Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 102 Part 2.djvu/671

 PUBLIC LAW 100-435—SEPT. 19, 1988

102 STAT. 1675

opportunity for an agency hearing in accordance with section 556 and 557 of title 5, United States Code, in which one or more administrative law judges appointed pursuant to section 3105 of such title shall preside over the taking of evidence. Such judges shall have authority to issue and enforce subpoenas in the manner prescribed in sections 13(c) and (d) of the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act of 1930 (7 U.S.C. 499m (c) and (d)) and to appoint expert witnesses under the provisions of Rule 706 of the Federal Rules of Evidence. The Secretary may not limit the authority of such judges presiding over determinations regarding claims made pursuant to section 16(c). The Secretary shall provide a summary procedure for determinations regarding claims made pursuant to section 16(c) in amounts less than $50,000. Such summary procedure need not include an oral hearing. On a petition by the State agency or sua sponte, the Secretary may permit the full administrative review procedure to be used in lieu of such summary review procedure for a claim of less than $50,000. Subject to the right of judicial review Effective date. hereinafter provided, a determination made by an administrative law judge regarding a claim made pursuant to section 16(c) shall be final and shall take effect thirty days after the date of the delivery or service of final notice of such determination."; (2) by inserting before the period at the end of the eighth sentence (as it existed before the amendment made by paragraph (1)) ", except that judicial review of determinations regarding claims made pursuant to section 16(c) shall be a review on the administrative record"; and (3) by adding at the end thereof the following new sentence: "Notwithstanding the administrative or judicial review procedures set forth in this subsection, determinations by the Secretary concerning whether a State agency had good cause for its failure to meet error rate tolerance levels established under section 16(c) are final.". SEC. 604. PAYMENT ACCURACY IMPROVEMENT SYSTEM.

Section 16 of the Food Stamp Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 2025) is amended— (1) by striking out subsection (c) and inserting in lieu thereof the following new subsection: "(c)(1) The program authorized under this Act shall include a system that enhances payment accuracy by establishing fiscal incentives that require State agencies with high error rates to share in the cost of payment error and provide enhanced administrative funding to States with the lowest error rates. Under such system— "(A) the Secretary shall adjust a State agency's federally funded share of administrative costs pursuant to subsection (a), other than the costs already shared in excess of 50 percent under the proviso in the first sentence of subsection (a) or under subsection (g), by increasing such share of all such administrative costs by one percentage point to a maximum of 60 percent of all such administrative costs for each full one-tenth of a Percentage point by which the payment error rate is less than 6 percent, except that only States whose rate of invalid decisions in denying eligibility is less than a nationwide percentage that the Secretary determines to be reasonable shall be entitled to the adjustment prescribed in this subsection;

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