§ 1464.407 - Payment benefits.

(a) TLAP00 payments shall be made to “eligible persons” not later than October 20, 2000 on the basis of two formulas.

(1) All flue-cured and cigar-binder funds in a State will distribute 50 percent to eligible quota owners and 50 percent to eligible producers.

(2) All burley and dark fire-cured tobacco funds in a State will be distributed one-third to quota owners; one-third to the controller; and one-third to grower(s)/tenant(s).

(b) As provided in paragraph (a) of this section the formulas shall be applied to the kinds of tobacco as follows:

(1) The allocated funds for cigar-binder (types 54 and 55) will be disbursed with 50 percent being paid to quota owners based on basic allotment times NASS yield and 50 percent being paid to producers based on basic allotment times the NASS yield. The NASS yield for cigar-binder (types 54 and 55) is 2,054 pounds per acre.

(2) The allocated funds for dark fire-cured (type 21) will be disbursed with one-third being paid to quota owners based on the 2000 crop year basic allotment times NASS yield, one-third being paid to the controller based on the 2000 crop year effective allotment times NASS yield, and one-third being paid to grower(s)/tenant(s) based on the 2000 crop year effective quota times NASS yield. The NASS yield for dark fire-cured (type 21) is 2,139 pounds per acre.

(3) The allotted funds for flue-cured tobacco (types 11, 12, 13 and 14) will be disbursed with 50 percent paid to quota owners on the 2000 crop year basic quota and 50 percent being paid to producers on the 2000 crop year basic quota.

(4) The allotted funds for burley tobacco (type 31) will be disbursed with one-third being paid to quota owners based on the 2000 crop year basic quota; one-third being paid to the farm controller based on the 2000 crop year effective quota before any disaster lease and transfer pounds; and one-third being paid to grower(s)/tenant(s) based on the 2000 crop year effective quota before any disaster lease and transfer pounds.

(c) The Secretary shall use the amount allocated to the State of Georgia to make payments to eligible persons in the State of Georgia only if the State of Georgia agrees to use an equal amount (not to exceed $13,000,000) to make payments at the same time, or subsequently, to the same eligible persons in the same manner as provided for in this section.

(d) The payment amount shall be determined by apportioning the allocated funds for each State on a poundage basis among the timely applications that are filed, with an allowance for a reserve to handle hardships and appeals.

(e) All payments under this part are subject to the eligibility of funds; further, terms used in this part may be further refined and applied as will more closely align the payments made under this subpart with payments made under the various State programs which have preceded it. In the case where a payment to a farm is disputed the Deputy Administrator may require that all interested parties agree to the resolution of the dispute before any payment is made and may delay payments to the farm until any such disputes are resolved. Also, as determined appropriate to accomplish the desire that program payments be made expeditiously in a manner that is administratively efficient, the Deputy Administrator may properly exclude payments to a person who does not file a timely claim and all payments may be made to those parties whose claim to the payment is not challenged. Nothing in this section shall, however, be construed to prevent the agency from denying any payment to any person based upon a failure of that person to meet any eligibility criteria set forth in this part.