| U.S. General Accounting Office |
| Survey on Food Security Act Conservation Compliance (GAO-03-492SP) |
| Q24b. In your county, how did each of the following changes in the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (farm bill) strengthen or weaken monitoring of HELC compliance?: Instituted variance and grace period for compliance violations found while providing on-ite technical assistance. |
| Significantly strengthened (percent) | Strengthened (percent) | Neither strengthened nor weakened (percent) | Weakened (percent) | Significantly weakend (percent) | Number of respondents | |
| Alabama | 2.3 | 34.1 | 36.4 | 22.7 | 4.5 | 44 |
| Arkansas | 4.5 | 4.5 | 68.2 | 18.2 | 4.5 | 22 |
| California | 6.7 | 33.3 | 53.3 | 6.7 | 0.0 | 15 |
| Colorado | 9.4 | 28.1 | 53.1 | 9.4 | 0.0 | 32 |
| Florida | 7.7 | 7.7 | 84.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 13 |
| Georgia | 3.9 | 35.3 | 52.9 | 5.9 | 2.0 | 51 |
| Iowa | 0.0 | 45.6 | 34.2 | 15.2 | 5.1 | 79 |
| Idaho | 0.0 | 31.6 | 47.4 | 21.1 | 0.0 | 19 |
| Illinois | 1.5 | 22.1 | 57.4 | 17.6 | 1.5 | 68 |
| Indiana | 0.0 | 12.5 | 53.6 | 21.4 | 12.5 | 56 |
| Kansas | 0.0 | 41.9 | 38.4 | 16.3 | 3.5 | 86 |
| Kentucky | 3.1 | 36.9 | 53.8 | 4.6 | 1.5 | 65 |
| Louisiana | 4.0 | 20.0 | 68.0 | 8.0 | 0.0 | 25 |
| Maryland | 8.3 | 33.3 | 50.0 | 8.3 | 0.0 | 12 |
| Michigan | 0.0 | 28.9 | 63.2 | 7.9 | 0.0 | 38 |
| Minnesota | 0.0 | 13.6 | 59.3 | 22.0 | 5.1 | 59 |
| Missouri | 1.4 | 27.0 | 58.1 | 12.2 | 1.4 | 74 |
| Mississippi | 3.4 | 28.8 | 55.9 | 10.2 | 1.7 | 59 |
| Montana | 0.0 | 23.7 | 63.2 | 13.2 | 0.0 | 38 |
| North Carolina | 7.1 | 26.8 | 51.8 | 12.5 | 1.8 | 56 |
| North Dakota | 6.8 | 29.5 | 45.5 | 18.2 | 0.0 | 44 |
| Nebraska | 2.9 | 27.5 | 53.6 | 11.6 | 4.3 | 69 |
| New Mexico | 0.0 | 42.1 | 47.4 | 10.5 | 0.0 | 19 |
| New York | 2.8 | 38.9 | 41.7 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 36 |
| Ohio | 0.0 | 29.8 | 55.3 | 12.8 | 2.1 | 47 |
| Oklahoma | 1.8 | 35.7 | 44.6 | 14.3 | 3.6 | 56 |
| Oregon | 0.0 | 53.8 | 30.8 | 15.4 | 0.0 | 13 |
| Pennsylvania | 0.0 | 35.3 | 47.1 | 17.6 | 0.0 | 34 |
| South Carolina | 4.8 | 38.1 | 47.6 | 9.5 | 0.0 | 21 |
| South Dakota | 0.0 | 18.4 | 51.0 | 20.4 | 10.2 | 49 |
| Tennessee | 0.0 | 42.6 | 51.1 | 2.1 | 4.3 | 47 |
| Texas | 0.0 | 20.5 | 52.1 | 21.4 | 6.0 | 117 |
| Utah | 0.0 | 37.5 | 50.0 | 12.5 | 0.0 | 8 |
| Virginia | 10.0 | 46.7 | 36.7 | 6.7 | 0.0 | 30 |
| Washington | 0.0 | 16.7 | 72.2 | 5.6 | 5.6 | 18 |
| Wisconsin | 2.1 | 27.7 | 53.2 | 14.9 | 2.1 | 47 |
| West Virginia | 0.0 | 31.6 | 63.2 | 5.3 | 0.0 | 19 |
| States with fewer than 15 respondents | 3.7 | 33.3 | 55.6 | 5.6 | 1.9 | 54 |
| All States | 2.1 | 29.7 | 51.6 | 13.4 | 3.2 | 1,639 |