Please click the link: http://www.usda.gov/Newsroom/0411.04.html Release No. 0411.04 Jim Brownlee (202) 720-4623 Sharon Phillips (703) 305-2708 USDA ANNOUNCES AVAILABILITY OF APPEAL DECISIONS ON THE INTERNET WASHINGTON, Sept. 24, 2004 - U. S. Department of Agriculture National Appeals Division Director Roger Klurfeld today announced that, for the first time, USDA program participants, agency personnel and the general public will have access to National Appeals Division (NAD) Director Review and Hearing Officer determinations on the Internet and be able to conduct a full text search of the decisions. This initiative is part of NAD's nationwide outreach campaign, "Face to Face Fairness," which is dedicated to educating farmers and other program participants about the NAD appeal process. Klurfeld stated that all personal identifiers and location information would be deleted prior to publishing the cases online. NAD is responsible for administrative appeals arising from program activities of USDA's Farm Service Agency, Risk Management Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the three USDA Rural Development agencies. Any administrative decision made by an officer, employee, or committee of those agencies that is adverse to a participant may be appealed to NAD. NAD's intention to publish determinations on the Internet appeared in today's Federal Register. The first cases, which total more than 1,100 Director Review decisions for Fiscal Years 2003 and 2004, will be posted on the NAD website at http://www.nad.usda.gov following a 30-day comment period to ensure that redactions will be sufficient to prevent an unwarranted invasion of a program participant's privacy. All comments should be directed to Ann Griffin, Special Assistant to the Director, National Appeals Division, 3101 Park Center Drive, Suite 1100, Alexandria, Virginia 22302, mailto: ann.m.griffin@xxxxxxxxx Starting in January 2005, Hearing Officer determinations will be published. NAD employs a two-stage appeal process. A participant has a right to a hearing in his state of residence before a NAD Hearing Officer. Thereafter, either the appellant or the agency may ask the NAD Director to reverse the Hearing Officer's determination. Since the beginning of this fiscal year, October 1, 2003, the average time between filing an appeal and the issuance of a Hearing Officer decision has been 68 days. If the Director is asked to review a Hearing Officer determination, the total case processing time increased by an additional 89 days to 157 days. # USDA News oc.news@xxxxxxxx 202 720-4623 ---------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send email to oc.news@xxxxxxxx and reference your email address.
