I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6308 

To grant the consent of the Congress to the SMART Research and 

Development Compact. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 29, 2010 

Mr. BARTLETT (for himself, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. 

PATRICK J. MURPHY of Pennsylvania, Ms. SCHWARTZ, Mr. CARNEY, Mr. 

CRITZ, Mr. KANJORSKI, Mr. DENT, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. GERLACH, Mr. SHUSTER, Mr. PLATTS, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. 

PITTS, Mr. LANCE, Mr. KRATOVIL, Mr. LOBIONDO, Mr. THOMPSON of 

Pennsylvania, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland, Mr. 

ANDREWS, Mr. CASTLE, Mr. HOYER, and Mr. SARBANES) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To grant the consent of the Congress to the SMART 

Research and Development Compact. 

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, FINDINGS. 

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

5 ‘‘SMART Research and Development Compact’’. 

6 (b) FINDINGS.—The Congress makes the following 

7 findings: 


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1 (1) The shared borders, similar economic, envi2 ronmental, and socioeconomic traits as well as the 

3 common historical attributes between the residents 

4 of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsyl5 vania, bind the 4 States into a common Mid-Atlantic 

6 region. 

7 (2) This region presents a rich framework of 

8 approximately 618 colleges and universities, includ9 ing approximately 38 leading engineering colleges 

10 with a variety of technical expertise and ingenious 

11 research and development programs within every 

12 field of science and technology. 

13 (3) This region contains a variety of federally 

14 owned and generated laboratories or organizations 

15 assigned with the task of performing needed re16 search and development in most of our Nation’s 

17 technical areas, highlighted by defense, transpor18 tation, health, energy, and communications. 

19 (4) This region possesses a great wealth of pri20 vate manufacturers, laboratories, and nonprofit or21 ganizations in each of the scientific and techno22 logical pursuits, such as homeland security, defense, 

23 aerospace, manufacturing, information systems, ma24 terials, chemicals, medical applications, and pharma25 ceuticals. 


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1 (5) Increased cooperation between the above2 mentioned institutions and the 4 State governments 

3 may effectively enhance the region’s contribution to 

4 the United States in all fields of science and tech5 nology and promote academic, private and public re6 search and development, technical enterprise, and in7 tellectual vitality. 

8 (6) An organization assigned with the task of 

9 linking various institutions across different jurisdic10 tions and promoting working partnerships may fur11 ther assist the United States by providing a model 

12 for the rest of the Nation for the effective use of 

13 limited national, State, and local funding resources. 

14 SEC. 2. CONSENT TO COMPACT. 

15 The Congress consents to the SMART Research and 

16 Development Compact if that compact is entered into by 

17 two or more of the following States: The State of Dela18 ware, the State of Maryland, the State of New Jersey, and 

19 the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The compact reads 

20 substantially as follows: 

21 ‘‘SMART RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 

22 COMPACT 

23 ‘‘ARTICLE I. 

24 ‘‘The purpose of this compact is to promote the con25 tribution of the Mid-Atlantic region to the Nation’s reVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:26 Oct 09, 2010 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6308.IH H6308

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1 search and development in science and technology, and to 

2 create a multi-State organization that shall be known as 

3 the SMART (Strengthening the Mid-Atlantic Region for 

4 Tomorrow) Organization (hereinafter in this compact re5 ferred to as the ‘Organization’). The purpose of the Orga6 nization is to oversee and help facilitate the acquisition 

7 of research and development funding, and to enhance the 

8 cooperation, formation of partnerships, and sharing of in9 formation among businesses, academic institutions, Fed10 eral and State governmental agencies, laboratories, feder11 ally owned and operated laboratories, and nonprofit enti12 ties, within Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Penn13 sylvania. 

14 ‘‘ARTICLE II. 

15 ‘‘This compact takes effect upon ratification by two 

16 or more of the following States: The State of Delaware, 

17 the State of Maryland, the State of New Jersey, and the 

18 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, pursuant to the consent 

19 of Congress. 

20 ‘‘ARTICLE III. 

21 ‘‘The States, which are parties to this compact (here22 inafter referred to as ‘party States’), do hereby establish 

23 and create the Organization as a joint organization which 

24 shall be known as the SMART Organization. 


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1 ‘‘The leadership of the Organization shall consist of 

2 a Board of Directors that shall include a representative 

3 from each party State, appointed as provided by the law 

4 of that State, and representatives from each technology 

5 class described in Article IV from the party States. Board 

6 Members may include any business, academic institution, 

7 nonprofit agency, Federal or State governmental agency, 

8 laboratory, and federally owned and operated laboratory 

9 within the party States. 

10 ‘‘The leadership of the Organization shall oversee and 

11 direct the projects, administration, and policies of the Or12 ganization. The Board of Directors may create and utilize 

13 the services of technology-designated Working Groups to 

14 identify goals and sources of funding, establish research 

15 and development projects, detect new technology advances 

16 for the region to pursue, and facilitate cooperation among 

17 regional entities. The Board of Directors and Working 

18 Groups in the Organization shall serve without compensa19 tion and shall hold regular quarterly meetings and such 

20 special meetings as their business may require. 

21 ‘‘The Organization shall adopt bylaws and any other 

22 such rules or procedures as may be needed. The Organiza23 tion may hold hearings and conduct studies and surveys 

24 to carry out its purpose. The Organization may acquire 

25 by gift or otherwise and hold and dispose of such money 


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1 and property as may be provided for the proper perform2 ance of its functions, may cooperate with other public or 

3 private groups, whether local, State, regional, or national, 

4 having an interest in economic or technology development, 

5 and may exercise such other powers as may be appropriate 

6 to accomplish its functions and duties in connection with 

7 the development of the Organization and to carry out the 

8 purpose of this compact. 

9 ‘‘ARTICLE IV. 

10 ‘‘Not including State Representatives, the Organiza11 tion Board of Directors and Technology Working Groups 

12 may represent and originate from the following technology 

13 classes: information technology, sensors, rotorcraft tech14 nology, manufacturing technology, fire/EMS, financial 

15 technology, alternative fuels, nanotechnology, electronics, 

16 environmental, telecommunications, chemical and biologi17 cal, biomedical, opto-electric, Materials/Aerospace, and de18 fense systems including directed energy, missile defense, 

19 future combat systems, and unmanned aerial vehicles. The 

20 SMART Organization may at any time, upon approval by 

21 the Board of Directors, designate and assign new tech22 nology classes and may at any time remove an existing 

23 class from this Article and the Organization’s activities. 


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1 ‘‘ARTICLE V. 

2 ‘‘The Board of Directors shall appoint a full-time 

3 paid executive director, who shall be a person familiar with 

4 the nature of the procedures and the significance of sci5 entific funding, research and development, economic devel6 opment, and the informational, educational, and publicity 

7 methods of stimulating general interest in such develop8 ments. The duties of the executive director are to carry 

9 out the goals and directives of the Board of Directors and 

10 administer the actions of each Working Group as chair11 man. The executive director may hire a staff and shall 

12 be the administrative head of the Organization, whose 

13 term of office shall be at the pleasure of the Board of 

14 Directors. 

15 ‘‘ARTICLE VI. 

16 ‘‘This compact shall continue in force and remain 

17 binding upon each party State until 6 months after the 

18 party State gives notice of its intent to withdraw to the 

19 other party States.’’. 

20 SEC. 3. RIGHT TO ALTER, AMEND, OR REPEAL. 

21 The Congress expressly reserves the right to alter, 

22 amend, or repeal this Act. 

Æ 


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