I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 3675

To provide for the establishment of alternate use committees at defense

facilities to assist in the economic adjustment of communities, industries,

and workers as a result of reductions or realignments in defense or

aerospace spending and arms exports and the closure or realignment

of military installations.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

NOVEMBER 22, 1993

Mr. NADLER introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly to the

Committees on Armed Services, Education and Labor, Foreign Affairs,

Science, Space, and Technology, and Merchant Marine and Fisheries

A BILL

To provide for the establishment of alternate use committees

at defense facilities to assist in the economic adjustment

of communities, industries, and workers as a result of

reductions or realignments in defense or aerospace

spending and arms exports and the closure or realignment of military installations.

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 AND TABLE OF CONTENTS.

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

5 ‘‘Defense Alternative Use Committee Act’’.
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1 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for

2 this Act is as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title and table of contents.

Sec. 2. Findings and purpose.

Sec. 3. Definitions.

Sec. 4. Establishment of alternative use committees at defense facilities.

Sec. 5. Functions of alternative use committees.

Sec. 6. Administrative provisions.

Sec. 7. Elements of conversion plans.

Sec. 8. Penalties.

3 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

4 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—

5 (1) during the past three decades the United

6 States has made heavy economic, scientific, and

7 technical commitments for defense;

8 (2) these commitments led to the development

9 of specialized skills and business practices not di10 rectly applicable in the civilian sector of the econ11 omy;

12 (3) as these commitments are modified to take

13 account of changing requirements for national secu14 rity and domestic needs, careful preparation is nec15 essary if serious economic dislocations are to be

16 avoided; and

17 (4) the economic ability of the Nation and of

18 management, labor, and capital to adjust to chang19 ing national security needs is consistent with the

20 general welfare of the United States.
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1 (b) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to pro2 vide the means through which the United States can pro3 mote orderly economic adjustment which will—

4 (1) minimize the dislocation of workers, com5 munities, and industries;

6 (2) assure that such dislocations do not

7 compound recessionary trends; and

8 (3) encourage conversion of technologies and

9 managerial and worker skills developed in defense

10 production to projects which serve the civilian sector.

11 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

12 For purposes of this Act:

13 (1) The term ‘‘defense agency’’ means the De14 partment of Defense, the Nuclear Weapons Division

15 of the Department of Energy, the National Aero16 nautics and Space Administration, the Coast Guard,

17 and any other agency of the Federal Government to

18 the extent it conducts defense-related activities.

19 (2) The term ‘‘defense contract’’ means—

20 (A) any contract entered into between a

21 defense contractor and a defense agency to fur22 nish defense material or services to that agency;

23 and

24 (B) any contract entered into between a

25 defense contractor and any foreign country or
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1 person acting on behalf of a foreign country to

2 furnish defense material or services to or for

3 such country pursuant to the Arms Export

4 Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq.) or similar

5 law.

6 (3) The term ‘‘defense contractor’’ means any

7 person engaged in the furnishing of defense material

8 or services pursuant to the terms of the defense con9 tract, including subcontractors, component manufac10 turers, suppliers, service contractors and service sup11 pliers.

12 (4) The term ‘‘defense facility’’ means—

13 (A) any private plant or other establish14 ment (or part thereof) used under a defense

15 contract or engaged in the production, repair,

16 modification, storage, or handling of defense

17 material; or

18 (B) any Government-owned or Govern19 ment-leased facility, including military installa20 tions, bases, forts, shipyards, and depots.

21 (5) The term ‘‘defense materials or services’’

22 means—

23 (A) any item of weaponry, munitions,

24 equipment, or specialized supplies or services

25 intended for use by a defense agency or for sale
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1 to or for the use of a foreign country which has

2 primarily military applications; or

3 (B) the research, development, production,

4 test, inspection, or repair of any material de5 scribed in subparagraph (A) for use by a de6 fense agency or pursuant to a defense contract.

7 (6) The term ‘‘displace’’, with respect to any

8 worker (including a civilian employee of a defense

9 agency and an employee of a defense contractor en10 gaged in the provision of defense materials or serv11 ices under a defense contract), means the separa12 tion, on a permanent or temporary basis, of the

13 worker from employment with the facility or agency.

14 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF ALTERNATIVE USE COMMIT15 TEES AT DEFENSE FACILITIES.

16 (a) CONDITION OF DEFENSE CONTRACTS.—The

17 head of each defense agency shall require as a condition

18 of each defense contract with a private defense contractor

19 for the provision of defense materials or services to that

20 agency that the defense contractor agree to establish an

21 alternative use committee pursuant to this section at each

22 defense facility that employs at least 100 employees and

23 is used under the contract. The President shall require

24 as a condition on the eligibility for export of defense mate25 rials or services under section 38 of the Arms Export Con-
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1 trol Act (22 U.S.C. 2778) or similar law that the private

2 defense contractor involved in such export agree to estab3 lish an alternative use committee pursuant to this section

4 at each defense facility that employs at least 100 employ5 ees and is used under the defense contract involved.

6 (b) FEDERAL FACILITIES.—In the case of a Govern7 ment defense facility (as defined in section 3(4)(B)), the

8 head of the facility shall establish an alternative use com9 mittee pursuant to this section composed of not less than

10 eight members, with equal representation of the facility

11 management and the civilian employees of the installation

12 (including representatives of union bargaining units and

13 democratically elected representatives of unorganized civil14 ians).

