An Act to amend the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act.
Public Law 95-562 · S. 976 · 95th Congress · began in the Senate
Signed by Jimmy Carter (D) on Nov 1, 1978 · Agriculture and Food
Sponsor: Sen. Dee Huddleston (D-KY)
Cosponsors: None
Passage votes
- HouseMethod not stated
- SenateMethod not stated
Data notes
The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.
Summary
The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.
(Senate agreed to House amendments with an amendment)
Amends the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act to raise the maximum license fee for commission merchants, dealers, and brokers from $100 to $150 plus $50 for each branch or additional business facility a license applicant operates in excess of nine such facilities. Sets a maximum annual aggregate of such fees for any applicant at $1,000.
Raises from $100,000 to $200,000 the minimum invoice value of specified goods any person must buy, or sell, or negotiate the sale of, in order to be deemed a dealer or broker.
Includes as a "dealer" any person who buys potatoes for canning and/or processing, unless such potatoes are bought for processing solely within the State where grown.
Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to assess a single uniform license fee for all applicants or a graduated fee based on the amount or type of business conducted by the applicant or both. Limits the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act Fund for any fiscal year to approximately 25 percent of the projected budget for the ensuing fiscal year.
Amends the Farm Labor Contractor Registration Act of 1963 to exempt from the registration requirements anyone who would be required to register solely because he was engaged in transporting "migrant workers," solely for the purpose of supplying full-time students (or others whose principal occupation is not farming) to detassel hybrid seed corn or sorghum for seed, and to engage in other incidental farmwork for not to exceed four weeks in any calendar year, provided such students or persons are not required by such activity to be away from home overnight, and that such persons, if under 18, are not providing the transportation in the contractor's vehicles.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
Data notes
A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 13 actions.
- Nov 1, 1978Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- PresidentPresident · Public Law 95-562.
- Oct 25, 1978PresidentPresident · Measure presented to President.
- Oct 13, 1978PresidentPresident · Measure enrolled in Senate.
- PresidentPresident · Measure enrolled in House.
- Resolving differencesResolving differences · Senate agreed to House amendments with an amendment.
- Resolving differencesResolving differences · House agreed to Senate amendment.
- Oct 4, 1978FloorFloor · Measure passed House, amended, in lieu of H.R. 13845.
- FloorFloor · Measure called up by unanimous consent in House.
- Sep 8, 1978FloorFloor · Measure passed Senate, amended.
- Aug 25, 1978CommitteeCommittee · Reported by Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee
- Mar 10, 1977CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in the Senate
Data notes
Shows the introduction, each committee and subcommittee step the source dates (referral, hearings, markup, report, discharge), and the floor, conference, presidential and became-law steps. Calendar placements, messages between the chambers, amendments and committee report numbers are not shown for laws before the 108th Congress. Two entries the source lists twice are shown once.
Official record
The bill’s full text and every action, including introduction and committee steps, are on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.