I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4666 

To amend the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 to 

establish a grant program to support cluster-based economic development 

efforts. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 23, 2010 

Mr. OWENS (for himself, Mr. WELCH, and Mr. MCINTYRE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and 

Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committee on Financial Services, 

for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 

for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 

committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Works and Economic Development 

Act of 1965 to establish a grant program to support 

cluster-based economic development efforts. 

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 ‘‘Cluster-Based Econ5 omy Enhancement Act of 2010’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR CLUSTER-BASED ECONOMIC DEVEL2 OPMENT. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title II of the Public Works and 

4 Economic Development Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3141 et 

5 seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 219. GRANTS FOR CLUSTER-BASED ECONOMIC DE7 VELOPMENT. 

8 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following 

9 definitions apply: 

10 ‘‘(1) CLUSTER.—The term ‘cluster’ means a ge11 ographic concentration of business entities that— 

12 ‘‘(A) are competing, complementary, or 

13 interdependent firms and industries; 

14 ‘‘(B) do business with one another; and 

15 ‘‘(C) have common needs for talent, tech16 nology, and infrastructure. 

17 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE APPLICANT.—The term ‘eligible 

18 applicant’ means— 

19 ‘‘(A) a State or local government; 

20 ‘‘(B) an institution of higher education; or 

21 ‘‘(C) a nonprofit economic development or22 ganization. 

23 ‘‘(3) REGION.—The term ‘region’ means any of 

24 the following regions, if on the date of submission of 

25 an application for a grant under this section the reVerDate Nov 24 2008 07:03 Feb 24, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4666.IH H4666

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1 gion meets one or more of the criteria described in 

2 section 301(a): 

3 ‘‘(A) The Delta Region, as described in 

4 section 382A(2) of the Consolidated Farm and 

5 Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 2009aa(2)). 

6 ‘‘(B) The Northern Great Plains Region, 

7 as described in section 383A(4) of the Consoli8 dated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 

9 U.S.C. 2009bb(4)). 

10 ‘‘(C) The Southeast Crescent Region, as 

11 described in section 15731 of title 40, United 

12 States Code. 

13 ‘‘(D) The Southwest Border Region, as de14 scribed in section 15732 of title 40, United 

15 States Code. 

16 ‘‘(E) The Northern Border Region, as de17 scribed in section 15733 of title 40, United 

18 States Code. 

19 ‘‘(F) The Appalachian Region, as de20 scribed in section 14102 of title 40, United 

21 States Code. 

22 ‘‘(G) Such other region as the Secretary 

23 determines appropriate. 

24 ‘‘(b) BLOCK GRANTS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—On the application of an el2 igible applicant, the Secretary may make a block 

3 grant to the applicant— 

4 ‘‘(A) to assess the potential for the devel5 opment of clusters and the enhancement of ex6 isting clusters in a region; 

7 ‘‘(B) to establish cluster development pro8 grams in a region; and 

9 ‘‘(C) to promote cluster development pro10 grams in a region and support the staff who op11 erate such programs. 

12 ‘‘(2) USE OF GRANTS.—A recipient of grant 

13 funds under this subsection may use the funds to 

14 provide assistance for startup costs, worker training, 

15 relocation costs, planning, and other projects identi16 fied by the recipient that are consistent with the 

17 purposes of this section. 

18 ‘‘(c) COST SHARING.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Federal share of the 

20 cost of a project carried out using funds made avail21 able under this section shall be 50 percent. 

22 ‘‘(2) IN-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS.—Not more than 

23 50 percent of the non-Federal share of the cost of 

24 a project carried out using funds made available 


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1 under this section may be provided through in-kind 

2 contributions. 

3 ‘‘(3) INAPPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN SECTION.— 

4 Section 204 shall not apply to this section. 

5 ‘‘(d) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall submit 

7 to Congress reports on the results of the program 

8 established under this section. 

9 ‘‘(2) FREQUENCY OF REPORTS.—The Secretary 

10 shall submit a report under this subsection annually 

11 for the first 4 years of the program and biennially 

12 thereafter. 

13 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

14 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

15 $50,000,000. Such sums shall remain available until ex16 pended.’’. 

17 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con18 tents contained in section 1(b) of the Public Works and 

19 Economic Development Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3121 

20 note) is amended by inserting after the item relating to 

21 section 218 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 219. Grants for cluster-based economic development.’’. 

Æ 


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