I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3623 
To amend the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 to provide 
funding for successful claimants following a determination on the merits 
of Pigford claims related to racial discrimination by the Department 
of Agriculture. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 22, 2009 
Mr. DAVIS of Alabama introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Agri-
culture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 
to provide funding for successful claimants following a 
determination on the merits of Pigford claims related 
to racial discrimination by the Department of Agri-
culture. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) The claims of a significant number of Afri-
can-American farmers who brought discrimination 
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cases against the Department of Agriculture in the 
case Pigford v. Glickman were denied without such 
farmers receiving a hearing on the merits of those 
claims. 
(2) Section 14012 of the Food, Conservation, 
and Energy Act of 2008 (Public Law 110–246; 122 
Stat. 2210) states that it is Congress’ express intent 
that such section ‘‘be liberally construed so as to ef-
fectuate its remedial purpose of giving a full deter-
mination on the merits for each Pigford claim pre-
viously denied that determination,’’ and explicitly 
authorizes expedited resolutions to Pigford claims. 
(3) Such section authorizes the expenditure of 
$100,000,000 from the Commodity Credit Corpora-
tion for the purpose of addressing such claims. 
(4) The $100,000,000 expenditure was not in-
tended to serve as a cap, but was intended to serve 
as a place-holder allowing Congress to increase fund-
ing as necessary so that each Pigford claim may be 
determined on the merits. 
(5) The number of African-American farmers 
who have had discrimination claims against the De-
partment of Agriculture unfairly denied may total 
more than 77,000 persons. 
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(6) Funding in addition to the $100,000,000 
made available in such section 14012 will be needed 
to achieve Congress’ intent to carry out the remedial 
purpose of having each Pigford claim determined on 
the merits. 
SEC. 2. FUNDING FOR PIGFORD CLAIMS. 
Section 14012 of the Food, Conservation, and En-
ergy Act of 2008 (122 Stat. 2209; Public Law 110–246) 
is amended— 
(1) by striking subsection (c) and inserting the 
following: 
‘‘(c) CRIMINAL PENALTIES.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful for any 
person to— 
‘‘(A) knowingly execute, or attempt to exe-
cute, a scheme or artifice to defraud, or obtain 
money or property from any person by means 
of false or fraudulent pretenses, representa-
tions, or promises, relating to the eligibility or 
ability of a person to— 
‘‘(i) file a civil action relating to a 
Pigford claim; 
‘‘(ii) submit a late-filing request under 
section 5(g) of the consent decree; 
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‘‘(iv) transmit, or cause to be trans-
mitted, any writings, signs, signals, pic-
tures, or sounds by means of wire, radio, 
or television communication in interstate 
or foreign commerce. 
‘‘(2) PENALTY.—Any person who violates para-
graph (1) shall be fined under title 18, United 
States Code, imprisoned for not more than 5 years, 
or both.’’; and 
(2) in subsection (i), by striking paragraph (2) 
and inserting the following: 
‘‘(2) 
PERMANENT
JUDGMENT
APPROPRIA-
TION.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—After the expenditure 
of all funds made available under paragraph 
(1), any additional payments or debt relief in 
satisfaction of claims against the United States 
under subsection (b) and for any actions under 
subsection (f) or (g) shall be paid from amounts 
appropriated under section 1304 of title 31, 
United States Code. 
‘‘(B) AUTHORIZATION
OF
CERTAIN
EX-
PENSES.—Reasonable attorney’s fees, adminis-
trative costs, and expenses described in section 
14(a) of the consent decree and related to adju-
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dicating the merits of claims brought under 
subsection (b), (f), or (g) shall be paid from 
amounts appropriated under section 1304 of 
title 31, United States Code. 
‘‘(3) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—In 
addition to any other funds made available under 
this subsection, there are authorized to be appro-
priated such sums as are necessary to carry out this 
section.’’. 
Æ 
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