[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 358 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 358

  To direct the Secretary of Commerce to provide grants to States to 
 provide technical and financial assistance to small and medium-sized 
                             manufacturers.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

             February 16 (legislative day, January 5), 1993

  Mr. Wofford introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To direct the Secretary of Commerce to provide grants to States to 
 provide technical and financial assistance to small and medium-sized 
                             manufacturers.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; STATEMENT OF PURPOSE.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Industrial 
Innovation Act of 1993''.
    (b) Statement of Purpose.--The purposes of this Act are to help 
small and medium-sized businesses to utilize the best practices in 
quality processes, productivity, and marketing programs and to utilize 
such practices in human resource management.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    For purposes of this Act, the following definitions apply:
            (1) Small and medium-sized manufacturer.--The term ``small 
        and medium-sized manufacturers'' shall have such meaning as the 
        Secretary, by regulation, shall prescribe.
            (2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Commerce.
            (3) State.--The term ``State'' means each of the several 
        States, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, the Federated 
        States of Micronesia, Guam, the Republic of the Marshall 
        Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the 
        Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Palau, and the Virgin Islands.

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) In General.--There is authorized to be appropriated for fiscal 
years 1994, 1995, and 1996 not more than $300,000,000 to carry out this 
Act.
    (b) Availability.--Amounts appropriated pursuant to the 
authorization provided by subsection (a) shall remain available until 
expended.

SEC. 4. APPLICATION.

    (a) Grants.--The Secretary is authorized to make grants to the 
States to enable the States to provide technical and financial 
assistance to small and medium-sized manufacturers in accordance with 
this Act.
    (b) In General.--To receive a grant under this Act, a State shall 
submit to the Secretary an application at such time and in such form 
and containing such information as the Secretary may require, 
including, but not limited to--
            (1) the certifications required under subsection (c);
            (2) identification of the impact of industrial job loss on 
        the State, regions within the State, and particular 
        communities;
            (3) the need for services among manufacturing firms;
            (4) existing State and local efforts to address such needs;
            (5) assurances satisfactory to the Secretary that the State 
        will use amounts from a grant only for the eligible activities 
        under section 5;
            (6) identification, through a strategic plan, of how a 
        grant will leverage coordination of existing private and public 
        business services, financial assistance, job training and 
        educational programs in support of objectives of the grant;
            (7) assurances satisfactory to the Secretary that the State 
        will not provide technical and financial assistance under this 
        Act to any small or medium-sized manufacturer who does not have 
        a committee, comprised of management and employees other than 
        management, advising on planning and new technology, and making 
        recommendations concerning training needs and health and safety 
        issues; and
            (8) assurances satisfactory to the Secretary that 
        assistance provided in accordance with this Act are coordinated 
        with other Federal and State efforts to meet the needs of small 
        and medium-sized manufacturers and their employees.
    (c) Certifications.--The State shall certify to the satisfaction of 
the Secretary that--
            (1) the State will provide funds from its revenues in an 
        amount equal to $1 for every $10 of Federal funds from such 
        grant for the purpose of providing technical and financial 
        assistance to small and medium-sized manufacturers;
            (2) the State will maintain its aggregate expenditures from 
        all other sources for programs which provide technical and 
        financial assistance to small and medium-sized manufacturers at 
        or above the average level of such expenditures in the 2 fiscal 
        years preceding the date of the enactment of this Act;
            (3) the State will require each small and medium-sized 
        manufacturer receiving financial assistance under section 5 to 
        provide funds in an amount equal to and not less than $1 for 
        every $1 of funds provided to the manufacturer in those cases 
        where the State provides direct financial assistance under such 
        section for the purpose of supplementing such funds;
            (4) the State will evaluate any subgrantee in accordance 
        with objective measures of success for State programs 
        established by the Secretary, including growth in employment, 
        productivity, market share and sales. The State will submit 
        annually to the Secretary a report containing such information 
        as the Secretary shall determine appropriate, including 
        evaluations of any State subgrantee; and

SEC. 5. ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.

    (a) In General.--A State shall use amounts from a grant under this 
Act only to provide technical and financial assistance to small and 
medium-sized manufacturers doing business in such State in accordance 
with the allocation requirements under subsection (b).
    (b) State Allocation.--The State will allocate amounts received 
from a grant under this Act in accordance with the following 
requirements:
            (1) 50 percent of amounts received from the grant will be 
        reserved by the State to provide technical and financial 
        assistance to small and medium- sized manufacturers to make 
        quality and productivity improvements and expand markets 
        through various activities, including--
                    (A) developing and carrying out strategic planning 
                for innovation and industrial modernization;
                    (B) developing and carrying out advanced 
                manufacturing processes, practices and techniques, and 
                best commercial practices;
                    (C) transferring advanced manufacturing 
                technologies and best commercial practices;
                    (D) assessing export potential and undertaking 
                export marketing programs;
                    (E) supporting manufacturing extension services;
                    (F) fostering supplier networks and other forms of 
                collaboration among businesses to improve 
                competitiveness;
                    (G) assistance in developing new products and 
                technologies;
                    (H) market expansion assistance, including support 
                for export trade, and procurement assistance centers 
                that are recognized by the Small Business 
                Administration;
                    (I) strategic financing assistance for export, new 
                product development and the commercialization of new 
                technologies;
                    (J) planning development and design of projects for 
                new commercial uses in critical technology areas such 
                as high speed transportation technology, digital 
                communications, and optical electronics; and
                    (K) assessing employee training needs and arranging 
                for appropriate training resources; and
            (2) 50 percent of amounts received from the grant will be 
        reserved by the State to provide technical and financial 
        assistance to small and medium- sized manufacturers to 
        undertake human resource development initiatives essential for 
        industrial modernization and the fulfillment of improved 
        competitiveness strategies, including--
                    (A) developing and carrying out high performance 
                workplace systems and employee involvement and Labor-
                Management Committees to--
                            (i) reduce overspecialization;
                            (ii) foster flexible work organization;
                            (iii) increase teamwork among workers 
                        across functional work units; and
                            (iv) expand employees' roles as partners 
                        with management in planning and managing 
                        change;
                    (B) developing and carrying out company and 
                industry-specific training for workers required for the 
                introduction of advanced manufacturing technologies and 
                other industrial modernization initiatives;
                    (C) developing and carrying out work force literacy 
                programs for industrial modernization; and
                    (D) developing and carrying out programs to 
                encourage employee ownership.
    (c) Coordination.--The Secretary of Commerce shall coordinate as 
necessary with the Secretary of Labor and States' employment services 
and Service Delivery Areas (as described in section 101 of the Job 
Training Partnership Act) and other pertinent State agencies to carry 
out the provisions of this Act.

SEC. 6. REPORT.

    Not later than January 1, 1996, the Secretary shall submit to the 
Congress a report containing--
            (1) a compilation of the information contained in the State 
        reports received by the Secretary pursuant to section 4(c)(4); 
        and
            (2) an evaluation of the effectiveness of the grant 
        program.

SEC. 7. EVALUATION.

    The Secretary shall establish objective measures of success for 
State programs, including growth in employment, productivity, market 
share and sales. The Secretary shall annually evaluate the success of 
each State program receiving a grant pursuant to this Act. No State 
shall be eligible for future grants that has not successfully used a 
grant as determined by the Secretary.

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