[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1870 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 1870

     To provide State programs to encourage employee ownership and 
 participation in business decisionmaking throughout the United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

            February 24 (legislative day, February 22), 1994

  Mr. Bingaman introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
         referred to the Committee on Labor and Human Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To provide State programs to encourage employee ownership and 
 participation in business decisionmaking throughout the United States.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. PROGRAMS REGARDING EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP AND PARTICIPATION.

    (a) Establishment of Program.--Not later than 180 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Labor (referred to 
in this Act as the ``Secretary'') shall establish a program to 
facilitate the establishment of State programs to foster increased 
employee ownership and greater employee participation in business 
decisionmaking throughout the United States.
    (b) Purpose of Program.--The Secretary shall establish the program 
under subsection (a) to encourage State programs which focus on the 
following:
            (1) Activities involving education and outreach to inform 
        individuals about the possibilities and benefits of employee 
        ownership, gainsharing, and participation in business 
        decisionmaking, including financial education.
            (2) Activities involving technical assistance to assist 
        employee efforts to become business owners.
            (3) Training activities for employees and employers with 
        respect to methods of employee participation in business 
        decisionmaking.
            (4) Activities involving training other organizations to 
        apply for funding under this section.
    (c) Program Details.--In focusing on activities referred to in 
subsection (b), the Secretary may include in the program provisions 
that would--
            (1) in the case of activities under subsection (b)(1)--
                    (A) target key groups such as retiring business 
                owners, unions, managers, trade associations, and 
                community organizations;
                    (B) encourage cooperation in organizing workshops 
                and conferences; and
                    (C) provide for the preparation and distribution of 
                materials concerning employee ownership and 
                participation;
            (2) in the case of activities under subsection (b)(2)--
                    (A) provide for the performance of prefeasibility 
                assessments;
                    (B) provide assistance in the funding of objective 
                third party feasibility studies; and
                    (C) provide a data bank to help employees find 
                legal, financial, and technical advice in connection 
                with company ownership;
            (3) in the case of activities under subsection (b)(3)--
                    (A) provide for courses on employee participation; 
                and
                    (B) provide for the development and fostering of 
                networks of employee-owned companies to spread the use 
                of successful participation techniques; and
            (4) in the case of activities under subsection (b)(4)--
                    (A) provide for visits to existing programs 
                qualified under this Act by staff from new programs 
                receiving funding under this Act; and
                    (B) provide materials to be used by organizations 
                qualified under this Act.
    (d) Regulations.--Regulations issued by the Secretary pursuant to 
this Act shall include provisions assuring that any program within the 
several States established for the purposes of this Act be--
            (1) proactive in encouraging actions and activities that 
        will promote and encourage employee ownership of companies and 
        participation in decisionmaking in such companies; and
            (2) comprehensive in emphasizing both employee ownership of 
        companies and employee participation in company decisionmaking 
        so as to boost productivity and broaden capital ownership.
    (e) Grants.--Any program established pursuant to subsection (a) 
shall provide for grants to the program within the several States in 
accordance with section 4.

SEC. 2. OFFICE OF EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP AND PARTICIPATION.

    (a) Establishment.--The Secretary shall establish, within the 
Department of Labor, the Office of Employee Ownership and Participation 
(hereafter referred to as the ``Office'') to promote employee 
ownership, gainsharing, and employee participation in company 
decisionmaking.
    (b) Functions.--The functions of the Office are to--
            (1) support programs within the several States approved by 
        the Secretary as being in compliance with the program 
        established pursuant to section 1; and
            (2) facilitate the formation of new programs within the 
        several States for the purpose of accomplishing the goals of 
        this Act.
    (c) Duties.--In carrying out its functions under subsection (b), 
the Office shall--
            (1) in the case of activities under subsection (b)(1), 
        support those programs within the several States that are 
        designed to achieve the goals and purposes set forth in this 
        Act and to provide such support by--
                    (A) making matching Federal grants under section 4; 
                and
                    (B) acting as a clearinghouse on techniques 
                employed by the programs within the several States and 
                disseminating information to such programs, or funding 
                such information gathering and dissemination programs 
                by groups outside the Office; and
            (2) in the case of activities under subsection (b)(2), 
        facilitate the formation of new programs by encouraging the 
        establishment of such programs in each of the 50 States, 
        including the holding or funding of an annual conference to 
        bring together representatives from States with existing 
        programs and representatives from States without such existing 
        programs.

