[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 260 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 260

    To require the United States International Trade Commission to 
 recommend temporary duty suspensions and reductions to Congress, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 27, 2015

Mrs. McCaskill (for herself, Mr. Portman and Mr. Toomey) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                                Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To require the United States International Trade Commission to 
 recommend temporary duty suspensions and reductions to Congress, 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 ``Temporary Duty Suspension Process 
Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
        ``appropriate congressional committees'' means the Committee on 
        Finance of the Senate and the Committee on Ways and Means of 
        the House of Representatives.
            (2) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the United 
        States International Trade Commission.
            (3) Duty suspension or reduction.--The term ``duty 
        suspension or reduction'' means an amendment to subchapter II 
        of chapter 99 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United 
        States--
                    (A) extending an existing temporary suspension or 
                reduction of duty on an article under that subchapter; 
                or
                    (B) providing for a new temporary suspension or 
                reduction of duty on an article under that subchapter.

SEC. 3. RECOMMENDATIONS BY UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION 
              FOR DUTY SUSPENSIONS AND REDUCTIONS.

    (a) Establishment of Review Process.--Not later than 90 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall complete 
all actions necessary to establish a process pursuant to which the 
Commission will--
            (1) review each article with respect to which a duty 
        suspension or reduction may be made--
                    (A) at the initiative of the Commission; or
                    (B) pursuant to a petition submitted or referred to 
                the Commission under subsection (b); and
            (2) submit a draft bill to the appropriate congressional 
        committees under subsection (d).
    (b) Petitions.--
            (1) In general.--As part of the process established under 
        subsection (a), the Commission shall establish procedures under 
        which a petition requesting the Commission to review a duty 
        suspension or reduction pursuant to that process may be--
                    (A) submitted to the Commission by a member of the 
                public; or
                    (B) referred to the Commission by a Member of 
                Congress.
            (2) Requirements.--A petition submitted or referred to the 
        Commission under paragraph (1) shall be submitted or referred 
        at such time and in such manner and shall include such 
        information as the Commission may require.
            (3) No preferential treatment for members of congress.--A 
        petition referred to the Commission by a Member of Congress 
        under subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) shall receive treatment 
        no more favorable than the treatment received by a petition 
        submitted to the Commission by a member of the public under 
        subparagraph (A) of that paragraph.
    (c) Public Comments.--As part of the process established under 
subsection (a), the Commission shall establish procedures for--
            (1) notifying the public when the Commission initiates the 
        process of reviewing articles with respect to which duty 
        suspensions or reductions may be made and distributing 
        information about the process, including by posting information 
        about the process on the website of the Commission;
            (2) except as provided in subsection (d)(4)(B), notifying 
        the public of the duty suspensions and reductions the 
        Commission is considering including in the draft bill not later 
        than 45 days before submitting a draft bill to the appropriate 
        congressional committees under subsection (d); and
            (3) providing the public with an opportunity to submit 
        comments with respect to any of those duty suspensions or 
        reductions.
    (d) Submission of Draft Bill.--
            (1) In general.--The Commission shall submit to the 
        appropriate congressional committees a draft bill that contains 
        each duty suspension or reduction that the Commission 
        determines, pursuant to the process established under 
        subsection (a) and after conducting the consultations required 
        by subsection (e), meets the requirements described in 
        subsection (f), not later than--
                    (A) the date that is 120 days after the date of the 
                enactment of this Act;
                    (B) February 1, 2018; and
                    (C) February 1, 2021.
            (2) Effective period of duty suspensions and reductions.--
        Duty suspensions and reductions included in a draft bill 
        submitted under paragraph (1) shall be effective for a period 
        of not less than 3 years.
            (3) Authority to make certain modifications.--In including 
        a duty suspension or reduction the Commission determines 
        otherwise meets the requirements of subsection (f) in a draft 
        bill to be submitted under paragraph (1), the Commission may--
                    (A) modify the article description for the duty 
                suspension or reduction--
                            (i) to ensure that U.S. Customs and Border 
                        Protection can administer the duty suspension 
                        or reduction; or
                            (ii) to correct a technical deficiency in 
                        the article description;
                    (B) modify the duty rate for the duty suspension or 
                reduction so that the estimated loss in revenue to the 
                United States from the duty suspension or reduction 
                does not exceed the amount specified in subsection 
                (f)(1)(B); or
                    (C) consolidate the duty suspension or reduction 
                with other duplicative or overlapping duty suspensions 
                or reductions.
            (4) Special rules for first submission.--For purposes of 
        submitting the draft bill required to be submitted on the date 
