[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4957 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4957

 To improve the administration of the Hollings Manufacturing Extension 
                  Partnership, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 13, 2026

     Mr. Schiff (for himself, Mr. Husted, Mr. Kim, and Mr. Moreno) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
           Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To improve the administration of the Hollings Manufacturing Extension 
                  Partnership, 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. IMPROVEMENTS FOR ADMINISTRATION OF HOLLINGS MANUFACTURING 
              EXTENSION PARTNERSHIP.

    (a) Requirement for Cooperative Agreements.--Subsection (e)(1) of 
section 25 of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Act 
(15 U.S.C. 278K) is amended by striking ``may'' and inserting 
``shall''.
    (b) Expansion of Evaluation of Centers To Include Assessment of 
Financial Management.--Subsection (g)(3) of such section is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) through (C) as 
        clauses (i) through (iii), respectively, and indenting such 
        clauses 2 ems to the right;
            (2) in the matter before clause (i), as redesignated by 
        paragraph (1), by striking ``performance of the Center 
        against--'' and inserting the following: ``performance of the 
        Center--
                    ``(A) against'';
            (3) in subparagraph (A)(iii), as designated by paragraph 
        (2), by striking the period at the end and inserting ``; and''; 
        and
            (4) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(B) with respect to financial management, 
                including monitoring for potential fraud and misuse of 
                funds.''.
    (c) Improvements to Administration of Probation.--Subsection (g)(5) 
of such section is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (B), by amending clause (iii) to read 
        as follows:
                            ``(iii) not later than 180 days after the 
                        date of the notice under clause (i), reevaluate 
                        the Center and determine whether the Center has 
                        remedied a deficiency or shown significant 
                        improvement in performance.''; and
            (2) in subparagraph (C)(i), by striking ``may'' and 
        inserting ``shall''.
    (d) Remedies.--Subsection (g)(6) of such section is amended--
            (1) by amending subparagraph (A) to read as follows:
                    ``(A) In general.--If the Secretary determines that 
                a Center has failed to remedy a deficiency or to show 
                significant improvement in performance before the end 
                of the probation period under paragraph (5), the 
                Secretary shall, not later than 30 days after making 
                that determination, commence conducting a competition 
                to select an operator for the Center under subsection 
                (h).''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(C) Not renewed or canceled financial 
                assistance.--In any case in which the financial 
                assistance for a Center is not renewed or canceled, 
                subject to the availability of appropriations, the 
                Secretary shall, not later than 30 days after the date 
                on which such financial assistance is not renewed or 
                canceled--
                            ``(i) commence conducting a competition to 
                        select an operator for the Center under 
                        subsection (h); and
                            ``(ii) make available to the eligible 
                        entity selected to operate the Center pursuant 
                        to clause (i) any remaining financial 
                        assistance that had been allocated to the 
                        previous operator of the Center under 
                        subsection (e).
                    ``(D) Period for competition and selection.--For 
                any competition commenced pursuant to subparagraph (A) 
                or (C) to select an operator for the Center under 
                subsection (h)--
                            ``(i) the duration of the period for 
                        submittal of an application to operate the 
                        Center shall not be exceed 90 days; and
                            ``(ii) not later than 30 days after the 
                        date on which the period described in clause 
                        (i) ends, the Secretary shall select an 
                        eligible entity to operate the Center in 
                        accordance with subsections (h) and (i).''.
    (e) Exclusivity of Remedies.--Subsection (g) of such section is 
amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(7) Exclusivity of remedies.--The Secretary may not take 
        any adverse action against a Center, including suspending, 
        canceling, or not renewing financial assistance or a 
        cooperative agreement, except pursuant to an evaluation under 
        this subsection that is other than positive.''.
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