7 USC 518a – Contract payments to tobacco quota holders
(a) Contract offered
The Secretary shall offer to enter into a contract with each tobacco quota holder under which the tobacco quota holder shall be entitled to receive payments under this section in exchange for the termination of tobacco marketing quotas and related price support under the amendments made by sections 611 and 612.1 The contract payments shall constitute full and fair consideration for the termination of such tobacco marketing quotas and related price support.
(b) Eligibility
Terms Used In 7 USC 518a
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- county: includes a parish, or any other equivalent subdivision of a State or Territory of the United States. See 1 USC 2
- Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
To be eligible to enter into a contract to receive a contract payment under this section, a person shall submit to the Secretary an application containing such information as the Secretary may require to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Secretary that the person is a tobacco quota holder. The application shall be submitted within such time, in such form, and in such manner as the Secretary may require.
(c) Base quota level
(1) Establishment
The Secretary shall establish a base quota level applicable to each tobacco quota holder identified under subsection (b).
(2) Poundage quotas
Subject to adjustment under subsection (d), for each kind of tobacco for which the marketing quota is expressed in pounds, the base quota level for each tobacco quota holder shall be equal to the basic quota for quota tobacco established for the 2002 tobacco marketing year under a marketing quota program established under part I of subtitle B of title III of the Agriculture 2 Adjustment Act of 1938 [7 U.S.C. 1311 et seq.] on the farm owned by the tobacco quota holder.
(3) Marketing quotas other than poundage quotas
Subject to adjustment under subsection (d), for each kind of tobacco for which there is marketing quota or allotment on an acreage basis, the base quota level for each tobacco quota holder shall be the quantity equal to the product obtained by multiplying—
(A) the basic tobacco farm marketing quota or allotment for the 2002 marketing year established by the Secretary for quota tobacco owned by the tobacco quota holder; by
(B) the average production yield, per acre, for the period covering the 2001, 2002, and 2003 crop years for that kind of tobacco in the county in which the quota tobacco is located.
(d) Treatment of certain contracts and agreements
(1) Effect of purchase contract
If there was an agreement for the purchase of all or part of a farm described in subsection (c) as of October 22, 2004, and the parties to the sale are unable to agree to the disposition of eligibility for contract payments, the Secretary, taking into account any transfer of quota that has been agreed to, shall provide for the equitable division of the contract payments among the parties by adjusting the determination of who is the tobacco quota holder with respect to particular pounds or allotment of the quota.
(2) Effect of agreement for permanent quota transfer
If the Secretary determines that there was in existence, as of the day before October 22, 2004, an agreement for the permanent transfer of quota, but that the transfer was not completed by that date, the Secretary shall consider the tobacco quota holder to be the party to the agreement that, as of that date, was the owner of the farm to which the quota was to be transferred.
(e) Contract payments
(1) Calculation of total payment amount
The total amount of contract payments to which an eligible tobacco quota holder is entitled under this section, with respect to a kind of tobacco, shall be equal to the product obtained by multiplying—
(A) $7.00 per pound; by
(B) the base quota level of the tobacco quota holder determined under subsection (c) with respect to that kind of tobacco.
(2) Annual payment
During each of fiscal years 2005 through 2014, the Secretary shall make a contract payment under this section to each eligible tobacco quota holder, with respect to a kind of tobacco, in an amount equal to 1/10 of the amount determined under paragraph (1) for the tobacco quota holder for that kind of tobacco.
(f) Death of tobacco quota holder
If a tobacco quota holder who is entitled to contract payments under this section dies and is survived by a spouse or one or more dependents, the right to receive the payments shall transfer to the surviving spouse or, if there is no surviving spouse, to the estate of the tobacco quota holder.