1.This Act may be cited as
the Haitian-American Enterprise Fund
Act
.
2.The purposes of this Act are—
(1)to promote the Haitian private sector,
including small businesses, the agricultural sector, and joint ventures with
United States and Haitian participants; and
(2)to promote policies and practices conducive
to the private sector in Haiti through loans, grants, equity investments,
feasibility studies, technical assistance, training, insurance, guarantees, and
other measures.
3.Haitian-American
Enterprise Fund
(a)After
consultation with the leadership of each House of Congress, the President may
designate a private, nonprofit organization, which has been established for the
purposes specified in section 2 and which shall be known as the
Haitian-American Enterprise Fund
, to receive financial
assistance and support made available under this Act.
(b)
(1)The
Haitian-American Enterprise Fund shall be governed by a Board of Directors,
which shall be comprised of 6 private citizens of the United States or Haiti,
appointed by the President, of which not more than 2 may be citizens of
Haiti.
(2)Member
of the Board of Directors shall be selected from among people who have had
successful business careers in private equity, banking, or finance that is
similar to the experience of individuals who previously served on the Board of
Directors of a successful Enterprise Fund established by the United States
Government on or after January 1, 1990.
(3)Upon the recommendation of the Board of Directors,
the President may appoint up to 2 additional members to the Board (in addition
to the Directors appointed pursuant to paragraph (1)), of which not more than 1
may be a citizen of Haiti.
(c)
(1)Amounts appropriated to the President pursuant to section
7 shall be granted to the Haitian-American Enterprise Fund by the United States
Agency for International Development to enable the Fund to carry out the
purposes specified in section 2 and for the administrative expenses of the
Fund.
(2)Eligible
programs and projectsGrants
awarded under this section may only be used for programs and projects that
support the purposes set forth in section 2.
(3)
(A)Grants may not be awarded to the Haitian-American
Enterprise Fund under this section unless the Fund agrees to comply with the
requirements under this section.
(B)The grant agreement between the United States Agency
for International Development (referred to in this section as
USAID
) and the Haitian-American Enterprise Fund shall state that
the Fund shall end its reinvestment cycle not later than December 31, 2021,
unless the USAID Administrator determines, after consultation with the
appropriate congressional committees, that the Fund should be extended.
(C)Prevention of
money laundering and terrorist financingThe grant agreement
between USAID and the Haitian-American Enterprise Fund shall state that the
Fund shall comply with procedures specified by the Secretary of State to ensure
that grant funds are not provided by the Fund to or through—
(i)any
individual, private or government entity, or educational institution that
advocates, plans, sponsors, engages in, or has engaged in, money laundering or
terrorist activity; or
(ii)any private
entity or educational institution if a principal officer of its governing board
is—
(I)involved in or
advocating money laundering or terrorist activity; or
(II)a member of a
designated foreign terrorist organization.
(D)All assets of the Haitian-American Enterprise Fund on the
date on which the Fund is dissolved shall be returned to the Treasury of the
United States for the purpose of deficit reduction.
(d)
(1)Not later than 15 days before designating an organization
to operate as the Haitian-American Enterprise Fund pursuant to subsection (a),
the President shall provide the information described in paragraph (2) to the
Chairman and Ranking Member of the appropriate congressional committees.
(2)The
information described in this paragraph is—
(A)the identity of
the organization to be designated to operate as the Haitian-American Enterprise
Fund pursuant to subsection (a);
(B)the names and
qualifications of the individuals who will comprise the Initial Board;
(C)the procedures
referred to in subsection (c)(3)(C) that will apply to the Haitian-American
Enterprise Fund for purposes of curtailing money laundering and terrorist
financing activities; and
(D)the size of the
financial grant that shall be made available to the Haitian-American Enterprise
Fund.
(e)
(1)Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of
this Act, and annually thereafter until the Fund is dissolved, the Fund shall
submit a report to the appropriate congressional committees that details the
administrative expenses of the Fund.
(2)Not later than 3 years after the date of the enactment of
this Act, and every 3 years thereafter until the Fund is dissolved, the
Comptroller General of the United States shall submit a report to the
appropriate congressional committees that assesses the activities of the Fund
in—
(A)achieving the
stated goals of promoting private sector investment and employment in Haiti;
and
(B)identifying those
institutional or regulatory constraints that inhibit a more effective
application of Fund resources.
(f)In this section, the term appropriate congressional
committees means—
(1)the
Committee on Foreign Relations of the
Senate;
(2)the
Committee on Appropriations of the
Senate;
(3)the
Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of
Representatives; and
(4)the
Committee on Appropriations of the House of
Representatives.
4.
(a)Subsections
(d)(5), (g), (h), (i), (k), (l), (m), (n), (o), and (p) of section 201 of the
Support for East European Democracy (SEED) Act of 1989 (Public Law 101–179; 22
U.S.C. 5421) shall apply with respect to the Haitian-American Enterprise Fund
in the same manner as such provisions apply to Enterprise Funds designated
pursuant to subsection (d) of such section.
(b)Returns
on investments of the Haitian-American Enterprise Fund and other payments to
the Fund may be reinvested in projects carried out by the Fund without further
appropriation by Congress.
5.Best practices
and proceduresTo the maximum
extent practicable, the Board of Directors of the Haitian-American Enterprise
Fund should adopt the best practices and procedures used by Enterprise Funds,
including those for which funding has been made available pursuant to section
201 of the Support for East European Democracy (SEED) Act of 1989 (Public Law
101–179; 22 U.S.C. 5421).
6.Experience of
other Enterprise FundsIn
implementing this Act, the President shall ensure that the Articles of
Incorporation of the Haitian-American Enterprise Fund (including provisions
specifying the responsibilities of the Board of Directors of the Fund), the
terms of United States Government grant agreements with the Fund, and United
States Government oversight of the Fund are, to the maximum extent practicable,
consistent with the Articles of Incorporation of, the terms of grant agreements
with, and the oversight of the Enterprise Funds established pursuant to section
201 of the Support for East European Democracy (SEED) Act of 1989 (22 U.S.C.
5421) and comparable provisions of law.
7.Authorization of
appropriations
(a)There are authorized
to be appropriated to the President such sums as may be necessary to provide
funding for grants to the Haitian-American Enterprise Fund, which shall be used
for the purposes specified in section 2.
(b)Amounts appropriated
pursuant to subsection (a) shall remain available until expended.
(c)Nonapplicability
of other lawsNotwithstanding
any other provision of law, amounts appropriated pursuant to subsection (a) may
be used to carry out this Act.
August 30 (legislative day, August 2), 2011
Reported without amendment