ABOUT US
Arrigo Risk Consulting PLLC is owned and operated by Kim Arrigo. Ms. Arrigo has a Bachelor of Science degree from Michigan State University from the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources earned in 1982.
Ms. Arrigo also earned her juris doctorate from the University of Miami School of Law in 1991 and is admitted to practice in Florida and the District of Columbia. From 1991 until December 2018, Ms. Arrigo practiced law with the United States Department of Agriculture in the Office of the General Counsel.
Ms. Arrigo has worked in the Office of the General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Agriculture from September 1991 through December 2018. She served as counsel to the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation and Risk Management Agency (collectively “RMA”) from March 1993 through December 2018.
As counsel to RMA, Ms. Arrigo’s duties included:
– Drafting legislation and working with Congress on what eventually became the Federal Crop Insurance Reform Act of 1994 and assisting RMA in its implementation, including the review of necessary regulations, policy and SRA changes. Attended meetings with individual and collective Congressional staffers in person and by conference call and provided assistance in drafting the initial draft legislation. Attended markups to answer questions or provide technical drafting assistance. Attended all Senate and House conference meetings to assist in the negotiation of the final draft of the legislation. This statute moved FCIC to the newly created Consolidated Farm Service Agency, added linkage that required other USDA program recipients to obtain crop insurance as a condition of eligibility, which vastly expanded the program, provided additional subsidies, eliminated ad hoc disaster and replaced them with the catastrophic risk protection for insured crops and noninsured crop disaster programs for crops for which insurance was not available.
– Providing guidance on crop insurance matters to all Administrators within RMA, the Under Secretary and Secretary of USDA, Office of the Inspector General, Congressional Budget Office, Office of Budget and Management, and the Department of Justice since 1993.
– Reviewing all policies published in the regulations at 7 C.F.R. part 457, which began in February 1994, and all unpublished policies created by RMA or private submitters under section 508(h) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act and continued until December 2018.
– Acting as one of the negotiators in the renegotiation of the 1995 Standard Reinsurance Agreement and working on the implementation and administration of its provisions. Participated in all negotiation meetings with RMA and with RMA and the AIPs and drafted the various provisions revised in the new SRA.
– Providing technical drafting assistance and working with Congress on the crop insurance provisions of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 and working with RMA on the implementation of its provisions, including the review of necessary regulations, policy and SRA changes.
– Assisting in the creation of RMA after FCIC was removed from the Consolidated Farm Service Agency.
– Provided technical drafting assistance and working with Congress on the crop insurance provisions of the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 and working with RMA on the implementation of its provisions, including the review of necessary regulations, policy and SRA changes. This statute set the financial terms of the SRA and did not allow for renegotiation.
– Acting as one of the negotiators in the renegotiation of the 1998 Standard Reinsurance Agreement and working on the implementation and administration of its provisions. Participated in all negotiation meetings with RMA and with RMA and the AIPs and drafted the various provisions revised in the new SRA, including administrative, reinsurance, financial, subsidy, and compliance provisions.
– Handling various litigations brought by many of the approved insurance providers (AIPs) against RMA, including the 1996 prevented planting litigation, the 2000 catastrophic risk protection administrative fee case, and the 2012 rating methodology case.
– Providing technical drafting assistance and working with Congress on the crop insurance provisions of the Agriculture Risk Protection Act of 2000 and working with RMA on the implementation of its provisions, including the review of necessary regulations, policy and SRA changes. Attended meetings with individual and collective Congressional staffers in person and by conference call and provided assistance in drafting the initial draft legislation. Attended markups to answer questions or provide technical drafting assistance. Attended all Senate and House conference meetings to assist in the negotiation of the final draft of the legislation. This statute strengthened the compliance requirement, created data mining, spot check lists, got the Farm Service Agency involved in monitoring producers, strengthened the good farming practice requirements, authorized cooperative selling and patronage dividends, added yield substitutions, restricted double insurance, expanded the Board of directors, required expert review of new policies, limited renegotiation of the SRA to once during the 2001 through 2005 reinsurance years, etc. Required RMA to provide interpretations of statute and regulations (Final Agency Determinations) published in RMA’s website.
– Reviewing all Final Agency Determinations for approval for legal sufficiency. Reviewed approximately 285 FADs.
– Creating a crop insurance program for the South African government and traveling to South Africa to present it in 2000.
– Assisting in the transition to a new administration in 2001 by providing briefing and guidance on the crop insurance program.
– Acting as one of the negotiators in the renegotiation of the 2005 Standard Reinsurance Agreement and working on the implementation and administration of its provisions. This renegotiation strengthened compliance, reduced administrative and operating subsidies, and revised the underwriting gain and loss provisions. Participated in all negotiation meetings with RMA and with RMA and the AIPs and drafted the various provisions revised in the new SRA, including administrative, reinsurance, financial, subsidy, and compliance provisions.
