[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 730 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 730

To provide certain requirements for labeling textile fiber products and 
for duty-free and quota-free treatment of products of, and to implement 
  minimum wage and immigration requirements in, the Northern Mariana 
                    Islands, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 11, 1999

 Mr. George Miller of California (for himself, Mr. Spratt, Mr. Rahall, 
 Mr. Vento, Mr. DeFazio, Mr. Abercrombie, Mr. Pallone, Mrs. Christian-
Christensen, Mr. Kind, Mr. Inslee, Mr. Udall of Colorado, Mr. Crowley, 
  Mr. Barrett of Wisconsin, Ms. Kaptur, Ms. DeLauro, Mr. Hinchey, Mr. 
  Frank of Massachusetts, Mr. Stark, Mr. McDermott, Mr. McGovern, Mr. 
Kucinich, Mr. Olver, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Brown of Ohio, Mr. Ackerman, Mrs. 
 Maloney of New York, Mr. Rush, Mr. Waxman, Mr. Delahunt, Mr. Tierney, 
Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Matsui, Mr. Clay, Mr. Green of Texas, Mr. Kleczka, Mr. 
Dingell, Mr. Brady of Pennsylvania, Mr. Lewis of Georgia, Mr. Hastings 
  of Florida, Ms. Slaughter, Mr. Lantos, Mr. Evans, Ms. Woolsey, Mrs. 
 Mink of Hawaii, Mr. Traficant, Mr. Gejdenson, Mrs. Clayton, Ms. Lee, 
 and Ms. Millender-McDonald) introduced the following bill; which was 
    referred to the Committee on Resources, and in addition to the 
Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined 
 by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as 
        fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide certain requirements for labeling textile fiber products and 
for duty-free and quota-free treatment of products of, and to implement 
  minimum wage and immigration requirements in, the Northern Mariana 
                    Islands, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``United States-Commonwealth of the 
Northern Marianas Human Dignity Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) between 1955 and 1975, the people of the Northern 
        Mariana Islands, through their duly elected representatives, 
        expressed on numerous occasions formally and informally to the 
        United States and to the United Nations their strong desire to 
        become a part of the United States;
            (2) in 1975 the legislature of the Northern Mariana Islands 
        unanimously endorsed the Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth 
        of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the 
        United States of America, and the Covenant was put before the 
        voters of the Northern Mariana Islands on June 17, 1975, with 
        95 percent of eligible voters casting ballots and 78.8 percent 
        voting to approve the Covenant;
            (3) to allay any concerns of the Commonwealth of the 
        Northern Mariana Islands that United States immigration laws 
        would allow mass immigration into the small island communities, 
        article V of the Covenant which established a Commonwealth of 
        the Northern Mariana Islands provided the Commonwealth of the 
        Northern Mariana Islands with a partial exemption from the 
        Immigration and Nationality Act until the United Nations 
        trusteeship over the Islands ended in 1986;
            (4) the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands then 
        instituted a largely unrestricted immigration policy, resulting 
        in a population explosion of over 250 percent in 15 years, so 
        that in 1999, 60,000 people live in the Northern Mariana 
        Islands, including over 33,000 foreign contract workers and 
        only 27,000 United States residents;
            (5) the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands has 
        used its immigration policy to recruit a large, low-cost 
        foreign workforce of desperately poor individuals with 
        virtually no voice to demand safe living and working conditions 
        or better wage and benefit options;
            (6) 91 percent of all private sector jobs in the Northern 
        Mariana Islands are held by temporary contract workers while 56 
        percent of all locally born United States citizens work for the 
        local government;
            (7) the recruitment of this large, low-cost foreign 
        workforce has led to a consistent unemployment rate of 14.2 
        percent among United States citizens in the Northern Mariana 
        Islands compared to 5.6 percent in the United States as a 
        whole;
            (8) 35 percent of locally born United States citizens live 
        below the poverty rate, despite this high poverty rate every 
        2.6 local households employ at least 1 foreign contracted live-
        in maid;
            (9) over $1,000,000,000 worth of garments made by alien 
        contract workers using mostly foreign-made fabric entered the 
        United States in 1998, quota- and duty-free, at a cost to the 
        United States treasury of $200,000,000;
            (10) on February 4, 1999, the Senate of the Commonwealth of 
        the Northern Mariana Islands passed legislation to allow up to 
        an additional 2,400 contract workers to be brought into the 
        Northern Mariana Islands;
            (11) article V of section 503 of the Covenant which 
        established a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands 
        provided the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands with 
        a temporary exemption from the minimum wage provisions of the 
        Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 in order to assist the growth 
        of the Islands' economy;
            (12) the economy of the Northern Mariana Islands has grown 
        significantly and, in 1998, the garment industry alone sent 
        over $1,000,000,000 worth of garments to the United States 
        mainland; yet the current minimum wage in the Northern Mariana 
Islands is as low as $3.05 per hour;
            (13) the legislature of the Commonwealth of the Northern 
        Mariana Islands reversed a law that would have provided for 
        small, incremental increases in the minimum wage in the 
        Northern Mariana Islands until that wage reached the federally 
        mandated wage;
            (14) all workers on United States soil should be paid a 
        living wage;
            (15) garments made in the Northern Mariana Islands may 
        carry a ``Made in USA'' label, deceiving consumers as to the 
        conditions under which the garments have been made and 
        competing directly with garments made on the United States 
        mainland by workers paid a living wage, working in a safe 
        environment;
            (16) ``sweatshop'' conditions exist in the Northern Mariana 
        Islands, where employers--
                    (A) provide unsafe and unhealthy working and living 
                environments;
                    (B) use bonded and indentured foreign laborers;
                    (C) do not pay wages required under the Fair Labor 
                Standards Act; and
                    (D) refuse to recognize the legal rights of workers 
                to form labor unions without fear of retaliation;
            (17) the Government of the Commonwealth of the Northern 
        Mariana Islands has repeatedly refused to raise the wage and 
        living standards for workers, or to aggressively prosecute 
        labor and human rights abuses; and
            (18) United States Customs agents and Customs agents of the 
        Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands are not permitted 
        under current law to open and inspect cargo containers entering 
        the Northern Mariana Islands without the owner of the container 
        present.

SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS.

    The Joint Resolution entitled ``Joint Resolution to approve the 
`Covenant To Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands 
in Political Union with the United States of America', and for other 
purposes'' approved March 24, 1976 (48 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.), is 
amended--
            (1) by adding at the end the following new sections:

``SEC. 7. LABELING OF TEXTILE FIBER PRODUCTS.

    ``(a) In General.--No textile fiber product shall have a stamp, 
tag, label, or other means of identification or substitute therefor on 
or affixed to the product stating `Made in USA' or otherwise stating or 
implying that the product was made or assembled in the United States 
unless--
            ``(1) each individual providing direct labor in production 
        of such textile fiber product was paid a wage equal to or 
        greater than the wage set by section 8;
            ``(2) the product was produced or manufactured in 
        compliance with all Federal laws relating to labor rights and 
        working conditions, including, but not limited to, the National 
        Labor Relations Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 
        1970, and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938;
            ``(3) the factory or other business concern producing or 
        manufacturing the product, as certified by the Secretary of 
        Labor, has full-time employees in nonmanagerial positions who 
        are citizens or nationals of the United States, aliens lawfully 
        admitted into the United States for permanent residence, 
        citizens of Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, or the 
        Federated States of Micronesia, aliens admitted into the United 
        States as refugees under section 207 of the Immigration and 
        Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1157), or aliens granted asylum in 
        the United States under section 208 of that Act (8 U.S.C. 
        1158), in the following percentages: 25 percent within 6 months 
        after the date of the enactment of this section, 50 percent 
        within 1 year after such date of enactment, and 75 percent 
        within 18 months after such date of enactment; and
            ``(4) the factory or other business concern producing or 
        manufacturing the product does not employ individuals under 
        conditions of indentured servitude.
    ``(b) Result of Noncompliance.--A textile fiber product which is 
stamped, tagged, labeled, or otherwise identified in violation of 
subsection (a) shall be deemed to be misbranded for purposes of the 
Textile Fiber Products Identification Act (15 U.S.C. 70 et seq.).
    ``(c) Definition.--For purposes of this section, the term `direct 
labor' includes any work provided to prepare, assemble, process, 
package, or transport a textile fiber product, but does not include 
supervisory, management, security, or administrative work.

