House Agriculture Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Freedom to E-File Act

(June 18, 1999) The House Agriculture Committee's Subcommittee on Department Operations held a hearing on the Freedom to E-File Act. The bill would require the Department of Agriculture to establish an electronic filing and retrieval system within 180 days. A USDA representative testified that they want two years.

"It is high time the USDA gets on-line with rural America," said Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) (web site | bio). "The Internet is farmer friendly." The hearing was conducted by the Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight, Nutrition, and Forestry. Rep. Goodlatte is its Chairman.

"This bill is about access, it's about farmers being able to spend more time in the field and less time filing paperwork," said Rep. Goodlatte. "As the various competitors in the broadband marketplace race to provide high speed Internet access to consumers, our producers are in danger of being left behind."

Rep. LaHood

The bill is sponsored by Rep. Ray LaHood (R-IL). "As we move into the 21st Century, we must prepare all segments of our economy for the ever-increasing world of e-commerce," said Rep. LaHood said at the hearing. "Practically every industry in America is taking full advantage of the Internet. We can do no less for American agriculture."

"Producers have long been frustrated with waiting at local USDA offices to file paperwork, particularly during the time-sensitive harvest period," said Rep. LaHood.

"This bill would allow farmers to do what they need to do; spend more time in the field. It would also free-up USDA staff to assist producers in the field and spend less time poring over paperwork," said Rep. LaHood.

"USDA supports the Freedom to E-File Act," said Ira Hobbs, of the Agriculture Department. However, the USDA wants more time to implement electronic filing and retrieval than the 180 days that the bill allows. "We strongly recommend that the legislation be modified to support the Department’s current efforts to develop a phased two-year approach to providing Internet-based services, as opposed to a single electronic filing and retrieval system."

Wayne Dollar, a farmer who testified on behalf of the American Farm Bureau Federation, testified that "the impact it will have on farmers and ranchers should be immense." He said that farmers and ranchers face "long lines at their county Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices, as well as the need to travel to more than one county office when producers own and/or operate land in multiple counties, not to mention the recapping of nightmarish stories of filling out form after form for various USDA agencies."