SEC. 3. ORGANIZATION OF THE OFFICE.

    (a) Director.--There shall be at the head of the Office a Director 
of Employee Ownership and Participation (hereafter referred to as the 
``Director'') who shall be appointed by the Secretary.
    (b) Employees.--In carrying out the functions of the Office, the 
Director may select, appoint, employ, and fix the compensation of such 
employees as shall be necessary to carry out the functions of the 
Office.

SEC. 4. GRANTS.

    (a) In General.--For the purpose of making grants authorized under 
the program established pursuant to section 1, the Office is authorized 
to make grants for use in connection with programs within the several 
States for any of the following activities:
            (1) Education and outreach.
            (2) Participation training.
            (3) Technical studies, including prefeasibility and 
        feasibility studies.
            (4) Activities facilitating cooperation among employee 
        ownership firms.
            (5) Training for newly formed organizations to be provided 
        by existing organizations qualified under this Act, except that 
        such funding shall not exceed 10 percent of the total grants 
        under this Act.
    (b) Matching.--
            (1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), 
        grants under this section shall be made by the Office on a 
        matching basis, $1 of Federal money for every 50 cents of non-
        Federal money.
            (2) Grants for certain training.--Grants for activities 
        described in subsection (a)(5) shall not require non-Federal 
        matching contributions.
    (c) Applications.--The Office shall prescribe the form and 
information necessary for applications for grants under this section.
    (d) Amounts and Conditions.--The Office shall determine the amounts 
and the conditions for grants made under this section.
    (e) Grants on Behalf of Other Entities.--
            (1) State applications.--Each of the several States may 
        sponsor and submit applications on behalf of units of State or 
        local governments, State-supported institutions of higher 
        education, and nonprofit organization programs meeting the 
        requirements of this Act, but in no case shall the aggregate 
        amounts of these grants made to any unit of State or local 
        government, State-supported institutions of higher education, 
        or nonprofit organization programs exceed the amount set forth 
        in subsection (g).
            (2) Applications by entities.--In any case in which a State 
        fails to establish a program pursuant to this Act during any 
        fiscal year, the Secretary shall allow in the subsequent fiscal 
        year entities described in paragraph (1) to make applications 
        for grants on their own initiative. States may submit 
        applications to the program in subsequent years but may not 
        screen applications by such entities before submission to the 
        program.
    (f) Annual Report.--Each grant recipient shall submit an annual 
report to the Office setting forth how all moneys from grants pursuant 
to this Act were expended during the 12-month period preceding the date 
of the submission of the report.
    (g) Limitations.--Grants to each of the recipients shall be limited 
for each fiscal year as follows:
            (1) Fiscal year 1995, not to exceed, in the aggregate 
        $200,000.
            (2) Fiscal year 1996, not to exceed, in the aggregate 
        $220,000.
            (3) Fiscal year 1997, not to exceed, in the aggregate 
        $242,000.
            (4) Fiscal year 1998, not to exceed, in the aggregate 
        $266,200.
            (5) Fiscal year 1999, not to exceed, in the aggregate 
        $292,000.

SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATIONS.

    (a) In General.--For the purpose of making grants pursuant to 
section 4, there are authorized to be appropriated the following:
            (1) For fiscal year 1995, $2,500,000.
            (2) For fiscal year 1996, $4,250,000.
            (3) For fiscal year 1997, $6,000,000.
            (4) For fiscal year 1998, $7,750,000.
            (5) For fiscal year 1999, $9,500,000.
    (b) Administrative Expenses.--For the purpose of funding the 
Office, there is authorized to be appropriated for each of the fiscal 
years 1995 through 1999 an amount not in excess of the lesser of--
            (1) $250,000, or
            (2) 7.5 percent of the maximum amount available under 
        subsection (a).

SEC. 6. OFFICE REPORTING.

    Not later than the expiration of the 36-month period following the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall report to the 
Congress on the progress of employee ownership and participation in 
businesses in the United States. The report shall include a critical 
cost and benefit analysis of program activities.

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