§6712 Discrimination Proceedings

Summary

When the Secretary finds discrimination or gets an official ruling that a local government unit discriminated, the Secretary must send a written notice saying the government is not following the rules within 10 days. The notice must explain why. The local government then has 30 days after getting the notice to give informal evidence to the Secretary about whether people were denied benefits, whether the program broke the listed rules, and whether any part of the program was paid with funds under this chapter. By the end of that 30-day period the Secretary must decide if the government failed to follow the rules, unless the government already agreed to fix the problem under section 6714. If the Secretary finds noncompliance, payments under this chapter will be suspended unless, within 10 days after getting that decision, the government either enters a fix-it agreement or asks for a hearing. If a hearing is requested, it must start by the 30th day after the Secretary gets the request and an administrative law judge must issue a preliminary decision by the 30th day after the hearing starts about whether the government is likely to prevail. The judge can order payments ended if the government did not comply, or end the suspension if the government did comply. If there is already a prior holding of discrimination, the Secretary or judge may only consider whether chapter funds paid for the program; that holding is final unless an appeals court reverses it, in which case the proceeding must stop.