I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2437 

To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to establish 

a national program to create jobs and increase economic development 

by promoting cooperative development. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 19, 2013 

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

Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to establish a national program to create jobs and 

increase economic development by promoting cooperative 

development. 

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 ‘‘Creating Jobs Through 

5 Cooperatives Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) That Federal policy can promote coopera2 tive development, which demonstrably has the fol3 lowing benefits for communities located in such 

4 areas: 

5 (A) Advancing local economic stability. 

6 (B) Increasing local circulation of capital, 

7 thereby increasing economic multipliers and the 

8 impact of community investment to spur locally 

9 oriented economic growth. 

10 (C) Developing, attracting, and anchoring 

11 new productive capital in low-income commu12 nities. 

13 (D) Expanding investment opportunities 

14 and asset creation for low- and moderate-in15 come Americans. 

16 (2) Cooperatives operate in all 50 States and 

17 across all sectors of the United States economy, in18 cluding industries such as energy, telecommuni19 cations, food distribution, insurance, credit unions, 

20 agriculture, health, housing, and wholesale and retail 

21 purchasing and distribution. 

22 (3) There are 29,000 cooperatives in the United 

23 States that account for more than $3 trillion in as24 sets, over $500 billion in total revenue, $25 billion 

25 in wages and benefits, and nearly two million jobs. 


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1 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to estab2 lish a Federal program that will create jobs and increase 

3 economic development by promoting cooperative develop4 ment. 

5 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

6 In this Act: 

7 (1) COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT.—The term 

8 ‘‘cooperative development’’ means technical assist9 ance provided for the purpose of— 

10 (A) providing financial forecasting, feasi11 bility analysis, business planning, and other 

12 preparatory activity to ensure that a coopera13 tive organization, or organizations that are in 

14 the process of establishing such an organiza15 tion, are grounded in sound business practices; 

16 (B) assisting with establishing incorpora17 tion documents, bylaws, and policies that ensure 

18 that cooperative organizations— 

19 (i) adhere to legal obligations of a 

20 local or State government or the Federal 

21 Government; and 

22 (ii) are governed by transparent and 

23 agreed-upon rules; 

24 (C) educating, with respect to how cooper25 ative organizations function— 


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1 (i) board members, management, and 

2 employees of cooperative organizations; 

3 (ii) local communities affected by such 

4 organizations and the general public; and 

5 (iii) professionals involved in coopera6 tive development; 

7 (D) providing organizational planning for 

8 cooperative organizations, including board meet9 ings and board development, and strategic plan10 ning; 

11 (E) hosting networking activities and con12 ferences involving cooperative organizations, en13 tities that work with such organizations, and 

14 professional organizations that engage in coop15 erative development; 

16 (F) providing professional development of 

17 professionals involved in cooperative develop18 ment by offering training focused on coopera19 tive development; and 

20 (G) providing administrative and oper21 ational set-up of cooperative organizations. 

22 (2) COOPERATIVE ORGANIZATION.—The term 

23 ‘‘cooperative organization’’ means an autonomous 

24 association of persons united voluntarily to meet 

25 their common economic, social, and cultural needs 


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1 and aspirations through a jointly owned and demo2 cratically controlled enterprise. 

3 (3) ELIGIBLE PROJECT AREA.— 

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘eligible 

5 project area’’ means an area located within— 

6 (i) a census tract that is defined as 

7 low- or moderate-income by the Bureau of 

8 the Census of the Department of Com9 merce; 

10 (ii) a population census tract that is 

11 treated as a low-income community under 

12 section 45D(e) of the Internal Revenue 

13 Code of 1986; or 

14 (iii) subject to subparagraph (B), an 

15 area that— 

16 (I) is adjacent or close to an area 

17 that meets the requirements of either 

18 clause (i) or (ii); and 

19 (II) is given special approval by 

20 the Secretary to be classified as an el21 igible project area. 

22 (B) LIMITATION.—The Secretary shall 

23 limit the number of projects funded under this 

24 Act that are located in an area described in 

25 subparagraph (A)(iii). 


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1 (4) LOCAL COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT CEN2 TER.—The term ‘‘local cooperative development cen3 ter’’ means a nonprofit organization, college, or uni4 versity, or a group of such organizations, colleges, or 

5 universities, with expertise in establishing and devel6 oping cooperative organizations. 

7 (5) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘program’’ means 

8 the National Cooperative Development Program es9 tablished under section 4. 

10 (6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

11 the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, 

12 or the Secretary’s designee. 

13 SEC. 4. NATIONAL COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT PRO14 GRAM. 

15 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Housing 

16 and Urban Development shall establish a program to be 

17 known as the National Cooperative Development Program 

18 to carry out the purpose described in section 2(b). 

19 (b) ASSISTANCE FOR COOPERATIVE DEVELOP20 MENT.— 

21 (1) USES.—The Secretary shall use amounts 

22 made available for the program for— 

23 (A) providing grants to local cooperative 

24 development centers, to carry out activities that 


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1 promote cooperative development, that are se2 lected for such grants under paragraph (3)(B); 

3 (B) partnering with one or more financial 

4 institutions to— 

5 (i) establish a revolving loan program 

6 that will provide loans to cooperative orga7 nizations to undertake cooperative develop8 ment; and 

9 (ii) develop other loan programs and 

10 financial products that can be accessed by 

11 cooperative organizations; and 

12 (C) carrying out any other activities that 

13 the Secretary deems necessary to the further14 ance of the purposes of this Act. 

