A bill to amend the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act, 1930, to require the Secretary of Agriculture to accept the payment of monetary penalties for certain admitted and infrequent violations involving misrepresentation under such Act, and for other purposes.
Public Law 97-352 · H.R. 6865 · 97th Congress · began in the House
Signed by Ronald Reagan (R) on Oct 18, 1982 · Agriculture and Food
Sponsor: Rep. Kika de la Garza (D-TX-15)
Cosponsors (1): Rep. Leon Panetta
Passage votes
- HouseVoice vote
- SenateVoice vote
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.
Amends the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act to require (currently only authorizes) the Secretary of Agriculture to accept payment of a fine not in excess of $2,000 in admission of certain labeling misrepresentations.
Requires the U.S. resident-assignee of a nonresident claim to furnish the same cost and fee bond as required of the nonresident complainant.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
Agriculture Committee · House · markup by, referred to, reported bySubcommittee: Domestic Marketing, Consumer Relations, and Nutrition Subcommittee
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. 15 actions.
- Oct 18, 1982Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 97-352.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- Oct 6, 1982PresidentPresident · Presented to President.
- Oct 2, 1982FloorFloor · Passed Senate without amendment by Voice Vote.
- CommitteeCommittee · Discharged from Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee
- Sep 28, 1982FloorFloor · Passed House (Amended) by Voice Vote.
- CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee
- Sep 26, 1982CommitteeCommittee · Reported by House Agriculture Committee
- Sep 23, 1982CommitteeCommittee · Markup by House Agriculture Committee
- Sep 22, 1982CommitteeCommittee · Reported by Domestic Marketing, Consumer Relations, and Nutrition Subcommittee of the House Agriculture Committee
- CommitteeCommittee · Markup by Domestic Marketing, Consumer Relations, and Nutrition Subcommittee of the House Agriculture Committee
- CommitteeCommittee · Hearings by Domestic Marketing, Consumer Relations, and Nutrition Subcommittee of the House Agriculture Committee
- Aug 3, 1982CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Domestic Marketing, Consumer Relations, and Nutrition Subcommittee of the House Agriculture Committee
- Jul 27, 1982CommitteeCommittee · Referred to House Agriculture Committee
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in the House
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.