[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1778 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1778

            To establish a commission on employee ownership.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 11, 2003

     Mr. Ballenger (for himself, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mrs. Johnson of 
Connecticut, and Mr. Portman) introduced the following bill; which was 
        referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
            To establish a commission on employee ownership.

    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 ``Employee Ownership for the Twenty-
First Century Act''.

SEC. 2. PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION ON EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP.

    (a) Establishment.--Not later than one year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the President shall establish a commission to be 
known as the ``Presidential Commission on Employee Ownership'' 
(hereafter in this section referred to as the ``Commission'').
    (b) Duties and Report.--The Commission shall--
            (1) conduct a study concerning all issues that affect 
        ownership of businesses in the United States with a primary 
        focus on the issues that affect employee ownership of such 
        businesses, and
            (2) not later than two years after the date of its 
        establishment, submit a final report to the President and the 
        Congress which includes the findings and recommendations of the 
        Commission.
    (c) Membership.--The Commission shall be composed of 15 members 
appointed by the President as follows:
            (1) Three individuals, each of whom is an employee of a 
        corporation that has at least 50 percent of its voting stock in 
        a trust for the benefit of employees and who is not an officer 
        or senior manager of that corporation.
            (2) Three individuals, each of whom is an employee of a 
        corporation that has at least 50 percent of its voting stock in 
        a trust for the benefit of employees and who is an officer of 
        senior manager of that corporation.
            (3) Three individuals, each of whom is a professor employed 
        by an institution of higher learning.
            (4) Three individuals, each of whom is employed by a not-
        for-profit entity that has as its primary mission issues 
        arising from employee ownership of businesses.
            (5) The Secretary of Labor, or his designee, the Secretary 
        of the Treasury, or his designee, and the Director of the 
        Office of Management and Budget, or his designee.
    (d) Staff.--The Commission shall have such number of staff as the 
President shall determine, except that such staff shall include not 
less than five full-time employees.
    (e) Gift and Bequests.--The Commission may accept, use, and dispose 
of gifts or bequests or services or personal property for the purpose 
of aiding or facilitating the work of the Commission. Gifts or bequests 
shall be deposited in the Treasury and shall be available for 
disbursement upon order of the Commission.

SEC. 3. STUDY OF GOVERNMENT POLICIES AFFECTING EMPLOYEE-OWNED AND 
              EMPLOYEE-CONTROLLED CORPORATIONS.

    The Comptroller-General of the United States--
            (1) conduct a study of all Federal Government regulations 
        and policies that might impact the creation and operation of an 
        employee-owned corporation,
            (2) identify those regulations and policies that are 
        barriers to employee ownership, and
            (3) not later than one year after the date of the enactment 
        of the Act, submit a report on the findings of such study, 
        together with such recommendations as the Comptroller General 
        determines appropriate, to the Congress.
                                 <all>