I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2026

To grant the consent of the Congress to the SMART Research and 

Development Compact. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 7, 2003

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania (for himself, Mr. CASTLE, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. 

BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. ENGLISH, Mr. 

FATTAH, Mr. FERGUSON, Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey, Mr. LOBIONDO, 

Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland, Mr. GERLACH, Mr. GILCHREST, Mr. 

GREENWOOD, Ms. HART, Mr. HOEFFEL, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. HOLT, Mr. 

HOYER, Mr. SHERWOOD, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. MURTHA, 

Mr. PALLONE, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. PITTS, Mr. PLATTS, Mr. 

ROTHMAN, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Mr. SHUSTER, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. TOOMEY, Mr. WYNN, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. DOYLE, Mr. 

SAXTON, Mr. PETERSON of Pennsylvania, Mr. KANJORSKI, and Mr. 

FRELINGHUYSEN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL

To grant the consent of the Congress to the SMART 

Research and Development Compact.

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, FINDINGS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘SMART Research and Development Compact’’. 
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1 (b) FINDINGS.—The Congress makes the following 

2 findings: 

3 (1) The shared borders, similar economic, envi4 ronmental, and socioeconomic traits as well as the 

5 common historical attributes between the residents 

6 of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsyl7 vania, bind the 4 States into a common Mid-Atlantic 

8 region. 

9 (2) This region presents a rich framework of 

10 approximately 618 colleges and universities, includ11 ing approximately 38 leading engineering colleges 

12 with a variety of technical expertise and ingenious 

13 research and development programs within every 

14 field of science and technology. 

15 (3) This region contains a variety of federally 

16 owned and generated laboratories or organizations 

17 assigned with the task of performing needed re18 search and development in most of our Nation’s 

19 technical areas, highlighted by defense, transpor20 tation, health, energy, and communications. 

21 (4) This region possesses a great wealth of pri22 vate manufacturers, laboratories, and nonprofit or23 ganizations in each of the scientific and techno24 logical pursuits, such as homeland security, defense, 

25 aerospace, manufacturing, information systems, ma-
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1 terials, chemicals, medical applications, and pharma2 ceuticals. 

3 (5) Increased cooperation between the above4 mentioned institutions and the 4 State governments 

5 may effectively enhance the region’s contribution to 

6 the United States in all fields of science and tech7 nology and promote academic, private and public re8 search and development, technical enterprise, and in9 tellectual vitality. 

10 (6) An organization assigned with the task of 

11 linking various institutions across different jurisdic12 tions and promoting working partnerships may fur13 ther assist the United States by providing a model 

14 for the rest of the Nation for the effective use of 

15 limited national, State, and local funding resources. 

16 SEC. 2. CONSENT TO COMPACT. 

17 The Congress consents to the SMART Research and 

18 Development Compact if that compact is entered into by 

19 two or more of the following States: the State of Delaware, 

20 the State of Maryland, the State of New Jersey, and the 

21 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The compact reads sub22 stantially as follows: 
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1 ‘‘SMART RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 

2 COMPACT 

3 ‘‘ARTICLE I. 

4 ‘‘The purpose of this compact is to promote the con5 tribution of the Mid-Atlantic region to the Nation’s re6 search and development in science and technology, and to 

7 create a multi-State organization that shall be known as 

8 the SMART (Strengthening the Mid-Atlantic Region for 

9 Tomorrow) Organization (hereinafter in this compact re10 ferred to as the ‘Organization’). The purpose of the Orga11 nization is to oversee and help facilitate the acquisition 

12 of research and development funding, and to enhance the 

13 cooperation, formation of partnerships, and sharing of in14 formation among businesses, academic institutions, Fed15 eral and State governmental agencies, laboratories, feder16 ally owned and operated laboratories, and nonprofit enti17 ties, within Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Penn18 sylvania. 

19 ‘‘ARTICLE II. 

20 ‘‘This compact takes effect upon ratification by two 

21 or more of the following States: the State of Delaware, 

22 the State of Maryland, the State of New Jersey, and the 

23 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, pursuant to the consent 

24 of Congress. 
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1 ‘‘ARTICLE III. 

2 ‘‘The States, which are parties to this compact (here3 inafter referred to as ‘party States’), do hereby establish 

4 and create the Organization as a joint organization which 

5 shall be known as the SMART Organization.

6 ‘‘The leadership of the Organization shall consist of 

7 a Board of Directors that shall include a representative 

8 from each party State, appointed as provided by the law 

9 of that State, and representatives from each technology 

10 class described in Article IV from the party States. Board 

11 Members may include any business, academic institution, 

12 nonprofit agency, Federal or State governmental agency, 

13 laboratory, and federally owned and operated laboratory 

14 within the party States. 

15 ‘‘The leadership of the Organization shall oversee and 

16 direct the projects, administration, and policies of the Or17 ganization. The Board of Directors may create and utilize 

18 the services of technology-designated Working Groups to 

19 identify goals and sources of funding, establish research 

20 and development projects, detect new technology advances 

21 for the region to pursue, and facilitate cooperation among 

22 regional entities. The Board of Directors and Working 

23 Groups in the Organization shall serve without compensa24 tion and shall hold regular quarterly meetings and such 

25 special meetings as their business may require. 
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1 ‘‘The Organization shall adopt bylaws and any other 

2 such rules or procedures as may be needed. The Organiza3 tion may hold hearings and conduct studies and surveys 

4 to carry out its purpose. The Organization may acquire 

5 by gift or otherwise and hold and dispose of such money 

6 and property as may be provided for the proper perform7 ance of its functions, may cooperate with other public or 

8 private groups, whether local, State, regional, or national, 

9 having an interest in economic or technology development, 

10 and may exercise such other powers as may be appropriate 

11 to accomplish its functions and duties in connection with 

12 the development of the Organization and to carry out the 

13 purpose of this compact. 

14 ‘‘ARTICLE IV. 

15 ‘‘Not including State Representatives, the Organiza16 tion Board of Directors and Technology Working Groups 

17 may represent and originate from the following technology 

18 classes: information technology, sensors, rotorcraft tech19 nology, manufacturing technology, fire/EMS, financial 

20 technology, alternative fuels, nanotechnology, electronics, 

21 environmental, telecommunications, chemical and biologi22 cal, biomedical, opto-electric, Materials/Aerospace, and de23 fense systems including directed energy, missile defense, 

24 future combat systems, and unmanned aerial vehicles. The 

25 SMART Organization may at any time, upon approval by 
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1 the Board of Directors, designate and assign new tech2 nology classes and may at any time remove an existing 

3 class from this Article and the Organization’s activities. 

4 ‘‘ARTICLE V. 

5 ‘‘The Board of Directors shall appoint a full-time 

6 paid executive director, who shall be a person familiar with 

7 the nature of the procedures and the significance of sci8 entific funding, research and development, economic devel9 opment, and the informational, educational, and publicity 

10 methods of stimulating general interest in such develop11 ments. The duties of the executive director are to carry 

12 out the goals and directives of the Board of Directors and 

13 administer the actions of each Working Group as chair14 man. The executive director may hire a staff and shall 

15 be the administrative head of the Organization, whose 

16 term of office shall be at the pleasure of the Board of 

17 Directors. 

18 ‘‘ARTICLE VI. 

19 ‘‘This compact shall continue in force and remain 

20 binding upon each party State until 6 months after the 

21 party State gives notice of its intent to withdraw to the 

22 other party States.’’. 
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1 SEC. 3. RIGHT TO ALTER, AMEND, OR REPEAL. 

2 The Congress expressly reserves the right to alter, 

3 amend, or repeal this Act.

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