I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8880 

To establish the Compassionate Capitalist Award to recognize organizations 

that substantially benefit the well-being of their employees, stakeholders, 

and communities, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 4, 2020 

Mr. PHILLIPS (for himself, Mr. EVANS, Mr. CASE, and Ms. CRAIG) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 

Commerce 

A BILL 

To establish the Compassionate Capitalist Award to recognize 

organizations that substantially benefit the well-being of 

their employees, stakeholders, and communities, and for 

other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Honoring Organiza5 tions Nationally for Ethics, Sustainability, and Trust Act’’ 

6 or the ‘‘HONEST Enterprise Act’’. 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 8880 IH

1 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE COMPASSIONATE CAPI2 TALIST AWARD. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is established the Compas4 sionate Capitalist Award (in this section referred to as the 

5 ‘‘award’’), which shall be evidenced by a certificate and 

6 a medal that— 

7 (1) bear the inscriptions the ‘‘Compassionate 

8 Capitalist Award’’ and ‘‘Doing Business Better’’; 

9 and 

10 (2) incorporate such design and materials, and 

11 bears such additional inscriptions, as the Secretary 

12 of Commerce (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Sec13 retary’’) determines appropriate. 

14 (b) PRESENTATION OF AWARD.—The President or 

15 the Secretary shall annually present, with such ceremonies 

16 as the President or Secretary determines appropriate, the 

17 award to organizations nominated under subsection (d) 

18 that the Secretary determines are deserving of recognition 

19 for substantially benefitting the well-being of their employ20 ees, stakeholders, and communities with respect to the fol21 lowing areas: 

22 (1) ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP.—The de23 gree to which an organization has in place practices 

24 to manage the environmental impact of its oper25 ations, supply chain, and distribution channels, inVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:08 Dec 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8880.IH H8880

pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 8880 IH

1 cluding with respect to air, water, land, biodiversity, 

2 and climate effects. 

3 (2) GOVERNANCE.—The mission, ethics, and 

4 transparency of an organization, including, if appli5 cable, the organization’s corporate leadership struc6 ture and executive compensation. 

7 (3) SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY.—The degree to 

8 which an organization contributes to the commu9 nities in which it operates and obtains resources 

10 from, including the organization’s practices with re11 spect to diversity, equity, inclusion, civic engage12 ment, charitable giving, and refraining from doing 

13 business with exploitative countries. 

14 (4) WORKER EMPOWERMENT.—The degree to 

15 which an organization contributes to the financial 

16 security, workplace safety, healthcare coverage, 

17 wellness, engagement, satisfaction, and career devel18 opment of employees, and the degree to which an or19 ganization provides a fair and living wage. 

20 (c) ELIGIBLE ORGANIZATIONS.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The President or the Sec22 retary shall present the award to at least one organi23 zation each year in each of the following categories: 

24 (A) Small businesses (at least 10 and 

25 fewer than 50 employees). 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 8880 IH

1 (B) Midsized businesses (at least 50 and 

2 fewer than 250 employees). 

3 (C) Large businesses (at least 250 employ4 ees and fewer than 1,000 employees). 

5 (D) Very large businesses (at least 1,000 

6 employees). 

7 (2) TOTAL NUMBER OF AWARDS.—Not more 

8 than 18 awards may be awarded each year. 

9 (3) EXCEPTION.—Notwithstanding paragraph 

10 (1), no award shall be awarded in a given category 

11 if the Secretary determines that no organization 

12 qualifies for the award with respect to such cat13 egory. 

14 (d) ESTABLISHMENT OF BOARD OF DIRECTORS.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish 

16 a board of directors to nominate organizations for 

17 the award and assist with administration of the 

18 award. 

19 (2) COMPOSITION.—The board shall be com20 posed of the following: 

21 (A) The Assistant Secretary of Commerce 

22 for Economic Development, who shall serve as 

23 chairperson of the board. 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 8880 IH

1 (B) The Administrator of the Wage and 

2 Hour Division of the Department of Labor, who 

3 shall serve as vice chairperson of the board. 

4 (C) At least 6 individuals appointed by the 

5 Secretary of Commerce, who shall include— 

6 (i) 2 individuals representing inde7 pendent nonprofit entities that have dem8 onstrated leadership and excellence in the 

9 field of standard setting and measurement 

10 with respect to stakeholder impact; 

11 (ii) 2 individuals representing cor12 porate business entities that have dem13 onstrated a history of service to society; 

14 and 

15 (iii) 2 individuals representing orga16 nized labor entities. 

17 (3) DIVERSITY.—In making appointments to 

18 the board, the Secretary shall take actions to ensure 

19 the diversity of the membership with respect to race, 

20 ethnicity, and gender. 

21 (4) EVALUATION TOOL.—The board shall seek 

22 to enter into contracts with appropriate entities to 

23 develop an online evaluation tool that— 

24 (A) is based on standards specific to the 

25 category of business an organization qualifies as 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 8880 IH

1 under subsection (c)(1) that are developed in 

2 consultation with such entities; 

3 (B) provides for each organization consid4 ered for an award a numerical score with re5 spect to each of the areas specified in sub6 section (b), using the standards described in 

7 subparagraph (A); 

8 (C) provides for each organization consid9 ered for an award a total numerical score; and 

10 (D) assists the board in making nomina11 tions under paragraph (1). 

12 (5) ADDITIONAL VERIFICATION.—The board 

13 shall take actions to verify the accuracy of the facts 

14 presented by organizations seeking nomination for 

15 the award, including by soliciting employee feedback. 

16 (6) ANNUAL REPORT.—The board shall annu17 ally submit to the Secretary a report that includes— 

18 (A) nominations for the award; and 

19 (B) an assessment of the process for pre20 senting awards under this section, including 

21 recommendations for improving such process. 

22 (e) AWARD ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS.— 

23 (1) APPLICATION.—An organization may be 

24 considered for an award upon submitting to the Sec25 retary an application in such form, at such time, 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 8880 IH

1 and containing such information as the Secretary 

2 determines appropriate, including information nec3 essary for purposes of the evaluation tool described 

4 in subsection (d)(4). 

5 (2) PRIOR RECIPIENT QUALIFICATION.—An or6 ganization that has previously received the award is 

7 eligible to receive an additional award if at least 5 

8 years have elapsed from the date such organization 

9 previously received the award. 

10 (f) MODIFICATION OF AREAS.—The Secretary may, 

11 on the basis of recommendations made by the board, make 

12 modifications to the areas specified in subsection (b), 

13 which shall be effective 30 days after the date on which 

14 the Secretary submits a detailed description of such modi15 fications to Congress. 

16 (g) INFORMATION TRANSFER.—The Secretary shall 

17 issue to each organization that applies for the award— 

18 (1) the results of the evaluation with respect to 

19 such organization; and 

20 (2) information with respect to the organiza21 tions to whom the award was presented and the 

22 practices that the Secretary used as a basis to 

23 present such award to such organizations. 

24 (h) FUNDING.— 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 8880 IH

1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may solicit 

2 and accept gifts from public and private entities, 

3 and may use such gifts without further appropria4 tion, to carry out this section. 

5 (2) DONOR AWARD INELIGIBILITY.—An entity 

6 that makes a gift under this subsection shall not be 

7 eligible to receive the award after such gift has been 

8 made. 

9 (i) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

10 of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to 

11 the President and Congress a report on the progress made 

12 with respect to the award and any recommendations relat13 ing to the process of presenting such award. 

Æ 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS