issues these orders under the authority provided in legislation addressing specific agricultural commodities or under general authority provided in the Commodity Promotion, Research, and Information Act of 1996. Generally, the process of issuing an order begins when industry submits a proposed order to the Secretary to expand the market for a given agricultural commodity through the development and implementation of promotion, research, and information programs. The term check-off refers to the way the research and promotion programs are funded-an assessment is paid by producers, handlers, processors, importers, or others in the marketing chain for each unit of a commodity sold, produced, or imported. The programs are principally funded by this assessment and do not receive any federal appropriations. In addition, AMS is reimbursed from these assessments for its oversight activities. Each check-off program is operated by a board, such as the American Egg Board or the Cattlemen's Beef Board, whose members, for the most part, are appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture from nominations submitted by industry. Check-off boards are explicitly prohibited from (1) engaging in any action that could be a conflict of interest, (2) using assessed funds to influence any legislation or governmental action or policy, and (3) promoting any advertising that may be false, misleading, or disparaging to another agricultural commodity. AMS has primary oversight responsibility for ensuring that check-off boards comply with authorizing legislation and agency policy. 1The 22 commodities for which there are research and promotion programs are: beef, Christmas trees, cotton, dairy, egg, fluid milk, Hass avocados, highbush blueberries, honey, lamb, mangoes, mushrooms, paper and packaging, peanuts, popcorn, pork, potatoes, processed raspberries, softwood lumber, sorghum, soybeans, and watermelons. See enclosure I for more information. GAO-1 8-55R Agricultural Promotion Programs Page 1

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