[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 7, Volume 7]
[Revised as of January 1, 2008]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 7CFR718.307]

[Page 43-44]
 
                          TITLE 7--AGRICULTURE
 
       CHAPTER VII--FARM SERVICE AGENCY, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 
PART 718_PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO MULTIPLE PROGRAMS--Table of Contents
 
              Subpart D_Equitable Relief From Ineligibility
 
Sec. 718.307  Special relief approval authority for State Executive Directors.

    (a) General nature of the special authority. Notwithstanding 
provisions in this subpart providing supervision and relief authority to 
other officials, an SED without further review by other officials (other 
than the Secretary) may grant relief to a participant under the 
provisions of Sec. Sec. 718.303 and 718.304 as if the SED were the 
final arbiter within the agency of such matters so long as:
    (1) The program matter with respect to which the relief is sought is 
a program matter in a covered program which is operated within the State 
under the control of the SED;
    (2) The total amount of relief which will be provided to the person 
(that is, to the individual or entity that applies for the relief) by 
that SED under this special authority for errors during that year is 
less than $20,000 (including in that calculation, any loan amount or 
other benefit of any kind payable for that year and any other year);
    (3) The total amount of such relief which has been previously 
provided to the participant using this special authority for errors in 
that year, as calculated above, is not more than $5,000;
    (4) The total amount of loans, payments, and benefits of any kind 
for which relief is provided to similarly situated participants by the 
SED (or the SED's predecessor) for errors for any year under the 
authority provided in this section, as calculated above, is not more 
than $1,000,000.
    (b) Report of the exercise of the power. A grant of relief shall be 
considered to be under this section and subject to the special finality 
provided in this section only if the SED grants the relief in writing 
when granting the relief to the party who will receive the benefit of

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such relief and only if, in that document, the SED declares that they 
are exercising that power. The SED must report the exercise of that 
power to the Deputy Administrator so that a full accounting may be made 
in keeping with the limitations of this section. Absent such a report, 
relief will not be considered to have been made under this section.
    (c) Additional limits on the authority. The authority provided under 
this section does not extend to:
    (1) The administration of payment limitations under part 1400 of 
this chapter (Sec. Sec. 1001 to 1001F of 7 U.S.C. 1308 et seq.);
    (2) The administration of payment limitations under a conservation 
program administered by the Secretary; or
    (3) Highly erodible land and wetland conservation requirements under 
subtitles B or C of Title XII of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 
U.S.C. 3811 et seq.) as administered under 7 CFR part 12.
    (d) Relief may not be provided by the SED under this section until a 
written opinion or written acknowledgment is obtained from OGC that 
grounds exist for determination that the program participant has, in 
good faith, detrimentally relied on the guidance or actions of an 
authorized FSA representative in accordance with the provisions of this 
subpart, or that the producer otherwise failed, in good faith, to fully 
comply with the requirements of the program and that the granting of the 
relief is within the lawful authority of the SED.
    (e) Relation to other authorities. The authority provided under this 
section is in addition to any other applicable authority that may allow 
relief. Generally, the SED may, without consultation other than with 
OGC, decide all matters under $20,000 but those decisions shall not be 
subject to modification within the Farm Service Agency to the extent 
provided for under the rules of this section.

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