92nd General Assembly
Summary of HB0524
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House Sponsors:
MAUTINO-WINTERS-SMITH,MICHAEL-OSMOND-DART, DAVIS,STEVE, 
   REITZ, BOLAND, FOWLER, HOFFMAN, SLONE, O'BRIEN, 
   FORBY, TENHOUSE, MITCHELL,JERRY, HOEFT AND LANG.

Senate Sponsors:
WALSH,L-NOLAND

Short description: 
AGRICULTR-PRODUCER PROTECT ACT                                             

Synopsis of Bill as introduced:
        Creates  the  Agriculture  Producer  Protection  Act.    Requires      
   agriculture  production contracts to contain certain disclosures, meet      
   readability guidelines,  and  include  a  cover  sheet  that  provides      
   specified warnings, risk disclosures, producer rights, and an index of      
   the   major  contract  provisions.   Provides  that  the  Director  of      
   Agriculture  may  review  an  agriculture  production   contract   for      
   compliance with the contract form and content requirements of the Act.      
   Allows  an  agriculture  producer  3  days  to cancel a newly executed      
   contract.  Prohibits provisions  stating  that  information  contained      
   within   an   agricultural   contract   is  confidential.   Grants  an      
   agriculture contract producer a priority lien on crops, livestock, raw      
   milk, or the cash proceeds from the sales of those items,  for  moneys      
   owed  pursuant  to  the production contract.  Provides restrictions on      
   unilateral termination of contracts requiring the contract producer to      
   make capital investments worth $100,000 or more.  Provides that it  is      
   unlawful  for  any  contractor  or  processor  to  interfere  with the      
   exercise of certain rights granted under the Act and establishes other      
   unfair practices under the Act.  Provides that any provision requiring      
   the application of another state's law instead of the Act, or  waiving      
   a  right  or  obligation  under  the  Act, is void.  Provides that all      
   agriculture production contracts must contain  a  provision  requiring      
   mediation  of  contract  disputes.  Provides that the Attorney General      
   shall enforce the Act by actions in the circuit  court  for  equitable      
   and  monetary  relief,  including  injunctive  relief and criminal and      
   civil fines and penalties.  Provides a private cause of action to  any      
   party  aggrieved  by  a  violation of the Act and includes as remedies      
   contract reformation and other equitable relief  for  the  purpose  of      
   avoiding unjust enrichment.  Effective July 1, 2001.                        
          FISCAL NOTE (Department of Agriculture)                              
          HB 524 would impose a cost of $120,000 a year on the Department      
          for additional staff to review the agriculture producer con-         
          tracts submitted under the bill. This cost figure could poten-       
          tially be higher dependent upon the number of contracts sub-         
          mitted to the Department for its review.                             
          FISCAL NOTE, H-AM 2 (Department of Agriculture)                      
          This bill would impose a cost of $120,000 a year upon the Dept.      
          of Agriculture to implement. This total reflects the Depart-         
          ment's need to hire one full-time attorney and one full-time         
          paralegal to review the numerous agriculture producer contracts      
          submitted to the Department for its review under HB 524. As it       
          is impossible to estimate how many such contracts might be sub-      
          mitted to the Department in any given year, this cost figure         
          could potentially be higher dependent upon the number of such        
          contracts submitted to the Department for its review.                
        HOUSE AMENDMENT NO. 2.                                                 
          Adds reference to:                                                   
          5 ILCS 140/7                    from Ch. 116, par. 207               
        Deletes everything. Creates the Agriculture  Producer  Protection      
   Act.    Requires  agriculture  production contracts to contain certain      
   disclosures, meet readability guidelines, and include a summary sheet.      
   Provides that the Director of Agriculture may  review  an  agriculture      
   production  contract for compliance with the contract form and content      
   requirements  of  the  Act.  Provides  that  provisions  stating  that      
   information contained within an agricultural contract is  confidential      
   shall  not  prevent  a producer from discussing all contract terms and      
   details  with  specified  persons.    Provides   restrictions   on   a      
   contractor's  unilateral  termination  of  certain contracts. Provides      
   that it is unlawful for any contractor to interfere with the  exercise      
   of  certain  rights granted under the Act and establishes other unfair      
   practices under the Act.  Provides that any  provision  requiring  the      
   application of the law of any state other than Illinois, requiring any      
   action  to be filed in a state other than Illinois, or waiving a right      
   or obligation under the Act,  is  void.  Provides  that  the  Attorney      
   General  shall  enforce  the  Act  by actions in the circuit court for      
   equitable  and  monetary  relief,  including  injunctive  relief   and      
   criminal  and  civil fines and penalties.  Provides a private cause of      
   action to any producer  aggrieved  by  a  violation  of  the  Act  and      
   includes  as  remedies contract reformation and other equitable relief      
   for the purpose of avoiding unjust enrichment.   Amends the Freedom of      
   Information Act to exempt production contracts submitted for review to      
   the Director of Agriculture under the  Agriculture Producer Protection      
   Act.   Provides that  the Department of  Agriculture must adopt  rules      
   implementing the Agriculture  Producer Protection  Act not  later than      
   January 1, 2002  and gives  this  and the effective  date provision an      
   immediate effective date. Provides that the remainder of the Act takes      
   effect on January 1, 2002.                                                  
 
Last action on Bill: SESSION SINE DIE

   Last action date: JAN-07-2003

           Location: House

 Amendments to Bill: AMENDMENTS ADOPTED: HOUSE -   1     SENATE -   0


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