PRODUCER APPEALS PROCESS.

SEC. 1132. PRODUCER APPEALS PROCESS. (a) In General.— Title IV of the Agricultural Act of 1949 (7 U.S.C. 1421 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new section: “SEC. 426. APPEALS. “(a) Right To Appeal.— Any participant in any of the programs under this Act or any other Act administered by the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service, or any successor agency in the United States Department of Agriculture (hereafter in this section referred to as the ‘ASCS’), shall have the right to appeal any adverse determination made by any State or county committee established under section 8(b) of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act, by employees or agents of such committees, by other personnel of the ASCS, or by agents of the Commodity Credit Corporation under this Act or under any other Act administered by the ASCS. “(b) Appeal Procedure.— “(1) In general.— Such appeal shall be made in accordance with this section. “(2) Conditions of appeal.— Any participant who believes that a proper determination has not been made with respect to the implementation of any program administered by the ASCS concerning such participant may appeal such determination as follows: “(A) if such determination was rendered by a county committee established under section 8(b) of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act, the participant may appeal such determination to the applicable State committee established under section 8(b) of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act; “(B) if such determination was rendered by a State committee established under section 8(b) of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act, the participant may appeal such determination to the National Appeals Division established in accordance with this section; and “(C) if such determination was rendered by any other employee or agent of the ASCS or the Commodity Credit Corporation, the participant may appeal such determination to the National Appeals Division. “(3) Time of filing of appeal.— A participant shall file a notice of appeal within a reasonable time after receiving notice of the adverse determination, as determined by the Secretary. “(c) National Appeals Division.— “(1) Establishment.— For the purpose of hearing producer appeals, the Secretary shall establish and maintain within the ASCS, a National Appeals Division, which shall consist of a director, hearing officers, and such other personnel necessary to the administration of the division, all of whom shall be employees of the Department of Agriculture who shall have no duties other than hearing and determining formal appeals arising under this Act or any other Act administered by the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service, or a successor agency. “(2) Hearing officers.— Hearing officers within the National Appeals Division shall hear each appeal made to the National Appeals Division under this section. 104 STAT. 3513 “(3) Powers and duties of director.— The director of the National Appeals Division, in carrying out the provisions of this section— “(A) shall have access to all records, reports, audits, reviews, documents, papers, recommendations, or other material available that relate to programs and operations with respect to which an appeal has been taken; “(B) may request such information or assistance as may be necessary for carrying out the duties and responsibilities established under this section from any Federal, State, or local governmental agency or unit thereof; “(C) may require the attendance of witnesses, the production of all information, documents, reports, answers, records, accounts, papers, and other data and documentary evidence necessary to the proper resolution of appeals; “(D) may, if appropriate, require the attendance of witnesses and production of documentary evidence by subpoena, which subpoena, in the case of contumacy or refusal to obey, shall be enforceable by order of any appropriate United States district court; “(E) may administer oaths and affirmations, whenever necessary in the process of hearing appeals; “(F) may enter into contracts and other arrangements for reporting and other services and make such payments as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this section; “(G) shall issue procedural rules for the conduct of appeals; and “(H) may delegate to hearing officers the authorities provided in subparagraphs (A) through (E) of this paragraph as the Secretary determines appropriate. “(4) Hearings.— “(A) In general.— The hearing shall be held at a time and place designated by the National Appeals Division. “(B) Conduct of hearing.— At a minimum, the hearing shall be conducted as follows: “(i) the participant shall be advised of the issues involved; “(ii) the participant shall be given a full opportunity to present facts and information relevant to the matter in issue and may present evidence; and “(iii) the hearing officer may confine the presentation of facts and evidence to pertinent matters and may exclude irrelevant, immaterial, or unduly repetitious evidence, information, or questions. “(C) Record.