II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1666 

To establish an Employee Ownership and Participation Initiative, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 23 (legislative day, MAY 22), 2019 

Mr. SANDERS (for himself, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Ms. HASSAN, Mrs. SHAHEEN, 

Ms. WARREN, Mr. BROWN, Mr. LEAHY, and Mr. BLUMENTHAL) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To establish an Employee Ownership and Participation 

Initiative, 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 ‘‘Worker Ownership, 

5 Readiness, and Knowledge Act’’ or the ‘‘WORK Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. WORKER OWNERSHIP, READINESS, AND KNOWL7 EDGE. 

8 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 (1) EXISTING PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘existing 

2 program’’ means a program, designed to promote 

3 employee ownership and employee participation in 

4 business decisionmaking, that exists on the date on 

5 which the Secretary is carrying out a responsibility 

6 authorized under this section. 

7 (2) INITIATIVE.—The term ‘‘Initiative’’ means 

8 the Employee Ownership and Participation Initiative 

9 established under subsection (b). 

10 (3) NEW PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘new program’’ 

11 means a program, designed to promote employee 

12 ownership and employee participation in business de13 cisionmaking, that does not exist on the date on 

14 which the Secretary is carrying out a responsibility 

15 authorized under this section. 

16 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

17 the Secretary of Labor, acting through the Assistant 

18 Secretary for Employment and Training. 

19 (5) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any of 

20 the 50 States of the United States. 

21 (b) EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP AND PARTICIPATION INI22 TIATIVE.— 

23 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Labor 

24 shall establish within the Employment and Training 

25 Administration of the Department of Labor an EmVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:27 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1666.IS S1666

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1 ployee Ownership and Participation Initiative to pro2 mote employee ownership and employee participation 

3 in business decisionmaking. 

4 (2) FUNCTIONS.—In carrying out the Initiative, 

5 the Secretary shall— 

6 (A) support within the States existing pro7 grams designed to promote employee ownership 

8 and employee participation in business decision9 making; and 

10 (B) facilitate within the States the forma11 tion of new programs designed to promote em12 ployee ownership and employee participation in 

13 business decisionmaking. 

14 (3) DUTIES.—To carry out the functions enu15 merated in paragraph (2), the Secretary shall— 

16 (A) support new programs and existing 

17 programs by— 

18 (i) making Federal grants authorized 

19 under subsection (d); and 

20 (ii)(I) acting as a clearinghouse on 

21 techniques employed by new programs and 

22 existing programs within the States, and 

23 disseminating information relating to those 

24 techniques to the programs; or 


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1 (II) funding projects for information 

2 gathering on those techniques, and dis3 semination of that information to the pro4 grams, by groups outside the Employment 

5 and Training Administration; and 

6 (B) facilitate the formation of new pro7 grams, in ways that include holding or funding 

8 an annual conference of representatives from 

9 States with existing programs, representatives 

10 from States developing new programs, and rep11 resentatives from States without existing pro12 grams. 

13 (c) PROGRAMS REGARDING EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP

14 AND PARTICIPATION.— 

15 (1) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.—Not later 

16 than 180 days after the date of enactment of this 

17 Act, the Secretary shall establish a program to en18 courage new programs and existing programs within 

19 the States to foster employee ownership and em20 ployee participation in business decisionmaking 

21 throughout the United States. 

22 (2) PURPOSE OF PROGRAM.—The purpose of 

23 the program established under paragraph (1) is to 

24 encourage new and existing programs within the 

25 States that focus on— 


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1 (A) providing education and outreach to 

2 inform employees and employers about the pos3 sibilities and benefits of employee ownership, 

4 business ownership succession planning, and 

5 employee participation in business decision6 making, including providing information about 

7 financial education, employee teams, open-book 

8 management, and other tools that enable em9 ployees to share ideas and information about 

10 how their businesses can succeed; 

11 (B) providing technical assistance to assist 

12 employee efforts to become business owners, to 

13 enable employers and employees to explore and 

14 assess the feasibility of transferring full or par15 tial ownership to employees, and to encourage 

16 employees and employers to start new em17 ployee-owned businesses; 

18 (C) training employees and employers with 

19 respect to methods of employee participation in 

20 open-book management, work teams, commit21 tees, and other approaches for seeking greater 

22 employee input; and 

23 (D) training other entities to apply for 

24 funding under this subsection, to establish new 

25 programs, and to carry out program activities. 


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1 (3) PROGRAM DETAILS.—The Secretary may in2 clude, in the program established under paragraph 

3 (1), provisions that— 

4 (A) in the case of activities described in 

5 paragraph (2)(A)— 

6 (i) target key groups, such as retiring 

7 business owners, senior managers, unions, 

8 trade associations, community organiza9 tions, and economic development organiza10 tions; 

11 (ii) encourage cooperation in the orga12 nization of workshops and conferences; and 

13 (iii) prepare and distribute materials 

14 concerning employee ownership and par15 ticipation, and business ownership succes16 sion planning; 

17 (B) in the case of activities described in 

18 paragraph (2)(B)— 

19 (i) provide preliminary technical as20 sistance to employee groups, managers, 

21 and retiring owners exploring the possi22 bility of employee ownership; 

23 (ii) provide for the performance of 

24 preliminary feasibility assessments; 


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1 (iii) assist in the funding of objective 

2 third-party feasibility studies and prelimi3 nary business valuations, and in selecting 

4 and monitoring professionals qualified to 

5 conduct such studies; and 

6 (iv) provide a data bank to help em7 ployees find legal, financial, and technical 

8 advice in connection with business owner9 ship; 

10 (C) in the case of activities described in 

11 paragraph (2)(C)— 

12 (i) provide for courses on employee 

13 participation; and 

14 (ii) provide for the development and 

15 fostering of networks of employee-owned 

16 companies to spread the use of successful 

17 participation techniques; and 

18 (D) in the case of training described in 

19 paragraph (2)(D)— 

20 (i) provide for visits to existing pro21 grams by staff from new programs receiv22 ing funding under this section; and 

23 (ii) provide materials to be used for 

24 such training. 


