I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1807

To amend the trade adjustment assistance program under the Trade Act 

of 1974 to establish a demonstration project to provide self-employment 

training and assistance to eligible adversely affected workers. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 11, 2003

Mr. REYNOLDS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL

To amend the trade adjustment assistance program under 

the Trade Act of 1974 to establish a demonstration 

project to provide self-employment training and assistance to eligible adversely affected workers.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Trade Adjustment As5 sistance for Self-Employment Act of 2003’’.
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1 SEC. 2. DEMONSTRATION PROJECT FOR SELF-EMPLOY2 MENT TRAINING AND ASSISTANCE UNDER 

3 THE TRADE ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE PRO4 GRAM. 

5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROJECT.—Subchapter C of 

6 chapter 2 of title II of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 

7 2311 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 246 

8 the following new section: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 246A. DEMONSTRATION PROJECT FOR SELF-EMPLOY10 MENT TRAINING AND ASSISTANCE. 

11 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—

12 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 1 year 

13 after the date of enactment of the Trade Adjustment 

14 Assistance for Self-Employment Act of 2003, the 

15 Secretary shall establish an alternative trade adjust16 ment assistance program for workers that provides 

17 the benefits described in paragraph (2). 

18 ‘‘(2) BENEFITS.—

19 ‘‘(A) TRAINING.—A State shall use the 

20 funds provided to the State under section 241 

21 to provide, for a period not to exceed 2 years, 

22 to a worker described in paragraph (3)(B), self23 employment training. 

24 ‘‘(B) PAYMENT FOR START-UP COSTS.—A 

25 State shall use the funds provided to the State 

26 under section 241 to provide to a worker de-
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1 scribed in paragraph (3)(B) who successfully 

2 completes the self-employment training de3 scribed in subparagraph (A), and for which a 

4 self-employment business plan described in 

5 paragraph (3)(B)(ii) is approved, an amount to 

6 pay, in whole or in part, the start up costs at7 tributable to the business enterprise of the indi8 vidual. 

9 ‘‘(3) ELIGIBILITY.—

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

11 provide the opportunity for 1 or more workers 

12 in a group of workers on whose behalf a peti13 tion is filed under section 221 to request that 

14 the individual workers be certified for the alter15 native trade adjustment assistance program 

16 under this section at the time the petition is 

17 filed. The Secretary shall determine whether the 

18 individual workers in the group are eligible for 

19 the alternative trade adjustment assistance pro20 gram by the date specified in section 223(a). 

21 ‘‘(B) INDIVIDUAL ELIGIBILITY.—A worker 

22 that the Secretary has certified as eligible for 

23 the alternative trade adjustment assistance pro24 gram under subparagraph (A) may elect to re-
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1 ceive benefits under the alternative trade ad2 justment assistance program if the worker—

3 ‘‘(i) is covered by a certification under 

4 subchapter A of this chapter; 

5 ‘‘(ii) agrees to submit to the appro6 priate State agency for approval a self-em7 ployment business plan; 

8 ‘‘(iii) is likely to obtain self-employ9 ment in accordance with such plan not 

10 later than 26 weeks after the date of sepa11 ration from the adversely affected employ12 ment; 

13 ‘‘(iv) is likely to be engaged in self14 employment on a full-time basis; and 

15 ‘‘(v) is likely not to return to the em16 ployment from which the worker was sepa17 rated. 

18 ‘‘(4) TOTAL AMOUNT OF PAYMENTS.—

19 ‘‘(A) TRAINING.—The amount of payments 

20 described in paragraph (2)(A) made on behalf 

21 of a worker may not exceed $2,500 per worker 

22 during the 2-year eligibility period. 

23 ‘‘(B) START-UP COSTS.—The amount of 

24 payments described in paragraph (2)(B) made 
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1 to a worker may not exceed $10,000 per worker 

2 during the 2-year eligibility period. 

3 ‘‘(5) LIMITATION ON OTHER BENEFITS.—Ex4 cept as provided in section 238(a)(2)(B), if a worker 

5 is receiving payments pursuant to the program es6 tablished under paragraph (1), the worker shall not 

7 be eligible to receive any other benefits under this 

8 title. 

9 ‘‘(b) TERMINATION.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para11 graph (2), no payments may be made by a State 

12 under the program established under subsection 

13 (a)(1) after the date that is 5 years after the date 

14 on which such program is implemented by the State. 

15 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Notwithstanding paragraph 

16 (1), a worker receiving payments under the program 

17 established under subsection (a)(1) on the termi18 nation date described in paragraph (1) shall con19 tinue to receive such payments provided that the 

20 worker meets the criteria described in subsection 

21 (a)(3)(B). 

22 ‘‘(c) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘self-em23 ployment training’ means entrepreneurial training, busi24 ness counseling, technical assistance, and related activi25 ties, including training and services provided by federally-
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1 funded resource partners of the Small Business Adminis2 tration, that are engaged in for the purpose of establishing 

3 a business and becoming self-employed, as approved by the 

4 appropriate State agency, or the Secretary, in consultation 

5 with the Administrator of the Small Business Administra6 tion.’’. 

7 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con8 tents of the Trade Act of 1974 is amended by striking 

9 the second item relating to section 246 and inserting the 

10 following:

‘‘Sec. 246. Demonstration project for self-employment training and assistance.’’.

11 SEC. 3. BENEFIT INFORMATION TO WORKERS. 

12 Section 225(a) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 

13 2275(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following 

14 new sentence: ‘‘In providing full information to workers 

15 about benefit allowances, training, and other employment 

16 services available under this chapter in accordance with 

17 this subsection, the Secretary shall include information on 

18 the demonstration project for self-employment training 

19 and assistance under section 246A.’’.

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