``SEC. 8. MINIMUM WAGE.

    ``Section 503(c) of the foregoing Covenant shall be construed and 
applied as if it read as follows:
    ```(c) The minimum wage provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act 
of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.), shall apply to the Commonwealth of the 
Northern Mariana Islands, except that--
            ```(1) through December 31, 1999, the minimum wage 
        applicable to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands 
        shall be $3.55 per hour;
            ```(2) on January 1, 2000, and on July 1 and January 1 of 
        each year thereafter, the minimum wage applicable to the 
        Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands shall be $0.50 per 
        hour more than the minimum wage that was applicable to the 
        Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands for the preceding 
        6-month period until the minimum wage applicable to the 
        Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands is equal to the 
        minimum wage rate set forth in section 6(a)(1) of the Fair 
        Labor Standards Act of 1938; and
            ```(3) after the minimum wage applicable to the 
        Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands is equal to the 
        minimum wage rate set forth in section 6(a)(1) of the Fair 
        Labor Standards Act of 1938, pursuant to paragraph (2), the 
        minimum wage applicable to the Commonwealth of the Northern 
        Mariana Islands shall increase as necessary to remain equal to 
        the minimum wage rate set forth in section 6(a)(1) of the Fair 
        Labor Standards Act of 1938.'

``SEC. 9. CONDITIONS FOR DUTY-FREE AND QUOTA-FREE TREATMENT.

    ``(a) Conditions.--No product of the Northern Mariana Islands may 
enter the customs territory of the United States duty-free or not 
subject to quota as the product of an insular possession, unless--
            ``(1) each individual providing direct labor in production 
        of the product was paid a wage equal to or greater than the 
        wage set by section 8;
            ``(2) the product was produced or manufactured in 
        compliance with all Federal laws relating to labor rights and 
        working conditions, including, but not limited to, the National 
        Labor Relations Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 
        1970, and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938;
            ``(3) the factory or other business concern producing or 
        manufacturing the product, as certified by the Secretary of 
        Labor, has full-time employees in nonmanagerial positions who 
        are citizens or nationals of the United States, aliens lawfully 
        admitted into the United States for permanent residence, 
        citizens of Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, or the 
        Federated States of Micronesia, persons admitted into the 
        United States under section 207 of the Immigration and 
        Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1157), or aliens granted asylum in 
        the United States under section 208 of that Act (8 U.S.C. 
        1158), in the following percentages: 25 percent within 6 months 
        after the date of the enactment of this section, 50 percent 
        within 1 year after such date of enactment, and 75 percent 
        within 18 months after such date of enactment;
            ``(4) the factory or other business concern producing or 
        manufacturing the product does not employ individuals under 
        conditions of indentured servitude; and
            ``(5) the Commissioner of Customs has certified that the 
        Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands is taking adequate 
        measures--
                    ``(A) to prevent unlawful transshipment of goods 
                that is carried out by rerouting, false declaration 
                concerning country or place of origin, falsification of 
                documents, evasion of United States rules of origin, or 
                any other means; and
                    ``(B) to prevent being used as a transit point for 
                the shipment of goods in violation of the Agreement on 
                Textiles and Clothing referred to in section 101(d)(4) 
                of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act or any other 
                applicable trade agreement.
    ``(b) Penalties Against Exporters.--If the President determines, 
based on sufficient evidence, that an exporter has willfully falsified 
information regarding the country of origin, manufacture, processing, 
or assembly of a product of the Northern Mariana Islands for which 
duty-free or quota-free treatment is claimed, then the President shall 
deny to such exporter, and any successors of such exporter, for a 
period of 2 years, duty-free and quota-free treatment for such product.
    ``(c) Definition.--For purposes of this section, the term `direct 
labor' includes any work provided to prepare, assemble, process, 
package, or transport a product, but does not include supervisory, 
management, security, or administrative work.''; and
            (2) by adding after the new sections added by paragraph 
        (1), the following new section:

``SEC. 10. APPLICABILITY OF IMMIGRATION LAWS.