15 (2) ALLOCATION OF AMOUNTS.—The Secretary 

16 shall allocate not less than 50 percent of the 

17 amounts made available for the program for grants 

18 under paragraph (1)(A) to local cooperative develop19 ment centers. 

20 (3) GRANTS TO LOCAL COOPERATIVE DEVELOP21 MENT CENTERS.— 

22 (A) GRANTS.—The Secretary may make 

23 grants, pursuant to paragraph (1)(A)(i), to 

24 local development centers selected under this 

25 paragraph, and shall enter into grant agreeVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:33 Jun 24, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2437.IH H2437

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1 ments with such centers selected and provide 

2 grants in accordance with such agreements. 

3 Each grant agreement for a local development 

4 center shall provide for a grant for at least one 

5 fiscal year and may provide for grants for a pe6 riod not to exceed 3 fiscal years. 

7 (B) SELECTION.—The Secretary shall se8 lect, through a competitive process, local coop9 erative development centers to receive grants 

10 pursuant to paragraph (1)(A)(i). 

11 (C) CRITERIA FOR SELECTION.—In select12 ing local cooperative development centers to re13 ceive such grants, the Secretary shall take into 

14 consideration the following: 

15 (i) The technical capacity of the cen16 ter to carry out eligible projects. 

17 (ii) The ability of the center to deliver 

18 technical assistance. 

19 (iii) The capacity and commitment of 

20 the center to offering cooperative develop21 ment. 

22 (iv) Whether the center can provide 

23 matching funding of at least 15 percent of 

24 grant amounts provided under the program 

25 to the center. 


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1 (v) The record of the center in devel2 oping successful cooperative organizations. 

3 (vi) The ability of the center to have 

4 a positive economic impact on an area 

5 through job creation or retention, afford6 able housing creation, or wealth creation. 

7 (vii) Such other considerations as the 

8 Secretary may consider appropriate. 

9 (4) FAILURE TO MEET PERFORMANCE TAR10 GETS.—If the Secretary determines that an entity 

11 awarded funds under the program has not met the 

12 performance targets established pursuant to sub13 section (e), is not making reasonable progress to14 ward meeting such measures, or is otherwise in vio15 lation of a grant agreement entered into pursuant to 

16 paragraph (3)(C) of this subsection, the Secretary 

17 may— 

18 (A) withhold financial assistance under 

19 this Act until the performance measures are 

20 met; or 

21 (B) in the case of a grant made pursuant 

22 to paragraph (1)(A), terminate the grant agree23 ment. 

24 (c) OTHER ACTIVITIES.—Under the program, the 

25 Secretary shall— 


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1 (1) develop and provide technical assistance, 

2 educational, and other materials to assist local coop3 erative development centers that are receiving funds 

4 under the program to develop cooperative organiza5 tions; 

6 (2) monitor and evaluate the performance of 

7 such local centers; 

8 (3) provide guidance, information on best prac9 tices, and technical assistance to communities seek10 ing to establish cooperative organizations; 

11 (4) establish the eligibility criteria for projects 

12 to be carried out using assistance provided under 

13 this Act; and 

14 (5) develop program and reporting guidelines. 

15 (d) PERFORMANCE TARGETS.—The Secretary shall 

16 establish performance targets for the program, which shall 

17 include, at a minimum, a requirement that a significant 

18 percentage of projects funded under the program shall in19 volve cooperative organizations that are women- or minor20 ity-owned. 

21 SEC. 5. REPORTS. 

22 (a) BY LOCAL COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT CEN23 TERS AND FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS.—For each grant 

24 that a local cooperative development center or financial in25 stitution receives pursuant to section 4(b)(1)(A), the local 


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1 center or institution shall submit to the Secretary, not 

2 later than the expiration of the 12-month period after ini3 tial receipt of such grant amounts, a report that in4 cludes— 

5 (1) identification of the total amount of such 

6 grant amounts that have been expended; 

7 (2) a description of the activities undertaken by 

8 such local center or institution with such grant 

9 amounts; and 

10 (3) other information as the Secretary may re11 quire. 

12 (b) BY THE SECRETARY.—Not later than 3 years 

13 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually 

14 thereafter for each year assistance is provided under this 

15 Act, the Secretary shall submit to the Congress a report 

16 that includes— 

17 (1) identification of the number of cooperative 

18 organizations created using amounts made available 

19 under this Act; 

20 (2) best practices from the local cooperative de21 velopment centers that are awarded grants under 

22 this Act and the economic benefits to the local com23 munities that such centers serve resulting from such 

24 use of funds; 


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1 (3) an evaluation of compliance with the per2 formance targets established pursuant to section 

3 4(d); 

4 (4) case studies featuring select cooperative de5 velopment organizations that benefitted from the 

6 program; and 

7 (5) any additional information, including statis8 tics, that would help promote future cooperative de9 velopment. 

10 SEC. 6. REGULATIONS. 

11 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact12 ment of this Act, the Secretary shall issue regulations nec13 essary to carry out this Act. 

14 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

15 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec16 retary to carry out the National Cooperative Development 

17 Program, to remain available until expended, $25,000,000 

18 for each of fiscal years 2013 through 2017. 

Æ 


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