I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1017

To amend title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974

to give preference in awarding economic development grants made in

connection with community development loan guarantees to cities having

high unemployment rates.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 22, 1995

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

Committee on Banking and Financial Services

A BILL

To amend title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to give preference in awarding economic development grants made in connection with community development loan guarantees to cities having high

unemployment rates.

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 ‘‘EDI Reform Act of

5 1995’’.
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1 SEC. 2. SELECTION CRITERIA FOR EDI GRANTS.

2 Section 108(q) of the Housing and Community De3 velopment Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5308(q)) is amended—

4 (1) in paragraph (4)(B), by inserting before the

5 semicolon at the end the following: ‘‘, which shall be

6 determined in a manner that takes into consider7 ation the rate of unemployment in such community

8 and jurisdiction’’; and

9 (2) by adding at the end the following new

10 paragraph:

11 ‘‘(5) PREFERENCE FOR HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT

12 JURISDICTIONS.—

13 ‘‘(A) MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS.—In pro14 viding for the selection of eligible public entities

15 for assistance under this subsection, the Sec16 retary shall establish minimum requirements

17 for eligibility for such assistance based on the

18 factors included in the selection criteria estab19 lished pursuant to paragraph (4).

20 ‘‘(B) PREFERENCE.—With respect to any

21 single competition for assistance under this sub22 section, unless such assistance is provided for

23 each eligible public entity applying for such as24 sistance that—

25 ‘‘(i) complies with the minimum re26 quirements for eligibility,
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1 ‘‘(ii) has a rate of unemployment in

2 the community to be served (based on such

3 recent available data as the Secretary con4 siders appropriate) that exceeds the rate

5 that the Secretary shall select (for pur6 poses of this paragraph) to indicate the ex7 istence of a severe unemployment problem

8 within a community, and

9 ‘‘(iii) otherwise complies with the re10 quirements for receiving assistance under

11 this subsection,

12 the Secretary may not provide such assistance

13 to any other eligible public entity.’’.

14 SEC. 3. APPLICABILITY TO PROPOSED COMMUNITY OPPOR15 TUNITY PERFORMANCE FUND.

16 If there is established—

17 (1) a Community Opportunity Performance

18 Fund program (as proposed in the Budget of the

19 United States Government for Fiscal Year 1996

20 submitted by the President pursuant to section

21 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code), or

22 (2) any other program to consolidate various

23 programs for community economic development as24 sistance of the Department of Housing and Urban

25 Development, which—
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1 (A) includes or eliminates the program for

2 economic development grants under section

3 108(q) of the Housing and Community Devel4 opment Act of 1974, and

5 (B) provides for the determination of the

6 amount of assistance provided under the pro7 gram for jurisdictions or communities based

8 upon a formula,

9 the formula that determines the amount of assistance pro10 vided for a jurisdiction or community under the program

11 so established shall take into consideration the rate or ex12 tent of unemployment in the jurisdiction or community.

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