15 (c) MEMBERSHIP AND PURPOSES.—An alternative

16 use committee for a defense facility shall be composed of

17 not less than eight members, with equal representation of

18 the facility’s management and labor (including representa19 tives of union bargaining units and democratically elected

20 representatives of unorganized workers). The committee

21 shall undertake economic conversion planning and prepa22 ration for the employment of the employees at the defense

23 facility and the utilization of the equipment and facilities

24 in the event of a reduction or closure of any defense facil-
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1 ity or the curtailment, conclusion, or disapproval of any

2 defense contract.

3 (d) COMMUNITY REPRESENTATIVES.—The chief ex4 ecutive officer of any unit of general local government

5 within which a defense facility is located may appoint

6 nonvoting representatives of the alternative use commu7 nity for that facility to participate in activities of the alter8 native use committee in an advisory capacity. The rep9 resentatives appointed under this subsection shall not in10 clude individuals employed at the facility. The number of

11 such representatives shall not exceed a number equal to

12 one-half the total number of voting representatives on the

13 committee.

14 (e) PROHIBITIONS AGAINST DISCRIMINATION

15 AGAINST REPRESENTATIVES OF UNORGANIZED LABOR.—

16 The representatives of the unorganized civilian workers on

17 any alternative use committee shall not be discriminated

18 against in any manner for their participation in the

19 committee.

20 (f) FUNDS.—Funds for performing the planning and

21 reporting requirements imposed by this Act, including

22 market research, independent studies, and the employ23 ment of specialized personnel, shall be paid from funds

24 derived from the defense contract or, in the case of a Gov25 ernment defense facility, the operating account of the fa-
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1 cility. Office space shall be provided to the alternative use

2 committee by the management of the facility without

3 charge.

4 (g) APPLICATION OF SECTION.—This section shall

5 apply with respect to each defense contract referred to in

6 subsection (a) that is entered into by the agency after the

7 date of the enactment of this Act

8 SEC. 5. FUNCTIONS OF ALTERNATIVE USE COMMITTEES.

9 (a) EVALUATION OF DEFENSE FACILITY ASSETS.—

10 The alternative use committee established for a defense

11 facility shall evaluate the assets of the defense facility and

12 the resources and requirements of the local community in

13 terms of physical property, manpower skills and expertise,

14 accessibility, environment, and economic needs.

15 (b) DEVELOPMENT OF CONVERSION PLANS.—Con16 sistent with section 7, the alternative use committee estab17 lished for a defense facility shall develop and review at

18 least biennially a plan for the conversion of the facility

19 to efficient, nondefense-related productive activity to be

20 carried out in the event the facility is closed or adversely

21 affected by the termination of a defense contract or the

22 disapproval of a license to sell or export defense materials

23 or services.

24 (c) RETRAINING AND REEMPLOYMENT.—The alter25 native use committee shall arrange for the provision of oc-
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1 cupational retraining and reemployment counseling serv2 ices for all employees to be displaced by the implementa3 tion of a conversion plan or the closing of the facility as

4 soon as the date of commencement of the implementation

5 of that plan or the permanent closing of that facility is

6 known.

7 (d) DISSOLUTION.—A alternative use committee shall

8 dissolve itself and return all assets to the control of the

9 management of the defense facility involved immediately

10 upon final completion of the conversion.

11 SEC. 6. ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS.

12 (a) STAFF.—The alternative use committees may

13 hire staff personnel as well as any specialists it may deter14 mine necessary.

15 (b) INFORMATION.—The alternative use committees

16 may obtain a complete and detailed inventory of all land,

17 building, capital equipment, and other equipment, includ18 ing its condition, and are authorized to obtain information

19 of a general nature regarding the occupations and skills

20 of civilian employees, and information concerning existing

21 collective-bargaining contracts. Any defense agency or

22 contractor and any department, agency, or other instru23 mentality of the Government shall provide any such inven24 tory or information upon request from an alternative use

25 committee.
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1 SEC. 7. ELEMENTS OF CONVERSION PLANS.

2 (a) ELEMENTS OF PLAN.—Conversion plans devel3 oped by an alternative use committee shall—

4 (1) be so designed as to maximize the extent to

5 which the personnel required for the efficient oper6 ation of the converted facility can be drawn from

7 personnel with the types and levels of skill approxi8 mating skill levels and types possessed by civilian

9 personnel employed at the defense facility prior to

10 its conversion;

11 (2) specify the numbers of civilian personnel, by

12 type and level of skill, employed at the facility prior

13 to conversion, whose continued employment is not

14 consistent with the efficient operation of the non-de15 fense-related converted facility;

16 (3) specify the numbers of positions, by level

17 and type of skill, if any, that will be needed at the

18 converted facility because personnel employed at the

19 preconverted facility do not possess the levels or

20 types of skills required;

21 (4) indicate in detail what new plant and equip22 ment and modifications to existing plant and equip23 ment are required for the converted facility; and

24 (5) include an estimate of financing require25 ments and a financial plan for the conversion; and
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1 (6) provide for completion of the entire conver2 sion process within a period of not less than two

3 years.

4 (b) EXTENSION OF EXISTING AGREEMENTS.—No

5 plan shall be approved by an alternative use committee

6 unless the plan provides for extension of wage, labor con7 tract provisions, and other benefits to workers at a defense

8 facility until conversion to non-defense-related operations

9 is completed.

10 SEC. 8. PENALTIES.

11 If the head of a defense agency determines that a

12 defense contractor fails to establish an alternative use

13 committee or refuses or fails to carry out the provisions

14 of a conversion plan prepared by an alternative use com15 mittee of the defense contractor (as determined by the

16 head of the defense agency concerned), the defense con17 tractor shall lose eligibility for defense contracts for a pe18 riod of three years, for contract termination payments,

19 and for tax credits.

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