Sec. 2. Findings and purposes
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Congress finds that— duties collected on imports of citrus and citrus products have ranged from $32,000,000 to $87,000,000 annually since 2004, and are projected to increase, as United States production declines due to the effects of huanglongbing (also known as HLB or citrus greening disease ) and imports increase in response to the shortfall in the United States; in cases involving other similarly situated agricultural commodities, notably wool, the Federal Government has chosen to divert a portion of the tariff revenue collected on imported products to support efforts of the domestic industry to address challenges facing the industry; citrus and citrus products are a highly nutritious and healthy part of a balanced diet; citrus production is an important part of the agricultural economy in Florida, California, Arizona, and Texas; in 2012, citrus fruits were produced on approximately 804,300 acres in the United States, yielding approximately 11,373,000 tons of citrus products with a value at the farm of more than $3,443,289,000; the commercial citrus sector employs approximately 110,000 people and contributes approximately $13,500,000,000 to the United States economy; the United States citrus industry has suffered billions of dollars in damage from disease and pests, both domestic and invasive, over the decade preceding the date of the enactment of this Act, particularly from huanglongbing; huanglongbing threatens the entire United States citrus industry because the disease kills citrus trees; as of the date of the enactment of this Act, there are no cost effective or environmentally sound treatments available to suppress or eradicate huanglongbing;
United States citrus producers working with Federal and State governments have devoted tens of millions of dollars toward research and efforts to combat huanglongbing and other diseases and pests, but more funding is needed to develop and commercialize disease and pest solutions; although imports constitute an increasing share of the United States market, importers of citrus products into the United States do not directly fund production research in the United States; disease and pest suppression technologies require determinations of safety and solutions must be commercialized before use by citrus producers; the complex processes involved in discovery and commercialization of safe and effective pest and disease suppression technologies are expensive and lengthy and the need for the technologies is urgent; and research to develop solutions to suppress huanglongbing, or other domestic and invasive pests and diseases will benefit all citrus producers and consumers around the world.
The purposes of this Act are— to authorize the establishment of a trust funded by certain tariff revenues to support scientific research, technical assistance, and development activities to combat citrus diseases and pests, both domestic and invasive, harming the United States; and to require the President to notify the chairperson and ranking member of the Committee on Finance of the Senate and the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives before entering into any trade agreement that would decrease the amount of duties collected on imports of citrus products to less than the amount necessary to provide the grants authorized by section 1001(d) of the Trade Act of 1974, as added by section 3(a) of this Act.
Nothing in this Act restricts the use of any funds for scientific research and technical activities in the United States.