7 USC § 2279–1 - Transparency and accountability for socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers | Title 7 - Agriculture | U.S. Code

USCPrelim is a preliminary release and may be subject to further revision before it is released again as a final version.

Current through Pub. L. 113-99. (See Public Laws for the current Congress.)

(a) Purpose

The purpose of this section is to ensure compilation and public disclosure of data to assess and hold the Department of Agriculture accountable for the nondiscriminatory participation of socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers in programs of the Department.

(b) Definition of socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher

In this section, the term “socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher” has the meaning given the term in section 2003 (e) of this title.

(c) Compilation of program participation data

(1) Annual requirement

For each county and State in the United States, the Secretary of Agriculture (referred to in this section as the “Secretary”) shall annually compile program application and participation rate data regarding socially disadvantaged farmers or ranchers by computing for each program of the Department of Agriculture that serves agricultural producers and landowners—

(A) raw numbers of applicants and participants by race, ethnicity, and gender, subject to appropriate privacy protections, as determined by the Secretary; and

(B) the application and participation rate, by race, ethnicity, and gender, as a percentage of the total participation rate of all agricultural producers and landowners.

(2) Authority to collect data

The heads of the agencies of the Department of Agriculture shall collect and transmit to the Secretary any data, including data on race, gender, and ethnicity, that the Secretary determines to be necessary to carry out paragraph (1).

(3) Report

Using the technologies and systems of the National Agricultural Statistics Service, the Secretary shall compile and present the data compiled under paragraph (1) for each program described in that paragraph in a manner that includes the raw numbers and participation rates for—

(A) the entire United States;

(B) each State; and

(C) each county in each State.

(4) Public availability of report

The Secretary shall maintain and make readily available to the public, via website and otherwise in electronic and paper form, the report described in paragraph (3).

(d) Limitations on use of data

(1) Privacy protections

In carrying out this section, the Secretary shall not disclose the names or individual data of any program participant.

(2) Authorized uses

The data under this section shall be used exclusively for the purposes described in subsection (a).

(3) Limitation

Except as otherwise provided, the data under this section shall not be used for the evaluation of individual applications for assistance.

(e) Receipt for service or denial of service

In any case in which a current or prospective producer or landowner, in person or in writing, requests from the Farm Service Agency, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, or an agency of the Rural Development Mission Area any benefit or service offered by the Department to agricultural producers or landowners and, at the time of the request, also requests a receipt, the Secretary shall issue, on the date of the request, a receipt to the producer or landowner that contains—

(1) the date, place, and subject of the request; and

(2) the action taken, not taken, or recommended to the producer or landowner.

prev | next

(a) Purpose

The purpose of this section is to ensure compilation and public disclosure of data to assess and hold the Department of Agriculture accountable for the nondiscriminatory participation of socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers in programs of the Department.

(b) Definition of socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher

In this section, the term “socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher” has the meaning given the term in section 2003 (e) of this title.

(c) Compilation of program participation data

(1) Annual requirement

For each county and State in the United States, the Secretary of Agriculture (referred to in this section as the “Secretary”) shall annually compile program application and participation rate data regarding socially disadvantaged farmers or ranchers by computing for each program of the Department of Agriculture that serves agricultural producers and landowners—

(A) raw numbers of applicants and participants by race, ethnicity, and gender, subject to appropriate privacy protections, as determined by the Secretary; and

(B) the application and participation rate, by race, ethnicity, and gender, as a percentage of the total participation rate of all agricultural producers and landowners.

(2) Authority to collect data

The heads of the agencies of the Department of Agriculture shall collect and transmit to the Secretary any data, including data on race, gender, and ethnicity, that the Secretary determines to be necessary to carry out paragraph (1).

(3) Report

Using the technologies and systems of the National Agricultural Statistics Service, the Secretary shall compile and present the data compiled under paragraph (1) for each program described in that paragraph in a manner that includes the raw numbers and participation rates for—

(A) the entire United States;

(B) each State; and

(C) each county in each State.

(4) Public availability of report

The Secretary shall maintain and make readily available to the public, via website and otherwise in electronic and paper form, the report described in paragraph (3).

(d) Limitations on use of data

(1) Privacy protections

In carrying out this section, the Secretary shall not disclose the names or individual data of any program participant.

(2) Authorized uses

The data under this section shall be used exclusively for the purposes described in subsection (a).

(3) Limitation

Except as otherwise provided, the data under this section shall not be used for the evaluation of individual applications for assistance.

(e) Receipt for service or denial of service

In any case in which a current or prospective producer or landowner, in person or in writing, requests from the Farm Service Agency, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, or an agency of the Rural Development Mission Area any benefit or service offered by the Department to agricultural producers or landowners and, at the time of the request, also requests a receipt, the Secretary shall issue, on the date of the request, a receipt to the producer or landowner that contains—

(1) the date, place, and subject of the request; and

(2) the action taken, not taken, or recommended to the producer or landowner.

