II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2387 

To amend the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 to require 

the Secretary of Agriculture to acknowledge that the Department is 

considering or rejecting a civil rights claim not later than 45 days 

after receipt of the claim and, once considering a claim, to process 

all civil rights complaints within 270 days. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 26, 2012 

Mr. PRYOR introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To amend the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 

to require the Secretary of Agriculture to acknowledge 

that the Department is considering or rejecting a civil 

rights claim not later than 45 days after receipt of 

the claim and, once considering a claim, to process all 

civil rights complaints within 270 days. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fair Claims Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CIVIL RIGHTS COMPLAINTS AGAINST THE DEPART2 MENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

3 Section 14010 of the Food, Conservation, and En4 ergy Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2279–2) is amended— 

5 (1) by striking the section enumerator and 

6 heading and all that follows through ‘‘Each year’’ 

7 and inserting the following: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 14010. CIVIL RIGHTS COMPLAINTS AGAINST THE DE9 PARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

10 ‘‘(a) REQUIRED REPORTS AND SUBMISSIONS.—Each 

11 year’’; 

12 (2) in paragraph (1)— 

13 (A) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

14 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

15 (B) in subparagraph (D), by adding ‘‘and’’ 

16 at the end; and 

17 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(E) the number of claims that have not 

19 been resolved during the 270-day period begin20 ning on the date of acknowledgment of receipt 

21 of the claim by the agency;’’; 

22 (3) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

23 end; 

24 (4) in paragraph (3), by striking the period at 

25 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

26 (5) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(3) submit to each Senator and Member of 

2 Congress a list that— 

3 ‘‘(A) identifies the number of constituents 

4 in the State or district of the Senator or Mem5 ber that have outstanding civil rights claims 

6 that have been pending for more than 270 days 

7 since the date of acknowledgment of receipt of 

8 a formal complaint by the Department of Agri9 culture; and 

10 ‘‘(B) includes the number of claims that 

11 are outstanding for each 60-day interval beyond 

12 the 270-day period. 

13 ‘‘(c) REQUIRED SUBMISSIONS TO CLAIMANT.—As 

14 soon as practicable after the expiration of the 270-day pe15 riod beginning on the date of acknowledgment of receipt 

16 of a civil rights claim by the Department of Agriculture, 

17 if the claim remains outstanding, the Secretary shall sub18 mit to the claimant of the outstanding civil rights claim 

19 the estimated time of resolution for the claim. 

20 ‘‘(d) TIMELINE FOR RESPONSE AND RESOLUTION.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

22 after the date of enactment of this subsection, the 

23 Secretary shall accept or deny all formal civil rights 

24 complaints sent by registered mail or delivered in 


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1 person for processing during the 45-day period be2 ginning on the date of receipt of the complaint. 

3 ‘‘(2) FAILURE TO ACCEPT COMPLAINT.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If the Secretary re5 fuses to accept a complaint as a formal civil 

6 rights complaint, the complainant may appeal 

7 the intake decision during the 15-day period be8 ginning on the date of the disputed intake 

9 through the office of the Assistant Secretary for 

10 Administration of the Department of Agri11 culture. 

12 ‘‘(B) REQUIRED RESPONSE.—The Assist13 ant Secretary for Administration shall respond 

14 not later than 45 days after the date on which 

15 an appeal is filed under subparagraph (A) on 

16 acceptance or denial of the formal complaint 

17 process. 

18 ‘‘(3) RESOLUTION OF CLAIMS.— 

19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

20 subparagraph (B), the Secretary shall resolve 

21 all civil rights claims during the 270-day period 

22 beginning on the date of acknowledgment of de23 livery of the complaint by registered mail or in 

24 person. 

25 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTIONS.— 


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1 ‘‘(i) ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLU2 TION.—Notwithstanding subparagraph 

3 (A), in a case in which the claimant has 

4 pursued the option of alternative dispute 

5 resolution with the Secretary, the 270-day 

6 period shall not begin until— 

7 ‘‘(I) the claimant terminates the 

8 alternative dispute resolution process 

9 in writing to the Department of Agri10 culture; and 

11 ‘‘(II)(aa) the Department has ac12 knowledged receipt of the claim; or 

13 ‘‘(bb) the Postal Service verifies 

14 that the complaint has been delivered 

15 by registered mail. 

16 ‘‘(ii) PENDING CRIMINAL INVESTIGA17 TION.—Notwithstanding subparagraph 

18 (A), in a case in which a criminal inves19 tigation is pending with respect to the 

20 claims, the 270-day period shall not begin 

21 until the pending criminal investigation 

22 has been concluded. 

23 ‘‘(C) FAILURE TO RESOLVE.— 

24 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—If a civil rights 

25 claim is not resolved during the 270-day 


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1 period, the Secretary shall provide to the 

2 claimant, in accordance with subsections 

3 (a)(3) and (b)— 

4 ‘‘(I) an explanation of the reason 

5 for delay; 

6 ‘‘(II) an explanation of the re7 maining process that is required for 

8 the resolution of the claim; 

9 ‘‘(III) a description of any items 

10 necessary for review; and 

11 ‘‘(IV) an estimated time for reso12 lution of the claim. 

13 ‘‘(ii) PROTECTION OF CONFIDENTIAL

14 INFORMATION.—An explanation of the rea15 son for delay under clause (i) shall not in16 clude confidential information relating to 

17 the claim that would interfere with poten18 tial or ongoing court proceedings. 

19 ‘‘(4) APPEAL OF FINDING OF DISCRIMINA20 TION.— 

21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For any civil rights 

22 claim in which discrimination is found under 

23 this section, the claimant may file an appeal of 

24 the finding with the Assistant Secretary for Ad25 ministration. 


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1 ‘‘(B) ACTION BY ASSISTANT SECRETARY

2 FOR ADMINISTRATION.—Not later than 180 

3 days after the date on which an appeal is filed 

4 under subparagraph (A), the Assistant Sec5 retary for Administration shall respond to the 

6 appeal by issuing an acceptance or denial of the 

7 finding. 

8 ‘‘(e) PERIODIC AUDITS CONDUCTED BY INSPECTOR

9 GENERAL OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.—Not 

10 later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this sub11 section and not less frequently than every 3 years there12 after, the Inspector General of the Department of Agri13 culture shall conduct an audit of each activity taken by 

14 the Secretary under this section for the period covered by 

15 the audit to determine compliance with this section.’’. 

Æ 


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