I

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2145

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 7, 1994

Referred to the Committee on Agriculture

AN ACT

To authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to determine which

programs of the Department of Agriculture are eligible

for State mediation and to certify States to administer

mediation for the programs, and for other purposes.

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 ‘‘Agricultural Mediation

5 Act of 1994’’.
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1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

2 As used in this Act:

3 (1) AGRICULTURAL MEDIATION PROGRAM.—

4 The term ‘‘agricultural mediation program’’ means a

5 program administered by a State (in accordance

6 with this Act) for the mediation of disputes arising

7 under an eligible Department program.

8 (2) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’

9 means the United States Department of Agriculture.

10 (3) ELIGIBLE DEPARTMENT PROGRAM.—The

11 term ‘‘eligible Department program’’ means a pro12 gram of the Department under which disputes may

13 be resolved under an agricultural mediation pro14 gram, as determined by the Secretary under section

15 4.

16 (4) MEDIATION.—The term ‘‘mediation’’ means

17 a process of negotiation in which an impartial third

18 party attempts to assist parties in negotiating a mu19 tually agreeable resolution of a dispute.

20 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

21 the Secretary of Agriculture.

22 SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

23 The purposes of this Act are to provide the Secretary

24 with the authority to—

25 (1) determine which programs of the Depart26 ment are eligible for mediation, which has proven to
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1 be a valuable means of alternative dispute resolu2 tion; and

3 (2) certify States to administer mediation for

4 eligible Department programs.

5 SEC. 4. DETERMINATION OF ELIGIBLE DEPARTMENT PRO6 GRAMS.

7 (a) DETERMINATION.—The Secretary is authorized

8 to determine which programs of the Department are eligi9 ble Department programs.

10 (b) DETERMINATION FACTORS.—In making the de11 termination, the Secretary shall consider—

12 (1) the complexity and technical nature of the

13 Department program;

14 (2) the protection of the interests of program

15 participants; and

16 (3) whether mediation as a form of dispute res17 olution would achieve fairness for program partici18 pants and the Department.

19 SEC. 5. NOTICE OF ELIGIBLE DEPARTMENT PROGRAMS.

20 Not later than 120 days after the date of enactment

21 of this Act, the Secretary shall publish in the Federal Reg22 ister—

23 (1) notice of which programs of the Department

24 are eligible Department programs; and
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1 (2) a solicitation to States to apply for certifi2 cation to administer agricultural mediation programs

3 for the eligible Department programs.

4 SEC. 6. CERTIFICATION OF STATES TO ADMINISTER AGRI5 CULTURAL MEDIATION PROGRAMS.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this Act, a State

7 is qualified to administer an agricultural mediation pro8 gram if the Secretary certifies that a proposal by the State

9 to administer the program satisfies the requirements of

10 this section.

11 (b) DETERMINATIONS.—The Secretary shall deter12 mine whether a State is qualified to administer an agricul13 tural mediation program of the State not later than 30

14 days after the Secretary receives from the State a descrip15 tion of the proposed agricultural mediation program and

16 a statement certifying that the State has met all of the

17 requirements of subsection (c).

18 (c) CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.—To obtain cer19 tification to administer an agricultural mediation pro20 gram, a State must—

21 (1) demonstrate a need for the agricultural me22 diation program within the State based on the agri23 cultural activity, and the number of participants, in24 volved;
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1 (2) ensure that mediation services will be of2 fered to all individuals who are or may be eligible to

3 participate in the eligible Department program;

4 (3) ensure that the agricultural mediation pro5 gram is administered by the State or an authorized

6 agent of the State;

7 (4) provide for the training of mediators;

8 (5) ensure that confidentiality of the mediation

9 sessions will be maintained; and

10 (6) ensure that persons and agencies of the De11 partment affected by the program, as determined by

12 the Secretary, receive adequate notification of the

13 agricultural mediation program.

