§3830a. Good faith reliance

(a) In general

Except as provided in subsection (d) of this section and notwithstanding any other provision of this part, the Secretary shall provide equitable relief to an owner or operator that has entered into a contract under this part, and that is subsequently determined to be in violation of the contract, if the owner or operator in attempting to comply with the terms of the contract and enrollment requirements took actions in good faith reliance on the action or advice of an authorized representative of the Secretary.

(b) Types of relief

The Secretary shall-

(1) to the extent the Secretary determines that an owner or operator has been injured by good faith reliance described in subsection (a) of this section, allow the owner or operator to do any one or more of the following-

(A) to retain payments received under the contract;

(B) to continue to receive payments under the contract;

(C) to keep all or part of the land covered by the contract enrolled in the applicable program under this part;

(D) to reenroll all or part of the land covered by the contract in the applicable program under this part; or

(E) or ¹ any other equitable relief the Secretary deems appropriate; and

(2) require the owner or operator to take such actions as are necessary to remedy any failure to comply with the contract.

(c) Relation to other law

The authority to provide relief under this section shall be in addition to any other authority provided in this or any other Act.

(d) Exception

This section shall not apply to a pattern of conduct in which an authorized representative of the Secretary takes actions or provides advice with respect to an owner or operator that the representative and the owner or operator know are inconsistent with applicable law (including regulations).

(e) Applicability of relief

Relief under this section shall be available for contracts in effect on January 1, 2000 and for all subsequent contracts.

(Pub. L. 99–198, title XII, §1230A, as added Pub. L. 106–387, §1(a) [title VII, §755], Oct. 28, 2000, 114 Stat. 1549 , 1549A-42.)

References in Text

This Act, referred to in subsec. (c), is Pub. L. 99–198, Dec. 23, 1985, 99 Stat. 1354 , as amended, known as the Food Security Act of 1985. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title of 1985 Amendment note set out under section 1281 of Title 7, Agriculture, and Tables.

¹ So in original.