[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4961 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4961

  To provide for the establishment of the Haitian-American Enterprise 
                                 Fund.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 25, 2010

Ms. Clarke (for herself, Mr. Meeks of New York, Ms. Fudge, and Mr. Meek 
 of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To provide for the establishment of the Haitian-American Enterprise 
                                 Fund.

    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 ``Haitian Private Sector Encouragement 
Act of 2010''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

    The purposes of this Act are to promote--
            (1) development of the Haitian private sector, including 
        small business, the agriculture sector, and joint ventures with 
        the United States and host country participants, and
            (2) policies and practices conducive to private sector 
        development in Haiti,
through loans, grants, equity investments, feasibility studies, 
technical assistance, training, insurance, guarantees, and other 
measures.

SEC. 3. DESIGNATION OF HAITIAN-AMERICAN ENTERPRISE FUND.

    (a) Designation.--The President is authorized to designate one 
private, nonprofit organization established under State law as eligible 
to receive funds and support under this Act upon a determination by the 
President that the organization has been established for the purposes 
described in section 2. For purposes of this Act, the organization so 
designated shall be referred to as the ``Haitian-American Enterprise 
Fund''.
    (b) Consultation With Congress.--Before designating an organization 
under subsection (a), the President shall consult with--
            (1) the majority leader and minority leader of the Senate; 
        and
            (2) the Speaker and minority leader of the House of 
        Representatives.
    (c) Additional Requirements.--Except to the extent inconsistent 
with the provisions of this Act, paragraphs (3) through (5) of section 
201(d) of the Support for East European Democracy (SEED) Act of 1989 
(22 U.S.C. 5421(d)) shall apply to the Haitian-American Enterprise Fund 
to the same extent and in the same manner as such paragraphs apply to 
the Polish-American Enterprise Fund, the Hungarian-American Enterprise 
Fund, the Southern Africa Enterprise Development Fund, and other 
similarly situated enterprise funds established by the United States 
Government.

SEC. 4. GRANT TO HAITIAN-AMERICAN ENTERPRISE FUND.

    (a) In General.--The President, acting through the Administrator of 
the United States Agency for International Development, shall, from 
amounts appropriated pursuant to the authorization of appropriations 
under section 7, provide a grant to the Haitian-American Enterprise 
Fund, which shall be used to--
            (1) carry out the purposes described in section 2, 
        including to promote the policies and practices described in 
        subsection (b); and
            (2) pay the administrative expenses of the Enterprise Fund.
    (b) Policies and Practices.--The policies and practices referred to 
in subsection (a)(1) are policies and practices conducive to the 
development of private property rights for the citizens of Haiti, 
particularly Haitian citizens of limited economic means, through 
integration of extralegal property arrangements employed by some 
Haitian citizens into comprehensive modern property recordation systems 
that fix the economic potential of assets, integrate disperse ownership 
information into one system, hold citizens accountable, make assets 
fungible, connect citizens to one another, and protect the integrity of 
commercial transactions.
    (c) Oversight.--The Administrator of the United States Agency for 
International Development shall monitor the activities of the Haitian-
American Enterprise Fund.

SEC. 5. TREATMENT EQUIVALENT TO OTHER ENTERPRISE FUNDS; CONSULTATION 
              WITH OTHER ENTERPRISE FUNDS.

    (a) In General.--Except to the extent inconsistent with the 
provisions of this Act, subsections (f) through (p) of section 201 of 
the Support for East European Democracy (SEED) Act of 1989 (22 U.S.C. 
5421) shall apply to the Haitian-American Enterprise Fund to the same 
extent and in the same manner as such subsections apply to the Polish-
American Enterprise Fund, the Hungarian-American Enterprise Fund, the 
Southern Africa Enterprise Development Fund, and other similarly 
situated enterprise funds established by the United States Government.
    (b) Consultation With Other Enterprise Funds.--The Haitian-American 
Enterprise Fund may consult extensively with other similarly situated 
enterprise funds established by the United States Government in order 
to seek out best practices relating to the start-up phase and other 
ongoing business matters of the Enterprise Fund.

SEC. 6. HAITIAN-AMERICAN ECONOMIC OVERSIGHT PANEL.

    (a) Establishment.--The President is authorized to establish the 
Haitian-American Economic Oversight Panel (in this section referred to 
as the ``Oversight Panel'').
    (b) Duties.--The Oversight Panel shall monitor the activities of 
the Haitian-American Enterprise Fund and all other economic development 
initiatives of the United States for Haiti.
    (c) Membership.--The Oversight Panel shall consist of individuals 
appointed by the President after consultation with Congress, from among 
United States citizens who are not officers or employees of any 
government and who have demonstrated concern and commitment to the 
economic development of Haiti.
    (d) Report.--The Oversight Panel shall submit to Congress and the 
President an annual report on implementation of the Oversight Panel's 
duties for the preceding year, including a detailed description of 
incidents of waste, fraud, and abuse relating to economic development 
initiatives of the United States for Haiti.
    (e) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be 
construed to affect the authorities of the Haitian-American Enterprise 
Fund.

SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) In General.--There are authorized to be appropriated to the 
President to carry out this Act $240,000,000 for fiscal year 2011.
    (b) Availability.--Amounts appropriated pursuant to the 
authorization of appropriations under subsection (a) are authorized to 
remain available until expended.
    (c) Nonapplicability of Other Laws.--Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, amounts appropriated pursuant to the authorization of 
appropriations under subsection (a) may be expended by the Haitian-
American Enterprise Fund for the purposes of this Act.
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