Surplus Agricultural Commodities Disposal Act of 1982
Public Law 97-358 · H.R. 6142 · 97th Congress · began in the House
Signed by Ronald Reagan (R) on Oct 21, 1982 · Agriculture and Food
Sponsor: Rep. Berkley Bedell (D-IA-6)
Cosponsors (30): Rep. Paul Findley, Rep. Tom Daschle,
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.
Surplus Agricultural Commodities Disposal Act of 1982 - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to direct the Commodity Credit Corporation to contract for the processing of surplus commodities into liquid fuels and agricultural byproducts, and for the disposal of such byproducts.
Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to establish terms for: (1) the use or storage of such liquid fuels; or (2) the sale of such fuels at prices that will not adversely affect existing market prices.
Requires the Secretary to report to Congress within 120 days and annually thereafter.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
Agriculture Committee · House · markup by, referred to, reported bySubcommittee: Wheat, Soybeans, and Feed Grains 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. 14 actions.
- Oct 21, 1982Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 97-358.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- Oct 13, 1982PresidentPresident · Presented to President.
- Oct 1, 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 15, 1982CommitteeCommittee · Reported by Wheat, Soybeans, and Feed Grains Subcommittee of the House Agriculture Committee
- CommitteeCommittee · Markup by Wheat, Soybeans, and Feed Grains Subcommittee of the House Agriculture Committee
- Apr 26, 1982CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Wheat, Soybeans, and Feed Grains Subcommittee of the House Agriculture Committee
- Apr 22, 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.