— At the request of the participant, each hearing before a hearing officer in the National Appeals Division shall be recorded verbatim by voice recorder, stenographer, or other method. A transcript of the hearing, together with all documents and evidence submitted shall be made available to the participant, on request, if the decision of the hearing officer is appealed. The record of the hearing shall consist of copies of all documents and other evidence presented to the hearing officer and the transcript of the hearing, if prepared. “(5) Review of decision.— 104 STAT. 3514 “(A) In general.— The director of the National Appeals Division shall make all determinations with respect to the appeals submitted to the Division for review. “(B) Procedure.— In submitting an appeal for the determination of the director, the hearing officer shall certify the record and deliver or otherwise provide the certified record to the director. “(C) Basis of review.— The National Appeals Division shall base its review of the hearing on the transcript of the hearing and the evidence presented to the hearing officer, except that the director of the National Appeals Division may order that further proceedings be had in order that the record presented for review by the National Appeals Division may be complete or in order to hear new or additional evidence. “(6) Independence of division.— All hearing officers within the National Appeals Division shall report to the principal officers of the division and shall not be under the direction or control of, or receive administrative support (except on a reimbursable basis) from, offices other than the National Appeals Division. “(7) Finality of decisions.— Except as provided in subsection (e), determinations of the director of the National Appeals Division shall be final, conclusive, and binding on the Department of Agriculture, including the Commodity Credit Corporation, and any agency thereof. “(d) Court Review.— Final decisions of the Department of Agriculture under the process provided for in this section shall be reviewable by a United States court of competent jurisdiction. “(e) Participant.— For the purposes of this section, a participant means any person whose right to participate in, or receive payments or other benefits in accordance with, any of the programs under this Act or any other Act administered by the ASCS is adversely affected by a determination of any State or county committee established under section 8(b) of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act, by employees or agents of such committees, by other personnel of the ASCS, or by agents of the Commodity Credit Corporation under this Act or under any other Act administered by the ASCS. “(f) Delegation of Authority.— Nothing contained in this section shall preclude the Secretary, the Administrator of the ASCS, or the Executive Vice President of the Commodity Credit Corporation from determining at any time any question arising under the programs to which the provisions of this section apply or from reversing or modifying (in writing, with sufficient reason given therefor) any determination made by a county or State committee or the director of the National Appeals Division. “(g) Decisions of State and County Committees.— Decisions of the State and County Committees established under section 8(b) of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act, or employees of such committees made in good faith in the absence of misrepresentation, false statement, fraud, or wilful misconduct, unless otherwise appealed under this section, shall be final, unless otherwise modified under subsection (f) within 90 days, and no action shall be taken to recover amounts found to have been disbursed thereon in error unless the producer had reason to believe that the decision was erroneous. 104 STAT. 3515 “(h) Regulations.— The Secretary may issue such regulations as are determined necessary to implement the provisions of this section, including regulations governing the conduct of appeals made before State and county committees established under section 8(e) of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act.”. (b) Effective Date.— The amendment made by subsection (a) shall not apply to any appeal or proceeding with respect to any adverse determination made by any State or county committee established under section 8(b) of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act (16 U.S.C. 590h(b)), by employees or agents of the committees, by other personnel of the the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service, or by agents of the Commodity Credit Corporation prior to the date of enactment of this Act. (c) Good Faith Reliance.— Section 326 of the Food and Agriculture Act of 1962 (7 U.S.C. 1339c) is amended to read as follows: “SEC. 326. GOOD FAITH RELIANCE. “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, to the extent the Secretary of Agriculture considers it desirable in order to provide fair and equitable treatment, the Secretary may make price support or other payments available to farmers who have, in attempting to comply with the requirements of any price support or other program administered by the Secretary or any other requirements in law affecting such person’s eligibility under such programs, taken actions in good faith in reliance on the action or advice of an authorized representative of the Secretary. The Secretary may provide such price support or other payments to the extent the Secretary determines such farmer has been injured by such good faith reliance and may require such farmer to take necessary actions designed to remedy any failure to comply with such programs.”.