II 110th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 515 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES February 7, 2007 Mr. Grassley (for himself, Mr. Obama, Mr. Biden, and Mr. Kennedy) 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.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Pigford Claims Remedy Act of 2007.

2.

Determination on merits of Pigford claims

(a)

In General

Any Pigford claimant who has not obtained a determination on the merits of a Pigford claim before the date of enactment of this Act 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)

Definitions

In this Act— (1)the term Pigford claimant means an individual who submitted, before the date of enactment of this Act, 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.