        specified in paragraph (1)(A), the Commission shall--
                    (A) be required to include only duty suspensions 
                and reductions with respect to which the Commission has 
                sufficient time to make a determination under paragraph 
                (1) before the draft bill is required to be submitted; 
                and
                    (B) notify the public of the duty suspensions and 
                reductions the Commission is considering including in 
                the draft bill not later than 30 days before submitting 
                the draft bill.
    (e) Consultations.--In determining whether a duty suspension or 
reduction meets the requirements described in subsection (f), the 
Commission shall, not later than 30 days before submitting a draft bill 
to the appropriate congressional committees under subsection (d), 
conduct consultations with the Commissioner responsible for U.S. 
Customs and Border Protection, the Secretary of Commerce, the United 
States Trade Representative, and the heads of other relevant Federal 
agencies.
    (f) Requirements for Duty Suspensions and Reductions.--
            (1) In general.--A duty suspension or reduction meets the 
        requirements described in this subsection if--
                    (A) the duty suspension or reduction can be 
                administered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection;
                    (B) the estimated loss in revenue to the United 
                States from the duty suspension or reduction does not 
                exceed $500,000 in a calendar year during which the 
                duty suspension or reduction would be in effect; and
                    (C) on the date on which the Commission submits a 
                draft bill to the appropriate congressional committees 
                under subsection (d) that includes the duty suspension 
                or reduction, the article to which the duty suspension 
                or reduction would apply is not produced in the United 
                States and is not expected to be produced in the United 
                States during the subsequent 12-month period.
            (2) Consideration of relevant information.--In determining 
        whether a duty suspension or reduction meets the requirements 
        described in paragraph (1), the Commission may consider any 
        information the Commission considers relevant to the 
        determination.
            (3) Judicial review precluded.--A determination of the 
        Commission with respect to whether or not a duty suspension or 
        reduction meets the requirements described in paragraph (1) 
        shall not be subject to judicial review.
    (g) Reports Required.--
            (1) In general.--Each time the Commission submits a draft 
        bill under subsection (d), the Commission shall submit to the 
        appropriate congressional committees a report that includes--
                    (A) the views of the head of each agency consulted 
                under subsection (e) with respect to the duty 
                suspensions and reductions contained in the draft bill; 
                and
                    (B) any objections received by the Commission 
                during consultations conducted under subsection (e) or 
                through public comments submitted under subsection (c), 
                including--
                            (i) objections with respect to duty 
                        suspensions or reductions the Commission 
                        included in the draft bill; and
                            (ii) objections that led to the Commission 
                        to determine not to include a duty suspension 
                        or reduction in the draft bill.
            (2) Initial report on process.--Not later than one year 
        after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commission 
        shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a 
        report that includes--
                    (A) an assessment of the effectiveness of the 
                process established under subsection (a) and the 
                requirements of this section;
                    (B) to the extent practicable, a description of the 
                effects of duty suspensions and reductions recommended 
                pursuant to that process on the United States economy 
                that includes--
                            (i) a broad assessment of the economic 
                        effects of such duty suspensions and reductions 
                        on producers, purchasers, and consumers in the 
                        United States; and
                            (ii) case studies describing such effects 
                        by industry or by type of articles, as 
                        available data permits;
                    (C) to the extent practicable, a comparison of the 
                actual loss in revenue to the United States resulting 
                from duty suspensions and reductions recommended 
                pursuant to that process to the loss in such revenue 
                estimated during that process, based on data available 
                at the time of the submission of the report;
                    (D) to the extent practicable, information on how 
                broadly or narrowly duty suspensions and reductions 
                recommended pursuant to that process were used by 
                importers; and
                    (E) any recommendations of the Commission for 
                improving that process and the requirements of this 
                section.
    (h) Form of Draft Bill and Reports.--Each draft bill submitted 
under subsection (d) and each report required by subsection (g) shall 
be--
            (1) submitted to the appropriate congressional committees 
        in electronic form; and
            (2) made available to the public on the website of the 
        Commission.

SEC. 4. REPORTS ON BENEFITS OF DUTY SUSPENSIONS OR REDUCTIONS TO 
              SECTORS OF THE UNITED STATES ECONOMY.

    Not later than January 1, 2016, and annually thereafter, the 
Commission shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a 
report that--
            (1) makes recommendations with respect to sectors of the 
        United States economy that could benefit from duty suspensions 
        or reductions without causing harm to other domestic interests; 
        and
            (2) assesses the feasibility and advisability of suspending 
        or reducing duties on a sectoral basis rather than on 
        individual articles.
                                 <all>