[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1989 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1989

   To provide a mechanism for the determination on the merits of the 
   claims of claimants who met the class criteria in a civil action 
relating to racial discrimination by the Department of Agriculture but 
                  who were denied that determination.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 3, 2007

   Mr. Obama introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To provide a mechanism for the determination on the merits of the 
   claims of claimants who met the class criteria in a civil action 
relating to racial discrimination by the Department of Agriculture but 
                  who were denied that determination.

    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 ``Pigford Claims Remedy Act of 2007''.

SEC. 2. DETERMINATION ON MERITS OF PIGFORD CLAIMS.

    (a) In General.--Any Pigford claimant who has not previously 
obtained a determination on the merits of a Pigford claim may, in a 
civil action, obtain that determination.
    (b) Intent of Congress as to Remedial Nature of Section.--It is the 
intent of Congress that this section be liberally construed so as to 
effectuate its remedial purpose of giving a full determination on the 
merits for each Pigford claim denied that determination.
    (c) Loan Data.--
            (1) Report to person submitting petition.--Not later than 
        60 days after the Secretary of Agriculture receives notice of a 
        complaint filed by a claimant under subsection (a), the 
        Secretary shall provide to the claimant a report on farm credit 
        loans made within the claimant's county or adjacent county by 
        the Department during the period beginning on January 1 of the 
        year preceding the year or years covered by the complaint and 
        ending on December 31 of year following such year or years. 
        Such report shall contain information on all persons whose 
        application for a loan was accepted, including--
                    (A) the race of the applicant;
                    (B) the date of application;
                    (C) the date of the loan decision;
                    (D) the location of the office making the loan 
                decision; and
                    (E) all data relevant to the process of deciding on 
                the loan.
            (2) No personally identifiable information.--The reports 
        provided pursuant to paragraph (1) shall not contain any 
        information that would identify any person that applied for a 
        loan from the Department of Agriculture.
    (d) Expedited Resolutions Authorized.--Any person filing a 
complaint under this Act for discrimination in the application for, or 
making or servicing of, a farm loan, at his or her discretion, may seek 
liquidated damages of $50,000, discharge of the debt that was incurred 
under, or affected by, the discrimination that is the subject of the 
person's complaint, and a tax payment in the amount equal to 25 percent 
of the liquidated damages and loan principal discharged, in which 
case--
            (1) if only such damages, debt discharge, and tax payment 
        are sought, the complainant shall be able to prove his or her 
        case by substantial evidence; and
            (2) the court shall decide the case based on a review of 
        documents submitted by the complainant and defendant relevant 
        to the issues of liability and damages.
    (e) Limitation on Foreclosures.--Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, the Secretary of Agriculture may not begin 
acceleration on or foreclosure of a loan if the borrower is a Pigford 
claimant and, in an appropriate administrative proceeding, makes a 
prima facie case that the foreclosure is related to a Pigford claim.
    (f) Definitions.--In this Act--
            (1) the term ``Pigford claimant'' means an individual who 
        previously submitted a late-filing request under section 5(g) 
        of the consent decree in the case of Pigford v. Glickman, 
        approved by the United States District Court for the District 
        of Columbia on April 14, 1999; and
            (2) the term ``Pigford claim'' means a discrimination 
        complaint, as defined by section 1(h) of that consent decree 
        and documented under section 5(b) of that consent decree.
                                 <all>