    ``Section 506 of the foregoing Covenant shall be construed and 
applied as if it included at the end the following subsection:
    ```(e)(1) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), the provisions of the 
Immigration and Nationality Act shall apply to the Northern Mariana 
Islands as if the Northern Mariana Islands were a State (as defined in 
section 101(a)(36) of such Act), and a part of the United States (as 
defined in section 101(a)(38) of such Act). Such Act shall supersede 
and replace all laws, provisions, or programs of the Commonwealth of 
the Northern Mariana Islands relating to the admission and removal of 
aliens from the Northern Mariana Islands.
    ```(2)(A) Notwithstanding paragraph (1) and subject to subparagraph 
(C), if the Secretary of Labor, upon receipt of a joint recommendation 
of the Governor and Legislature of the Commonwealth of the Northern 
Mariana Islands, finds that exceptional circumstances exist with 
respect to the inability of employers in the Northern Mariana Islands 
to obtain sufficient work-authorized labor, the Attorney General may 
establish a specific number of employment-based immigrant visas to be 
made available during the following fiscal year under this paragraph 
and section 203(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
    ```(B) Upon notification by the Attorney General that a number has 
been established pursuant to subparagraph (A), the Secretary of State 
may allocate up to that number of visas without regard to the numerical 
limitations set forth in sections 202 and 203(b)(3)(B) of the 
Immigration and Nationality Act. Visa numbers allocated under this 
subparagraph shall be allocated first from the number of visas 
available under section 203(b)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality 
Act, or, if such visa numbers are not available, from the number of 
visas available under section 203(b)(5) of such Act.
    ```(C) The authority of the Attorney General and the Secretary of 
State under subparagraphs (A) and (B) shall expire at the end of the 
4th fiscal year following the first fiscal year for which the Attorney 
General establishes a number pursuant to subparagraph (A).
    ```(D) Persons granted employment-based immigrant visas under this 
paragraph may be admitted initially at a port-of-entry in the Northern 
Mariana Islands, or at a port-of-entry in Guam, for the purpose of 
immigrating to the Northern Mariana Islands, as lawful permanent 
residents of the United States.
    ```(E) Any immigrant visa issued pursuant to this paragraph shall 
be valid only for application for initial admission to the Northern 
Mariana Islands. The admission of any alien pursuant to such an 
immigrant visa shall be an admission for lawful permanent residence and 
employment only in the Northern Mariana Islands during the first 3 
years after such admission. Such admission shall not authorize 
permanent residence or employment in any other part of the United 
States during such 3-year period. An alien admitted for permanent 
residence pursuant to this paragraph shall be issued appropriate 
documentation identifying the person as having been admitted pursuant 
to the terms and conditions of this paragraph, and shall be required to 
comply with a system for the registration and reporting of aliens 
admitted for permanent residence under this subsection, to be 
established by the Attorney General under chapter 7 of title II of the 
Immigration and Nationality Act.
    ```(F) Nothing in this paragraph shall preclude an alien who has 
obtained lawful permanent resident status pursuant to this paragraph 
from applying, if otherwise eligible under this section and under the 
Immigration and Nationality Act, for an immigrant visa or admission as 
a lawful permanent resident under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
    ```(G) Any alien admitted under this paragraph, who violates the 
provisions of this paragraph, or who is found removable or inadmissible 
under section 237(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, or 
paragraphs (1), (2), (3), (4)(A), (4)(B), (6), (7), (8), or (9) of 
section 212(a) of such Act, shall be removed pursuant to chapter 4 of 
title II of such Act.
    ```(H) The Attorney General may establish by regulation a procedure 
by which an alien who has obtained lawful permanent resident status 
pursuant to this paragraph may apply for a waiver of the limitations on 
the terms and conditions of such status. The Attorney General may grant 
the application for waiver, in the discretion of the Attorney General, 
if: (1) the alien is not in removal proceedings, (2) the alien has been 
a person of good moral character for the preceding 5 years, (3) the 
alien has not violated the terms and conditions of the alien's 
permanent resident status, and (4) the alien would suffer exceptional 
and extremely unusual hardship were such terms and conditions not 
waived.
    ```(I) The limitations on the terms and conditions of an alien's 
permanent residence set forth in this paragraph shall expire at the end 
of 3 years after the alien's admission to the Northern Mariana Islands 
as a permanent resident and the alien is thereafter fully subject to 
the provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Following the 
expiration of such limitations, the permanent resident alien may engage 
in any lawful activity, including employment, anywhere in the United 
States.
    ```(3)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), paragraphs (1) 
and (2) shall take effect after the expiration of the 3-month period 
beginning on the date of the enactment of the United States-
Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Human Dignity Act.
    ```(B) With respect to an alien who, as of the last day of the 3-
month period beginning on the date of the enactment of the United 
States-Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Human Dignity Act, is 
authorized by the Government of the Northern Mariana Islands (pursuant 
to the immigration laws of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 
Islands) to enter into and remain temporarily in the Northern Mariana 
Islands in order to perform temporary service or labor in the Northern 
Mariana Islands (and any relatives of the alien if, authorized to 
accompany or follow to join the alien), paragraphs (1) and (2) shall 
apply to the alien beginning after the earlier of the following dates:
            ```(i) The date on which such authorization expires (such 
        authorization not being subject to extension or renewal by the 
        Government of the Northern Mariana Islands after the expiration 
        of the 3-month period beginning on the date of the enactment of 
        the United States-Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Human 
        Dignity Act).
            ```(ii) The date that is 2 years after the date of the 
        enactment of the United States-Commonwealth of the Northern 
        Marianas Human Dignity Act.
    ```(4) When deploying personnel to enforce the provisions of this 
section, the Attorney General shall coordinate with, and act in 
conjunction with, State and local law enforcement agencies to ensure 
that such deployment does not degrade or compromise the law enforcement 
capabilities and functions currently performed by immigration 
officers.'.''.

