II

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1715

To coordinate the Federal Government’s response to communities that are

adversely impacted by the closure or significant downsizing of a plant

or industry located in the community.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 5, 1998

Mr. JOHNSON (for himself and Mr. DASCHLE) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs

A BILL

To coordinate the Federal Government’s response to communities that are adversely impacted by the closure or significant downsizing of a plant or industry located in

the community.

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 ‘‘Stabilizing Workforce

5 and Towns Act of 1998’’.

6 SEC. 2. COORDINATED FEDERAL RESPONSE FOR COMMU7 NITY ASSISTANCE.

8 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF SWAT TEAM RESPONSE.—
2

•S 1715 IS

1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Commerce,

2 in consultation with the President’s Economic Ad3 justment Committee, shall ensure that a Stabilizing

4 Workforce and Towns Team (in this Act referred to

5 as a ‘‘SWAT Team’’) is mobilized and that such

6 team travels to a community in need (as defined in

7 section 3) not later than 3 days after an application

8 for assistance is received by that Secretary in ac9 cordance with paragraph (2).

10 (2) APPLICATION.—For purposes of paragraph

11 (1), the application for assistance shall be submitted

12 by the Governor of the State in which the commu13 nity that is requesting assistance under this Act is

14 located and shall contain such information as the

15 Secretary of Commerce may require in order to de16 termine whether the area is a community in need.

17 (3) DETERMINATION.—The Secretary shall not

18 provide a SWAT Team response under this Act un19 less the Secretary determines that the area under

20 consideration for such response is a community in

21 need.

22 (b) SWAT TEAM MEMBERSHIP.—

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—A SWAT Team shall be

24 composed of a representative from each of the fol25 lowing agencies:
3

•S 1715 IS

1 (A) The Department of Commerce.

2 (B) The Department of Education.

3 (C) The Department of Health and

4 Human Services.

5 (D) The Department of Housing and

6 Urban Development.

7 (E) The Department of Justice.

8 (F) The Department of Labor.

9 (G) The Department of Veterans Affairs.

10 (H) The Small Business Administration.

11 The representative of the Department of Commerce

12 shall be the team leader of the SWAT Team.

13 (2) ADDITIONAL MEMBERS.—In addition to the

14 representatives described in paragraph (1), a SWAT

15 Team shall be composed of a representative from

16 any of the following agencies if the team leader of

17 the team determines that such representation is ap18 propriate in order to carry out the duties of the

19 SWAT Team:

20 (A) The Department of Agriculture.

21 (B) The Department of Energy.

22 (C) The Department of the Interior.

23 (D) The Department of Treasury.

24 (E) The Office of Management and

25 Budget.
4

•S 1715 IS

1 (F) Any other Federal agency.

2 (c) DUTIES OF SWAT TEAM.—The SWAT Team

3 shall have the following duties:

4 (1) To establish operations in a public building

5 in the community in need and maintain such oper6 ations for a minimum of 5 days.

7 (2) To provide to individuals residing in the

8 community in need information and materials that

9 describe all relevant Federal assistance programs

10 available and the process for applying for such as11 sistance. The SWAT Team shall also make available

12 the applications for such assistance.

13 (3) To provide information to individuals resid14 ing in the community in need regarding additional

15 resources available to such individuals to address

16 their economic needs.

17 (4) To designate a member of the SWAT Team

18 as a liaison to the community in need. Such member

19 shall be designated before the SWAT Team termi20 nates operations in the community and shall con21 tinue to provide advise to the community regarding

22 the long-term recovery of the community.

23 SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF COMMUNITY IN NEED.

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—In this Act, the term ‘‘community

25 in need’’ means an area that the Secretary of Commerce
5

•S 1715 IS

1 determines, using the criteria described in subsection (b),

2 is experiencing a sudden and severe dislocation because

3 of the closure or significant downsizing of a plant or indus4 try located in the area.

5 (b) CRITERIA FOR DETERMINATION OF SUDDEN AND

6 SEVERE ECONOMIC DISLOCATION.—The criteria described

7 in this subsection are that an area must show actual or

8 threatened permanent job losses that exceed the following

9 threshold criteria:

10 (1) AREAS LOCATED IN METROPOLITAN STATIS11 TICAL AREAS.—For an area located in a Metropoli12 tan Statistical Area, if the unemployment rate of the

13 Metropolitan Statistical Area in which the area is lo14 cated—

15 (A) is greater than the national average,

16 the dislocation must be equal to or greater than

17 the lesser of—

18 (i) 0.5 percent of the employed popu19 lation in the area; or

20 (ii) 4,000 direct jobs; or

21 (B) is equal to or less than the national

22 average, the dislocation must be equal to or

23 greater than the lesser of—

24 (i) 1 percent of the employed popu25 lation in the area; or
6

•S 1715 IS

1 (ii) 8,000 direct jobs.

2 (2) AREAS NOT LOCATED IN METROPOLITAN

3 STATISTICAL AREAS.—For an area that is not lo4 cated in a Metropolitan Statistical Area, if the un5 employment rate of the Labor Market Area in which

6 the area is located—

7 (A) is greater than the national average,

8 the dislocation must be equal to or greater than

9 the lesser of—

10 (i) 2 percent of the employed popu11 lation in the area; or

12 (ii) 500 direct jobs; or

13 (B) is equal to or less than the national

14 average, the dislocation must be equal to or

15 greater than the lesser of—

16 (i) 4 percent of the employed popu17 lation in the area; or

18 (ii) 1,000 direct jobs.

19 (3) PERCENT OF JOB LOSS RATIO.—At least 50

20 percent of the job loss ratio threshold is the result

21 of the action of a single employer, or at least 80 per22 cent of the job loss threshold occurs in a single

23 standard industry classification.
7

•S 1715 IS

1 SEC. 4. REPORT.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after the

3 completion of a SWAT Team response in a community

4 in need, the SWAT Team shall submit a report to Con5 gress, the community in need’s congressional delegation,

6 and the President’s Economic Adjustment Committee.

7 (b) CONTENTS.—The report described in subsection

8 (a) shall contain a detailed description of the assistance

9 provided by the SWAT Team, recommendations regarding

10 assistance to be provided by SWAT Teams in future re11 sponses, information regarding the long-term recovery

12 plan for the community in need, and any other informa13 tion regarding the provision of Federal assistance to com14 munities in need, including community applications for

15 Federal assistance, that the team determines to be appro16 priate.

17 (c) REPORT ON FILE.—A copy of the report de18 scribed in subsection (a) shall be maintained on file by

19 the Secretary of Commerce for use as a resource to assist

20 similarly impacted communities in the future.

21 (d) CENTRALIZED LOCATION.—The Secretary of

22 Commerce shall maintain all SWAT Team reports in a

23 centralized location and shall make such reports available

24 to the public.

Æ