Sec. 5. Office of the Civil Rights Ombudsperson
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Title III of the Federal Crop Insurance Reform and Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 ( 7 U.S.C. 2231b et seq. ) is amended by adding at the end the following: Not later than 120 days after the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall establish an Office of the Civil Rights Ombudsperson (in this section referred to as the Office ) within the Department. The Office shall be independent of Department agencies and offices. The Secretary shall designate a Civil Rights Ombudsperson (in this section referred to as the Ombudsperson ) for the Office.
The Ombudsperson shall be considered a senior official of the Department and have a background in civil rights enforcement. The Ombudsperson shall appoint such employees as are necessary to perform the functions of the Office and for the administration of the Office. The functions of the Office shall be— to assist producers and other customers of Department programs in navigating the civil rights review process; to ensure that participants (as defined in section 271) are aware of the appeals process under subtitle H of title II, including informal hearings under section 275; to promote awareness of the Office and its responsibilities among producers and other customers of Department programs; and to raise issues and concerns with respect to, and make recommendations to the Secretary about, equitable access or implementation of Department programs.
Subject to paragraph (2), the Secretary shall establish procedures to provide the Office access to all departmental records necessary to execute the functions of the Office under subsection (d). The procedures described in paragraph
(1)shall include a requirement that requests from the Office for departmental records shall be fulfilled not later than 60 days after the request is made. Beginning not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this section, and annually thereafter, the Ombudsperson shall prepare and submit to the House Committee on Agriculture and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry a report on— the activities carried out by the Office; and the findings and recommendations of the Office with respect to equitable access or implementation of Department programs. There is authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out this section for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2026. .
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Sec. 5
Office of the Civil Rights Ombudsperson
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