Congress moves to stop farm boards from lobbying with your assessment fees

What it does

This bill restricts agricultural checkoff programs—federally mandated commodity promotion boards funded by producer assessments—from contracting with lobbying organizations and requires them to disclose all spending publicly. It prohibits conflicts of interest, anticompetitive conduct, and disparagement of competing commodities, and mandates regular audits by the USDA Inspector General and Government Accountability Office to ensure compliance.

Why we flagged it

The bill's core mechanism is a transparency and anti-corruption measure targeting checkoff program governance. It prohibits conflicts of interest and lobbying capture, mandates public disclosure of spending, and establishes audit oversight—all aimed at restoring lawful operation of commodity promotion boards.

What the text implies

• Checkoff programs with annual revenue under $20M are exempt from the lobbying prohibition, creating a potential loophole for smaller commodity boards to continue policy engagement.
• The bill does not address whether existing contracts with lobbying entities must be terminated immediately or may continue until expiration, potentially delaying compliance.
• Public disclosure of all disbursements and subcontractors within 30 days may expose proprietary research methodologies or competitive strategies of participating producers.
• The audit requirement (Inspector General every 5 years, Comptroller General once between years 3–5) creates a 5-year gap between reviews, during which non-compliance could persist undetected.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

Ordinary farmers and consumers benefit from restored transparency and accountability in checkoff programs. Farmers gain assurance their mandatory assessments are spent on generic promotion, not lobbying that favors competitors; consumers benefit from clearer commodity information untainted by anticompetitive conduct. The bill restores the original statutory intent of checkoff programs and prevents special interests from capturing public funds.

Named in the bill

USDA (Secretary of Agriculture), USDA Office of Inspector General, Government Accountability Office (Comptroller General), Agricultural checkoff program boards, Cotton Research and Promotion Act, Beef Research and Information Act, Dairy Production Stabilization Act, Pork Promotion, Research, and Consumer Information Act, Soybean Promotion, Research, and Consumer Information Act, Hass Avocado Promotion, Research, and Information Act, Commodity Promotion, Research, and Information Act of 1996

Where it stands

1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.

• May 20, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• May 20, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Agriculture · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

1 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $180,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 24 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.

Nancy Mace, the sponsor, reported $8,000 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• Farmers Educational Cooperative Union of America — $180,000 on 2 filings

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.