[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 602 Introduced in House (IH)]
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116th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 602
Commending the cooperative business model and the businesses,
employees, and practitioners nationally and internationally who use it
for their contributions to the economy and social impacts they make on
their communities.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 26, 2019
Mr. Pocan (for himself, Mr. Gosar, and Ms. Velazquez) submitted the
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and
Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Commending the cooperative business model and the businesses,
employees, and practitioners nationally and internationally who use it
for their contributions to the economy and social impacts they make on
their communities.
Whereas cooperatives are member-owned businesses, owned and governed by the
people that use the business, create its products, or manage its
operations, and operate under the 7 agreed upon principles of--
(1) voluntary open membership;
(2) democratic control;
(3) owner economic participation;
(4) autonomy and independence;
(5) education, training, and information;
(6) cooperation among cooperatives; and
(7) concern for community;
Whereas cooperative entrepreneurs are often categorized into 4 variations of the
business model--consumer, producer, purchasing, and worker
cooperatives--and can be found in almost every economic sector in the
United States, throughout all 50 States and territories, and every
congressional district in the United States;
Whereas internationally the principles of cooperation and the cooperative
business model help smallholder farmers organize themselves and gain
access to local and global markets, training, improved inputs, and
aggregated sales and marketing;
Whereas this provides farmers ownership over their economic decisions, a focus
on learning, and a broader understanding of environmental and social
concerns;
Whereas cooperatives help farmers increase incomes and become more resilient to
shocks and stresses by working together to plan and prepare for the
future;
Whereas cooperative values stress self-help, diversity, and inclusion of
vulnerable groups to ensure access to women and youth;
Whereas annual Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and
Related Agencies appropriation bills fund the sole domestic program
dedicated to cooperative development to improve the economic condition
of rural areas within the United States Department of Agriculture Rural
Business-Cooperative Services under the Rural Cooperative Development
Grant program, and grantee organizations use funding to provide
technical assistance to cooperatively owned businesses;
Whereas the Global Food Security Act identified cooperatives among key
stakeholders who are actors engaged in efforts to advance global food
security programs;
Whereas annual Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and
Related Agencies and State and Foreign Operations appropriation bills
fund titles and programs within the United States Agency for
International Development and the Department of Agriculture under
Development Assistance, Feed the Future, Food for Peace Title II, and
the Cooperative Development Program, and grantee organizations use
funding to advance international development using cooperative
principles and the cooperative model;
Whereas Federal legislation authorized a cooperative research program with
academic institutions to conduct research on the effects of all types of
cooperatives on the national economy as part of the 2008 farm bill;
Whereas an Interagency Working Group on Cooperative Development was established
in the Agricultural Act of 2014 and authorizes the Secretary of
Agriculture to coordinate and chair an interagency working group to
foster cooperative development and ensure coordination with Federal
agencies and national and local cooperative organizations that have
cooperative programs and interests, and has organized four meetings thus
far;
Whereas a bipartisan Congressional Cooperative Business Caucus unites Members of
Congress in a cause to create a better informed electorate and a more
educated public on the important role that cooperatives play in the
national and international economy, to promote the cooperative business
model because it ensures consumers have access to high-quality goods and
services at competitive prices and costs that better the lives of
individuals, families, and their communities, and to address and correct
awareness challenges among the public and within the Government on what
a co-op looks like, who are co-ops, where are co-ops, and why do people
choose them;
Whereas, the Census Bureau, as part of its 2017 Economic Census, included a
question in its survey of all businesses asking if the business is
organized as a cooperative which will yield both quantitative and
qualitative data on the effects and importance of cooperatives across
the American economy;
Whereas the University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives completed a research
study in 2009, entitled, ``Research on the Economic Impacts of
Cooperatives'', wherein they built a comprehensive list of all United
States cooperatives, gathered economic data from cooperatives, analyzed
the direct and indirect economic impacts of cooperatives, and developed
approaches for measuring the unique economic and social impacts of
cooperatives;
Whereas, in 2017, the University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives found that
there were 64,017 cooperatives in the United States operating in the
commercial sales, marketing and production, financial services, social
and public services, and utilities sectors;
Whereas in the utility services sector, utility cooperatives are tasked with the
delivery of public services such as electricity, water,
telecommunications, and broadband, mainly throughout the rural United
States, where investor-owned utility companies typically do not operate
due to low profitability;
Whereas in the financial services sector, cooperatives including credit unions,
farm credit banks, and financing organizations that lend to cooperatives
ensure that all revenue is funneled back into the business to lower
interest rates and provide other benefits to its member-owners;
Whereas in the insurance sector, the first cooperative was a mutual insurance
company founded in 1752 by Benjamin Franklin;
Whereas with no stockholders, policyholders vote in board elections and profits
earned are cycled back into cost saving programs or returned as dividend
payments;
Whereas in purchasing and shared-service cooperatives, independent and franchise
businesses who rely on them thrive;
Whereas in the agriculture sector, cooperatives account for a significant
portion of the economic activity in the United States agriculture and
food markets;
Whereas these producer cooperatives collectively help farmers buy required
supplies and services to operate their individual farms and help more
efficiently market their raw or processed products more than if they
performed these duties individually;
Whereas food cooperatives range in size from small, local buying clubs to
multistore regional giants that go head-to-head with national chain
stores;
Whereas in the housing sector, housing cooperatives and resident-owned
communities are an alternative to conventional rental apartments, mobile
home parks, and condominiums;
Whereas a housing cooperative owns the building or land and empowers each
resident with ownership and responsibility;
Whereas housing cooperatives have roots dating to the late 1800s and today are
mostly concentrated in major cities like New York City, Chicago, and the
District of Columbia, and increasingly are becoming an alternative for
students at colleges throughout the United States;
Whereas cooperatives allow residents of mobile home parks to collectively
purchase the land they live on, providing stability and the opportunity
to self-govern;
Whereas, as of 2018, at least 220 mobile home communities have converted to a
resident-owned model;
Whereas in worker cooperatives, members both perform the work and govern the
business;
Whereas in recent years, many businesses are choosing to structure this way so
that workers have greater control over the business in which they work
and own;
Whereas many sole proprietor, partnership, or family businesses are converting
to worker-owned cooperatives when faced with a potential closure or
buyout;
Whereas cooperatives have the potential to ease the impending problem of baby
boomer small business owners retiring by transitioning employee-owned or
consumer-owned cooperatives rather than closing the business when the
owner retires;
Whereas cooperatives are a proven strategy in helping people build a more
inclusive economy that is more equitable, participatory, growing,
sustainable, and stable; and
Whereas the national apex organization representing people and organizations
that use the cooperative business model to build a better world, the
National Cooperative Business Association CLUSA International,
celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2016: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) commends the cooperative business model for its
contributions to the Nation's and the world's economy, the jobs
it creates, and its social impacts on the communities in which
they operate;
(2) expresses its confidence in and support for
cooperatives toward continuing their successes;
(3) will seek to enact legislation ensuring that
cooperatives won't be adversely affected;
(4) will be mindful in crafting legislation affecting other
business models so that the legislation does not adversely
affect the cooperative business model's competitive position;
and
(5) will seek to enact legislation studying, supporting,
encouraging, and promoting the use of the cooperative business
model across all policy areas that can be an additional
alternative toward helping solve a number of the Nation's and
the world's policy issues and concerns.
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