SEC. 4. AUTHORITY OF CUSTOMS SERVICE TO BOARD SHIPS.

    Section 467 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1467) is amended 
by striking ``or the Virgin Islands,'' each place it appears and 
inserting ``, the Virgin Islands, or the Commonwealth of the Northern 
Mariana Islands,''.

SEC. 5. STUDY; REPORT.

    (a) Study.--A study shall be conducted of the extent of human 
rights violations and labor rights violations in the Northern Mariana 
Islands, including the use of forced or indentured labor, and any 
efforts being taken by the Government of the United States or the 
Government of the Northern Mariana Islands to address or prohibit such 
violations.
    (b) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall transmit to the 
Committee on Resources of the House of Representatives and the 
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate a report on the 
results of the study required by subsection (a).
    (c) Consultation.--Appropriate local government officials, law 
enforcement agencies, and nongovernmental organizations active in 
instituting and protecting human and labor rights may be consulted when 
conducting the study and preparing the report required by this section.

SEC. 6. EFFECT ON OTHER LAW.

    The provisions of the amendments made by paragraph (1) of section 3 
shall be in addition to, but shall not otherwise modify, the 
requirements of the Textile Fiber Products Identification Act (15 
U.S.C. 70 et seq.).

SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATES.

    (a) In General.--Except as provided in subsection (b), the 
amendments made by this Act shall take effect 30 days after the date of 
the enactment of this Act.
    (b) Immigration.--
            (1) In general.--The amendment made by paragraph (2) of 
        section 3 shall take effect after the expiration of the 3-month 
        period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act.
            (2) Exception.--With respect to an alien who, as of the 
        last day of the 3-month period beginning on the date of the 
        enactment of this Act, is authorized by the Government of the 
        Northern Mariana Islands (pursuant to the immigration laws of 
        the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands) to enter into 
        and remain temporarily in the Northern Mariana Islands in order 
        to perform temporary service or labor in the Northern Mariana 
        Islands (and any relatives of the alien if, authorized to 
        accompany or follow to join the alien), such amendment shall 
        apply to the alien beginning after the earlier of the following 
        dates:
                    (A) The date on which such authorization expires 
                (such authorization not being subject to extension or 
                renewal by the Government of the Northern Mariana 
                Islands after the expiration of the 3-month period 
                beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act).
                    (B) The date that is 2 years after the date of the 
                enactment of this Act.

SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 
necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.
                                 <all>