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1 (4) GUIDANCE.—The Secretary shall issue for2 mal guidance, for recipients of grants awarded under 

3 subsection (d) and one-stop partners affiliated with 

4 the Statewide workforce investment systems de5 scribed in section 106 of the Workforce Investment 

6 Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 2881), proposing that pro7 grams and other activities funded under this section 

8 be— 

9 (A) proactive in encouraging actions and 

10 activities that promote employee ownership of, 

11 and participation in, businesses; and 

12 (B) comprehensive in emphasizing both 

13 employee ownership of, and participation in, 

14 businesses so as to increase productivity and 

15 broaden capital ownership. 

16 (d) GRANTS.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the program 

18 established under subsection (c), the Secretary may 

19 make grants for use in connection with new pro20 grams and existing programs within a State for any 

21 of the following activities: 

22 (A) Education and outreach as provided in 

23 subsection (c)(2)(A). 

24 (B) Technical assistance as provided in 

25 subsection (c)(2)(B). 


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1 (C) Training activities for employees and 

2 employers as provided in subsection (c)(2)(C). 

3 (D) Activities facilitating cooperation 

4 among employee-owned firms. 

5 (E) Training as provided in subsection 

6 (c)(2)(D) for new programs provided by partici7 pants in existing programs dedicated to the ob8 jectives of this section, except that, for each fis9 cal year, the amount of the grants made for 

10 such training shall not exceed 10 percent of the 

11 total amount of the grants made under this sec12 tion. 

13 (2) AMOUNTS AND CONDITIONS.—The Sec14 retary shall determine the amount and any condi15 tions for a grant made under this subsection. The 

16 amount of the grant shall be subject to paragraph 

17 (6), and shall reflect the capacity of the applicant 

18 for the grant. 

19 (3) APPLICATIONS.—Each entity desiring a 

20 grant under this subsection shall submit an applica21 tion to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, 

22 and accompanied by such information as the Sec23 retary may reasonably require. 

24 (4) STATE APPLICATIONS.—Each State may 

25 sponsor and submit an application under paragraph 


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1 (3) on behalf of any local entity consisting of a unit 

2 of State or local government, State-supported insti3 tution of higher education, or nonprofit organization, 

4 meeting the requirements of this section. 

5 (5) APPLICATIONS BY ENTITIES.— 

6 (A) ENTITY APPLICATIONS.—If a State 

7 fails to support or establish a program pursu8 ant to this section during any fiscal year, the 

9 Secretary shall, in the subsequent fiscal years, 

10 allow local entities described in paragraph (4) 

11 from that State to make applications for grants 

12 under paragraph (3) on their own initiative. 

13 (B) APPLICATION SCREENING.—Any State 

14 failing to support or establish a program pursu15 ant to this section during any fiscal year may 

16 submit applications under paragraph (3) in the 

17 subsequent fiscal years but may not screen ap18 plications by local entities described in para19 graph (4) before submitting the applications to 

20 the Secretary. 

21 (6) LIMITATIONS.—A recipient of a grant made 

22 under this subsection shall not receive, during a fis23 cal year, in the aggregate, more than the following 

24 amounts: 

25 (A) For fiscal year 2020, $300,000. 


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1 (B) For fiscal year 2021, $330,000. 

2 (C) For fiscal year 2022, $363,000. 

3 (D) For fiscal year 2023, $399,300. 

4 (E) For fiscal year 2024, $439,200. 

5 (7) ANNUAL REPORT.—For each year, each re6 cipient of a grant under this subsection shall submit 

7 to the Secretary a report describing how grant funds 

8 allocated pursuant to this subsection were expended 

9 during the 12-month period preceding the date of 

10 the submission of the report. 

11 (e) EVALUATIONS.—The Secretary is authorized to 

12 reserve not more than 10 percent of the funds appro13 priated for a fiscal year to carry out this section, for the 

14 purposes of conducting evaluations of the grant programs 

15 identified in subsection (d) and to provide related technical 

16 assistance. 

17 (f) REPORTING.—Not later than the expiration of the 

18 36-month period following the date of enactment of this 

19 Act, the Secretary shall prepare and submit to Congress 

20 a report— 

21 (1) on progress related to employee ownership 

22 and participation in businesses in the United States; 

23 and 

24 (2) containing an analysis of critical costs and 

25 benefits of activities carried out under this section. 


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1 (g) AUTHORIZATIONS OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be 

3 appropriated for the purpose of making grants pur4 suant to subsection (d) the following: 

5 (A) For fiscal year 2020, $3,850,000. 

6 (B) For fiscal year 2021, $6,050,000. 

7 (C) For fiscal year 2022, $8,800,000. 

8 (D) For fiscal year 2023, $11,550,000. 

9 (E) For fiscal year 2024, $14,850,000. 

10 (2) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—There are 

11 authorized to be appropriated for the purpose of 

12 funding the administrative expenses related to the 

13 Initiative, for each of fiscal years 2020 through 

14 2024, an amount not in excess of— 

15 (A) $350,000; or 

16 (B) 5.0 percent of the maximum amount 

17 available under paragraph (1) for that fiscal 

18 year. 

Æ 


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