Source

(Pub. L. 101–624, title XXV, § 2501A, as added Pub. L. 107–171, title X, § 10708(a),May 13, 2002, 116 Stat. 522; amended Pub. L. 110–234, title XIV, §§ 14003, 14006,May 22, 2008, 122 Stat. 1443, 1445; Pub. L. 110–246, § 4(a), title XIV, §§ 14003, 14006,June 18, 2008, 122 Stat. 1664, 2205, 2207.)

Codification

Pub. L. 110–234and Pub. L. 110–246made identical amendments to this section. The amendments by Pub. L. 110–234were repealed by section 4(a) ofPub. L. 110–246.

Amendments

2008—Subsecs. (c), (d). Pub. L. 110–246, § 14006, added subsecs. (c) and (d) and struck out former subsec. (c) which related to annual computation of the participation rate of socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers as a percentage of the total participation of all farmers and ranchers for each Department of Agriculture program and requirement that participation according to race, ethnicity, and gender be included in each report.

Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 110–246, § 14003, added subsec. (e).

Effective Date of 2008 Amendment

Amendment of this section and repeal of Pub. L. 110–234by Pub. L. 110–246effective May 22, 2008, the date of enactment of Pub. L. 110–234, see section 4 ofPub. L. 110–246, set out as an Effective Date note under section 8701 of this title.

Oversight and Compliance

Pub. L. 110–234, title XIV, § 14007,May 22, 2008, 122 Stat. 1446, and Pub. L. 110–246, § 4(a), title XIV, § 14007,June 18, 2008, 122 Stat. 1664, 2208, provided that: “The Secretary [of Agriculture], acting through the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights of the Department of Agriculture, shall use the reports described in subsection (c) ofsection 2501A of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 2279–1), as amended by section 14006, in the conduct of oversight and evaluation of civil rights compliance.”

[Pub. L. 110–234and Pub. L. 110–246enacted identical provisions. Pub. L. 110–234was repealed by section 4(a) ofPub. L. 110–246, set out as a note under section 8701 of this title.]

The table below lists the classification updates, since Jan. 3, 2012, for this section. Updates to a broader range of sections may be found at the update page for containing chapter, title, etc.

The most recent Classification Table update that we have noticed was Tuesday, May 21, 2013

An empty table indicates that we see no relevant changes listed in the classification tables. If you suspect that our system may be missing something, please double-check with the Office of the Law Revision Counsel.

How To Use

Multiple entries for a section are listed most recent first, within the section.

The Session Year indicates which session of Congress was responsible for the changes classified. The Congress number forms the first part of the Public Law number; each Congress has two sessions.

Abbreviations used in the Description of Change column:

An empty field implies a standard amendment.
"new" means a new section or new note, or all new text of an existing section or note.
"nt" means note.
"nt [tbl]" means note [table].
"prec" means preceding.
"fr" means a transfer from another section.
"to" means a transfer to another section.
"omitted" means the section is omitted.
"repealed" means the section is repealed.
"nt ed change" and "ed change" - See the Editorial Classification Change Table [pdf].

The Public Law field is linked to the development of the law in the Thomas system at the Library of Congress.

The Statutes at Large field is linked to the text of the law, in the context of its volume of the Statutes at Large, at the Government Printing Office. Please note that it takes a while for these pages to get posted, so for very recent legislation, you need to look at the "enrolled" version at the Thomas site.

The Statutes at Large references have been rendered in the format used as page numbers in the Public Law web pages to which we link, to facilitate copy-paste into browser "find on this (web) page" tools. We are still working on a more direct link facility.

For serious comparison work, we suggest copying all or a portion of the Public Law text into your favorite text editor, for convenient content traversal and window control.

Sections with change type "new" are a special case, still under development. All are now listed, at the title level only.

You will find that occassionally a specific update you notice in a Public Law listed in a classification table will already have made it into the Code. We assume this is an artifact of the LRC edit process. The LII does not edit the LRC content.

top

General Reference

Refer to the LRC (Law Revision Council) for explanations about the US Code from the folks who put it all together.

You can look for information about what it is and is not, which titles are positive law, the schedule of Supplements, etc. Under download you can find the source data we use here (GPO locator files), as well as, PDF files that look just like the paper books (these may be rather large).

Refer to the Thomas site for changes that have not yet made it into the classification tables.

7 USC	Description of Change	Session Year	Public Law	Statutes at Large

7 USC § 2279–1 - Transparency and accountability for socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers

U.S. Code Toolbox

Law about... Articles from Wex

Get Involved

Find a Lawyer