– Providing technical drafting assistance and working with Congress on the crop insurance provisions of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 and working with RMA on the implementation of its provisions, including the review of necessary regulations, policy and SRA changes. Attended meetings with individual and collective Congressional staffers in person and by conference call and provided assistance in drafting the initial draft legislation. Attended markups to answer questions or provide technical drafting assistance. Attended all Senate and House conference meetings to assist in the negotiation of the final draft of the legislation. In this statute, Congress limited cooperative selling, added restrictions on agents selling to family members, moved the premium billing date from October 1 to August 1, provided additional subsidies to farms with whole farm units, changed the premium subsidies for area revenue plans of insurance, reduced the reimbursement rate for administrative and operating expenses of AIPs, allowed renegotiation of the SRA once every five years, limited insurance on native sod, etc.
– Assisting in the transition to a new administration in 2009 by providing briefing and guidance on the crop insurance program.
– Acting as one of the negotiators in the renegotiation of the 2011 Standard Reinsurance Agreement and working on the implementation and administration of its provisions. This renegotiation reduced administrative and operating subsidies, and revised the underwriting gain and loss provisions. Participated in all negotiation meetings with RMA and with RMA and the AIPs and drafted the various provisions revised in the new SRA, including administrative, reinsurance, financial, subsidy, and compliance provisions.
– Providing technical drafting assistance and working with Congress on the crop insurance provisions of the Agricultural Act of 2014 and working with RMA on the implementation of its provisions, including the review of necessary regulations, policy and SRA changes. Attended meetings with individual and collective Congressional staffers in person and by conference call and provided assistance in drafting the initial draft legislation. Attended markups to answer questions or provide technical drafting assistance. Attended all Senate and House conference meetings to assist in the negotiation of the final draft of the legislation. This statute created the Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) and the Stacked Income Protection Plan for upland cotton (STAX), allowed margin protection in additional to other coverages, allowed yield exclusions, changed the manner in which policies are submitted under section 508(h) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act and allowed advance funding for concept proposals, added budget neutrality language that limits any future renegotiation of the SRA, provides additional benefits to beginning farmer and ranchers, added authority to correct producer errors in reporting certain information to the AIPs, provided additional funding for compliance, etc.
– Assisting in the transition to a new administration in 2017 by providing briefing and guidance on the crop insurance program.
– Providing technical drafting assistance and working with Congress on the crop insurance provisions of the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018. This statute allows for the insurance of hemp and no longer classifies it as a controlled substance, requires greater sharing of records between USDA agencies, provides for greater assistance by the Farm Service Agency to RMA, making cover crops a good farming practice is terminated in accordance with guidelines, provides additional benefits to veteran and socially disadvantaged producers, allowing separate coverage for crops that foraged or grazed and later harvested, adding limitations on how far a producers actual production history can decline from one year to the next, allow the use of NASS data to detect fraud waste and abuse, added requirements for continuing education for agents and loss adjusters, eliminating certain crop insurance education authority, etc.
– Assisting various divisions within RMA in the administration of their duties, including:
The Reinsurance Services Division in the administration of the provisions of the SRA, including qualifications and approval of an SRA, interpretations of provisions of the SRA and its Appendices, terms of reinsurance, fund designations, satisfactory performance, affiliates, policy issuing companies (PICs), transfers of books of business, Plans of Operations, disputes, escrow accounts, protection of data, interest, corrective actions, cease-and-desist, remedies, suspension, terminations, rebating, controlled business, large claims, good farming practices, and any other matters related to the SRA.
The Risk Management Services Division in providing guidance to AIPs in the event of widespread disasters, anomalous conditions, situations not covered by policy or procedures, etc.
The Compliance Division in its oversight responsibilities over AIPs, agents, loss adjusters, producers and any other participant in the Federal crop insurance program, including drafting or reviewing oversight procedures, annual review procedures, providing training in compliance, SRA, suspension, debarment and other administrative sanctions, assisting in drafting and review of initial and final findings, and administrative reviews, participating in settlement discussions and representing RMA before the civilian Board of Contract Appeals and the Federal courts.
The Production Management Division in the research, development, and maintenance of policies, including answering questions regarding coverages, premiums, underwriting, and loss adjustment. This would include the review of all regulations and and unpublished policies. o Reviewing all correspondence, Managers Bulletins, press releases and other communications signed by the Administrator, Secretary or under Secretary related to crop insurance.
– Assisting the FCIC Board in fulfilling its responsibilities to review and approved concepts and new policies, provisions of policies and premium rates under sections 508(h) and 522(c) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act. This entailed review of all briefing materials, submissions, and concepts, requests for reimbursements or user fees, attending all meetings, and being prepared to answer any questions regarding the materials presented. Reviewed the regulations and any changes thereto relating to submissions, concept proposals, reimbursements, and user fees published at 7 C.F.R. part 400, subpart V. Drafted or reviewed the Board’s procedures relating to submitting concepts, submissions or requests for reimbursements and user fees. Provided advice regarding the Board’s responsibilities and obligations in the consideration of concepts, submissions or requests for reimbursements and user fees. Acted as a liaison between the Board and the submitters when communicating questions or concerns of the Board. Provided guidance to the Board on the approval or termination of pilot programs or any other responsibilities of the Board.
In March 2019, Ms. Arrigo completed a 40 hour mediation training program offered by the Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution in Maryland.