[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2525 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2525

  To amend the Trade Act of 1974 with respect to the trade adjustment 
              assistance program, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 13, 2011

    Mr. Wu introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Trade Act of 1974 with respect to the trade adjustment 
              assistance program, 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 ``Trade Adjustment Assistance 
Accountability Act of 2011''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO TRADE ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.

    (a) Extension of Assistance Program for Workers.--Section 245(a) of 
the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2317(a)) is amended by striking 
``October 1, 2001, and ending December 31, 2007'' and inserting 
``February 13, 2011, and ending September 30, 2014''.
    (b) Notice to Petitioner of Initiation of Investigation.--Section 
221(a)(3) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2271(a)(3)) is amended by 
adding at the end the following: ``The Secretary shall also send 
written or electronic notification of the receipt of the petition and 
the initiation of the investigation directly to the petitioner.''.
    (c) Procedural Matters.--
            (1) Basis for secretary's determination.--Section 222 of 
        the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2272) is amended by adding at 
        the end the following:
    ``(d) Basis for Secretary's Determinations.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall, in determining 
        whether to certify a group of workers under section 223, obtain 
        from the workers' firm, a customer of the workers' firm, or the 
        petitioner, information that the Secretary determines to be 
        necessary to make the certification, through questionnaires and 
        in such other manner as the Secretary determines appropriate.
            ``(2) Additional information.--The Secretary may seek 
        additional information to determine whether to certify a group 
        of workers under subsection (a) or (b)--
                    ``(A) by contacting--
                            ``(i) officials or employees of the 
                        workers' firm;
                            ``(ii) officials of customers of the 
                        workers' firm;
                            ``(iii) officials of certified or 
                        recognized unions or other duly authorized 
                        representatives of the group of workers; or
                            ``(iv) one-stop operators or one-stop 
                        partners (as defined in section 101 of the 
                        Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 
                        2801));
                    ``(B) by reviewing all certifications or denials of 
                petitions for trade adjustment assistance within the 
                same industry as the petitioner and considering the 
                impact of trade on those determinations; or
                    ``(C) by using other available sources of 
                information.
            ``(3) Verification of information.--
                    ``(A) Certification.--The Secretary shall require a 
                firm or customer to certify--
                            ``(i) all information obtained under 
                        paragraph (1) from the firm or customer (as the 
                        case may be) through questionnaires; and
                            ``(ii) all other information obtained under 
                        paragraph (1) from the firm or customer (as the 
                        case may be) on which the Secretary relies in 
                        making a determination under section 223, 
                        unless the Secretary has a reasonable basis for 
                        determining that such information is accurate 
                        and complete without being certified.
                    ``(B) Protection of confidential information.--The 
                Secretary may not release information obtained under 
                paragraph (1) that the Secretary considers to be 
                confidential business information unless the firm or 
                customer (as the case may be) submitting the 
                confidential business information had notice, at the 
                time of submission, that the information would be 
                released by the Secretary, or the firm or customer (as 
                the case may be) subsequently consents to the release 
                of the information. Nothing in this subparagraph shall 
                be construed to prohibit the Secretary from providing 
                such confidential business information to a court in 
                camera or to another party under a protective order 
                issued by a court.
                    ``(C) Review of information.--If the petition for 
                certification is denied and the petitioner appeals the 
                denial, the Secretary shall notify the petitioner of 
                any information submitted or certified as part of an 
                investigation that was adverse to the petitioner's 
                claim, and shall allow a petitioner to review any 
                documents not protected under subparagraph (B). The 
                petitioner shall be permitted an opportunity to submit 
                and certify a rebuttal to the information submitted by 
                the firm or firm's customer as an addendum to the 
                appeal, before the Secretary reviews the appeal.''.
            (2) Determination of secretary.--Section 223(a) of the 
        Trade Act of 1974 is amended--
                    (A) by striking ``(a) As soon as possible'' and 
                inserting--
    ``(a) In General.--
            ``(1) Initial determinations.--As soon as possible''; and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(2) Notifications to petitioner.--Not later than 60 days 
        after a petition or appeal is filed, the Secretary shall 
        provide a written or electronic response to a written request 
        for information from the petitioner regarding the status of the 
        petition. The response shall include the current stage of the 
        investigation, details on outstanding requests for information 
        from the firm or firm's customer described in 222(e), any other 
        reason for the delay, and the expected date of the final 
        determination. Such notification shall be provided to the 
        petitioner not later than 21 days after it is received by the 
        Secretary.''.
    (d) Conforming Amendments.--Section 285(a) of the Trade Act of 1974 
is amended by striking ``December 31, 2007'' each place it appears and 
inserting ``September 30, 2014''.
    (e) Effective Date.--
            (1) Extension of program.--The amendments made by 
        subsections (a) and (d) apply to petitions for certification of 
        eligibility for adjustment assistance under chapter 2 of title 
        II of the Trade Act of 1974 that are filed before, on, or after 
        the date of the enactment of this Act for such eligibility on 
        or after February 13, 2011.
            (2) Procedural requirements.--The amendments made by 
        subsections (b) and (c) apply with respect to petitions for 
        certification of eligibility for adjustment assistance under 
        chapter 2 of title II of the Trade Act of 1974 that are filed 
        or after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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