CCS/HCS/SB 1017 - The act changes the official rating agency for the enforcement of standards relating to milk production from the Department of Health to the State Milk Board. The act requires that the board make an official rating survey at least biannually, a change from the current law which requires such a survey be made annually. The act creates the "Family Farms Act", a loan program established by the Missouri small business development authority for the purchase of beef and dairy cattle, sheep, goats and swine. The eligibility requirements are laid out in the act as are the maximum loan amounts available under the program and the considerations that are to be weighed by the authority when deciding upon a loan application. The act waives the interest payments for any approved farmer for the first year, provides financing up to ninety percent of the anticipated cost of the livestock purchase, and allows the authority to charge a one time loan review fee of one percent to be charged by the lender. Nothing in the Family Farms Act shall preclude any farmer from participating in any other agriculture program. The act provides a tax credit to any lender participating in the family farm livestock loan program equal to one hundred percent of the interest waived by the lender for the first year of the loan. The tax credits created in the act may be claimed on a quarterly basis, are not refundable and may be carried over for no more than three years. Certain provisions of the act are similar to HB 1349 (2006). MEGAN WORD