§6712 Discrimination proceedings

Summary

When the Secretary finds or gets a formal holding that a local government (like a city or county) discriminated, the Secretary must send a notice of noncompliance to that government within 10 days. The local government then has 30 days after getting the notice to give informal evidence to the Secretary about whether people were denied benefits or treated unfairly, whether the program broke the law, and whether any of the program was paid for with federal payments. By the end of that 30-day period the Secretary must decide if the government failed to comply, unless the government enters a compliance agreement. If the Secretary finds noncompliance, payments will be suspended unless, within 10 days, the government either signs a compliance agreement or asks for a hearing. A requested hearing must start within 30 days and an administrative law judge must give a preliminary decision within 30 days about whether the government is likely to win. The judge can order payments ended or stop the suspension depending on the outcome. If there already is a formal holding of discrimination, the only question in these proceedings is whether federal funds paid for the program. That holding is final for the proceeding unless an appeals court reverses it, in which case the Secretary or judge must stop the proceedings.