[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2079 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2079

    To facilitate the timely resolution of back-logged civil rights 
 discrimination cases of the Department of Agriculture, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 22, 2000

   Mr. Burns introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To facilitate the timely resolution of back-logged civil rights 
 discrimination cases of the Department of Agriculture, and for other 
                               purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``USDA Civil Rights Resolution Act of 
2000''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) there exists a strong public policy against 
        discrimination against minority groups, whether the 
        discrimination is committed by private persons or by the 
        Federal Government in the operation of its programs;
            (2) whenever discrimination occurs in the conduct of 
        Federal programs, the responsible Federal agencies should take 
        quick and aggressive action to remedy the discrimination;
            (3) in 1997, it was determined that the Department of 
        Agriculture had, for decades, been guilty of civil rights 
        violations against United States agricultural producers 
        participating, or attempting to participate, in Department 
        programs;
            (4) in 1998, Congress created a 2-year waiver of the 
        statute of limitations to allow persons injured by 
        discrimination by the Department to seek redress in court or by 
        filing an administrative complaint with the Department;
            (5) despite the waiver of the statute of limitations, it 
        remains a difficult challenge to ensure that agricultural 
        producers injured by discrimination by the Department over the 
        years will get a speedy and balanced resolution of their 
        complaints because it appears now that--
                    (A) a number of complaints that have already been 
                investigated by investigators hired by the Office of 
                Civil Rights of the Department are not being resolved; 
                and
                    (B) nothing is being done to expeditiously resolve 
                these cases; and
            (6) it is unfair for agricultural producers to be faced 
        with these delays because--
                    (A) the producers cannot get on with their lives, 
                or plan their farming operations, until their 
                complaints are resolved; and
                    (B) the producers are being wronged a second time 
                by delays in resolving meritorious complaints.
    (b) Purposes.--It is the purpose of this Act--
            (1) to impose on the Department of Agriculture a reasonable 
        time limit to resolve the complaints described in subsection 
        (a); and
            (2) if the Department fails to meet this reasonable time 
        limit, to enable complainants to seek the experience and 
        expertise of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of 
        Justice in resolving the complaints in a timely manner.

SEC. 3. WAIVER OF STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.

    Section 741(b) of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug 
Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999 (7 U.S.C. 
2279 note; Public Law 105-277) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) as 
        subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C), respectively;
            (2) by striking ``(b) The'' and inserting the following:
    ``(b) Administrative Determinations.--
            ``(1) In general.--The'';
            (3) by indenting the margins of subparagraphs (A), (B), and 
        (C) (as so redesignated) to reflect the amendment made by 
        paragraph (2); and
            (4) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(2) Review by department of justice.--
                    ``(A) In general.--If a complainant seeks a 
                determination by the Department of Agriculture on the 
                merits of an eligible complaint under paragraph (1) and 
                the complaint is not resolved by the Department within 
                270 days after the complaint has been investigated by 
                the Department, the complainant may petition the Civil 
                Rights Division of the Department of Justice--
                            ``(i) to review the complaint; and
                            ``(ii) to make recommendations to the 
                        Department of Agriculture to resolve the 
                        complaint.
                    ``(B) Deadline.--The Civil Rights Division of the 
                Department of Justice shall conduct the review, and 
                make recommendations to resolve the complaint, not 
                later than 30 days after the complainant files a 
                petition under subparagraph (A).
                    ``(C) Access to review for other cases.--
                            ``(i) In general.--The right to review by 
                        the Department of Justice under this paragraph 
                        shall be made available to any complainant with 
                        a complaint that--
                                    ``(I) is not considered an eligible 
                                complaint under the time criteria 
                                described in subsection (e); and
                                    ``(II) is pending at the Office of 
                                Civil Rights of the Department of 
                                Agriculture on the date of enactment of 
                                this paragraph.
                            ``(ii) Tolling.--In the case of any 
                        complaint that is reviewed by the Department of 
                        Justice under this paragraph, after the review 
                        process is completed--
                                    ``(I) the complainant--
                                            ``(aa) shall be deemed to 
                                        have exhausted the 
                                        administrative remedies of the 
                                        complainant; and
                                            ``(bb) may file an action 
                                        on the complaint in United 
                                        States District Court; and
                                    ``(II) any applicable statute of 
                                limitations shall be tolled for the 
                                period beginning on the date that the 
                                complaint was filed at the Department 
                                of Agriculture and ending on the date 
                                of completion of the review by the 
                                Department of Justice.''.
                                 <all>