I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4504 
To amend the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act 
to provide for recovery of attorneys fees and a statute of limitations, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 13, 2005 
Mr. NORWOOD (for himself, Mr. DAVIS of Tennessee, and Mr. GRAVES) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Edu-
cation and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on the Judi-
ciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each 
case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of 
the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker 
Protection Act to provide for recovery of attorneys fees 
and a statute of limitations, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Agriculture Access to 
Justice Act’’.
SEC. 2. STATUTORY DAMAGES. 
Section 504(c)(1) of the Migrant and Seasonal Agri-
cultural Worker Protection Act (29 U.S.C. 1854(c)(1)) is 
amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(c)(1) If the court finds that the respondent has in-
tentionally violated any provision of this Act or any regula-
tion under this Act, it may award damages up to and in-
cluding an amount equal to the amount of actual damages 
or other equitable relief. In addition, if the court finds be-
yond a reasonable doubt that the respondent has inten-
tionally violated any provision of this Act or any regulation 
under this Act, it may award statutory damages of up to 
$500 per plaintiff per violation, except that (A) multiple 
infractions of a single provision of this Act or of regula-
tions under this Act shall constitute only one violation for 
purposes of determining the amount of statutory damages 
due a plaintiff; and (B) if such complaint is certified as 
a class action, the court shall award no more than the 
lesser of up to $500 per plaintiff per violation, or up to 
$500,000 or other equitable relief.’’. 
SEC. 3. RECOVERING ATTORNEYS’ FEES. 
Section 504 of the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural 
Worker Protection Act (29 U.S.C. 1854) is further 
amended by inserting after subsection (f) the following: 
‘‘(g)(1) In any action under this section where the 
defendant prevails and the plaintiff is represented by an
attorney who is employed by an entity receiving funds 
from the Legal Services Corporation, such entity receiving 
such funds shall award to the prevailing defendant, fees 
and other expenses incurred by the defendant in connec-
tion with the action. For purposes of this section, the term 
‘fees and other expenses’ has the meaning given that term 
in section 504(b)(1)(A) of title 5, United States Code. 
‘‘(2) The court shall take whatever steps necessary, 
including the imposition of sanctions, to ensure compli-
ance with this subsection.’’. 
SEC. 4. STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS. 
Section 504 of the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural 
Worker Protection Act (29 U.S.C. 1854) is further 
amended by inserting after subsection (g) (as added by 
section 3) the following: 
‘‘(h) No claim may be brought under this section 
after 2 years after the date on which a request is made 
under subsection (b)(1)(A).’’. 
Æ