[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4504 Introduced in House (IH)]







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) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
 Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on the 
 Judiciary, 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 Representatives 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 Agricultural 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 intentionally 
violated any provision of this Act or any regulation under this Act, it 
may award damages up to and including an amount equal to the amount of 
actual damages or other equitable relief. In addition, if the court 
finds beyond a reasonable doubt that the respondent has intentionally 
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 regulations 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 connection 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 compliance 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).''.
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