HR7195-119

What This Bill Does

The Timber Harvesters, Haulers, and Landowners Market Disruptions Relief Act creates a relief payment system for timber-sector disruptions. A Governor or the Chief of the Forest Service may petition the Agriculture Secretary, acting through the Farm Service Agency Administrator, to declare a market disruption. USDA must decide within 14 days, publish a funding notice within 30 days after a declaration, and process applications within 30 days. Approved eligible entities receive a payment of up to $20,000 within 14 days, with a possible September 30 follow-up payment tied to 30 percent of estimated gross revenue loss compared with the preceding calendar year. For five years after a declaration, the Governor or Forest Service Chief may request continuation payments if conditions have not improved, equal to 50 percent of prior payments. Funds can be used only for operational expenses such as payroll, fuel, equipment repair, debt service, or expanding access to other forest product markets. Eligibility is limited to forest product harvesting or hauling businesses, including timber landowners, with revenue loss from a market disruption, at least $35,000 in prior-year federal taxable income from unrefined forest products, at least 75 percent of gross revenue from harvesting or hauling, and landowner timber-sale thresholds. Market disruptions include major processing-capacity loss, foreign trade barriers causing at least a 50 percent national export-receipt reduction, regional stumpage or delivered-price drops of at least 50 percent, loss of access to markets across at least 20 percent of a region, or other threats to timber harvesting and hauling viability. Funding equals antidumping and countervailing duties collected on Canadian softwood lumber articles.

Who Benefits and How

Forest product harvesting businesses, forest product hauling businesses, qualifying timber landowners, logging crews, trucking operators, and regions hit by mill closures, price collapses, lost markets, or foreign trade barriers benefit from direct payments, continuation payments, and operational-flexibility funding. Governors and the Forest Service Chief benefit from a petition mechanism to trigger regional relief. Timber communities may benefit if payments keep harvesting and hauling capacity viable during market disruptions.

Who Bears the Burden and How

USDA Farm Service Agency staff must evaluate petitions within 14 days, publish funding notices, process applications, calculate payments, prorate insufficient funds, administer appeals, police fraud, build applications without notice-and-comment or Paperwork Reduction Act procedures, and report annually to Congress. Applicants must document revenue loss, taxable income, revenue mix, timber-sale thresholds, and eligible uses. Federal trade-duty collections on Canadian softwood lumber are redirected to the program, and Canadian softwood importers remain the source of the duties funding relief.

Key Provisions

• Creates USDA relief payments for forest harvesting businesses, forest hauling businesses, and qualifying timber landowners after declared market disruptions.
• Allows Governors and the Forest Service Chief to petition for market disruption declarations and requires USDA decisions within 14 days.
• Provides payments up to $20,000 plus revenue-loss payments and possible five-year continuation payments if conditions do not improve.
• Limits payment uses to operational expenses or expanding access to other forest product markets.
• Defines market disruptions to include processing-capacity loss, foreign trade barriers, major price drops, regional market loss, and other threats to timber operations.
• Funds the program with antidumping and countervailing duties collected on Canadian softwood lumber articles and requires annual congressional reports.