14 SEC. 7. RECERTIFICATION.

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—To retain certification to admin16 ister an agricultural mediation program, a State must—

17 (1) recertify the program in a manner pre18 scribed by the Secretary; and

19 (2) provide affected agencies of the Department

20 with all information required by the Secretary (in

21 consultation with interested parties) on the disputes

22 mediated under the program, subject to the con23 fidentiality requirements of Federal and State law.
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1 (b) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The information de2 scribed in subsection (a)(2) shall be made available by the

3 Secretary to the public.

4 SEC. 8. MATCHING GRANTS TO STATES.

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the availability of ap6 propriations, the Secretary shall provide matching grants

7 to a State for the administration and operation of an agri8 cultural mediation program.

9 (b) AMOUNT.—Subject to the availability of appro10 priations, the Secretary may pay up to 70 percent of the

11 cost of the administration and operation of an agricultural

12 mediation program by a State.

13 (c) USE.—A State that receives a matching grant to

14 administer an agricultural mediation program under this

15 section may use the financial assistance only to administer

16 and operate the program.

17 (d) PENALTY.—If the Secretary determines that a

18 State has not complied with subsection (c), the State shall

19 not be eligible for additional matching grants under this

20 section.

21 SEC. 9. ADMINISTRATION.

22 (a) INFORMATION.—If the Secretary receives a re23 quest from a person for information or analysis that is

24 relevant to a mediated dispute (as determined by the Sec-
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1 retary), the Secretary shall provide the information or

2 analysis to the person.

3 (b) PARTICIPATION BY SECRETARY.—Subject to sub4 section (c), the Secretary shall participate in each agricul5 tural mediation program established under this Act.

6 (c) MEDIATION NONBINDING ON THE SECRETARY.—

7 The Secretary shall not be bound by a decision or nego8 tiated agreement resulting from mediation conducted

9 under an agricultural mediation program if the Secretary

10 has not agreed to the decision or agreement.

11 SEC. 10. REGULATIONS.

12 The Secretary shall issue regulations to carry out this

13 Act not later than 120 days after the date of enactment

14 of this Act.

15 SEC. 11. CONSTRUCTION.

16 The authority provided by this Act is in addition to,

17 and in no way affects, the authority provided under title

18 V of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1987 (7 U.S.C. 5101

19 et seq.).

20 SEC. 12. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

21 (a) WAIVER OF FARM CREDIT MEDIATION RIGHTS

22 BY BORROWERS.—Section 4.14E of the Farm Credit Act

23 of 1971 (12 U.S.C. 2202e) is amended by striking ‘‘the

24 agricultural loan’’ and inserting ‘‘an agricultural’’.
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1 (b) WAIVER OF FMHA MEDIATION RIGHTS BY BOR2 ROWERS.—Section 358 of the Consolidated Farm and

3 Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 2006) is amended by

4 striking ‘‘the agricultural loan’’ and inserting ‘‘an agricul5 tural’’.

6 SEC. 13. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro8 priated to carry out this Act $7,500,000 for each of fiscal

9 years 1995 through 1998.

10 (b) FEES.—The Secretary is authorized, subject to

11 the availability of funds appropriated in advance, to ex12 pend such funds as are necessary to pay any fees charged

13 to an agency that administers an agricultural mediation

14 program for mediating individual disputes to which the

15 agency is a party.

16 SEC. 14. TERMINATION OF AUTHORITY.

17 The authority provided by this Act shall terminate

18 on September 30, 1998.

19 SEC. 15. EFFECTIVE DATE.

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection

21 (b), this Act and the amendments made by this Act shall

22 become effective on the date of enactment of this Act.

23 (b) TRANSITIONAL PROVISION.—During the 2-year

24 period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, a

25 State that (on the date of enactment of this Act) is cer-
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1 tified to carry out an agricultural loan mediation program

2 under title V of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1987 (7

3 U.S.C. 5101 et seq.) shall be considered certified (under

4 section 6 of this Act) to administer any agricultural medi5 ation program.

Passed the Senate May 25 (legislative day, May 16),

1994.

Attest: MARTHA S. POPE,

Secretary.