March 5, 2026
Mrs. Spartz introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
To amend the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 to require the Secretary of Agriculture to publish information related to orders under commodity promotion laws.
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Checkoff Transparency Act
.
Sec. 2. Transparency of records of commodity boards
Section 501 of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 7401) is amended—
(1)
by redesignating subsections (d) through (f) as subsections (e) through (g);
(2)
by inserting after subsection (c) the following:
(d) Transparency of records of commodity boards
(1) In general
For each order issued by the Secretary under a commodity promotion law, the Secretary shall publish on the website of the Department of Agriculture the following information:
(A)
The reports of audits submitted by each commodity board to the Secretary for each fiscal year pursuant to section 515(g)(2).
(B)
The activities and budgets of each commodity board approved by the Secretary for each fiscal year.
(C)
The results of each periodic independent evaluation described in subsection (c).
(2) Publication timeline
In carrying out paragraph (1), the Secretary shall—
(A)
not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this subsection, publish the information described in such paragraph with respect to the 5 full fiscal years preceding such date of enactment; and
(B)
not later than 365 days after the end of any subsequent fiscal year, publish the information described in such paragraph with respect to such fiscal year.; and
(3)
in subsection (f)(4) (as so redesignated), by striking subsection (f)
and inserting subsection (g)
.