I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 6024 

To establish an Employee Ownership and Participation Initiative, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 18, 2021 

Mr. COURTNEY (for himself and Mr. POCAN) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 

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 ‘‘Work Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. WORKER OWNERSHIP, READINESS, AND KNOWL6 EDGE. 

7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

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

9 program’’ means a program, designed to promote 

10 employee ownership and employee participation in 


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1 business decision making, that exists on the date on 

2 which the Secretary is carrying out a responsibility 

3 authorized under this section. 

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

5 the Employee Ownership and Participation Initiative 

6 established under subsection (b). 

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

8 means a program, designed to promote employee 

9 ownership and employee participation in business de10 cision making, that does not exist on the date on 

11 which the Secretary is carrying out a responsibility 

12 authorized under this section. 

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

14 the Secretary of Labor. 

15 (5) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean16 ing given the term under section 3 of the Workforce 

17 Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3102). 

18 (b) EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP AND PARTICIPATION INI19 TIATIVE.— 

20 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Labor 

21 shall establish within the Department of Labor an 

22 Employee Ownership and Participation Initiative to 

23 promote employee ownership and employee participa24 tion in business decision making. 


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

2 the Secretary shall— 

3 (A) support within the States existing pro4 grams designed to promote employee ownership 

5 and employee participation in business decision 

6 making; and 

7 (B) facilitate within the States the forma8 tion of new programs designed to promote em9 ployee ownership and employee participation in 

10 business decision making. 

11 (3) DUTIES.—To carry out the functions enu12 merated in paragraph (2), the Secretary shall— 

13 (A) support new programs and existing 

14 programs by— 

15 (i) making Federal grants authorized 

16 under subsection (d); and 

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

18 techniques employed by new programs and 

19 existing programs within the States, and 

20 disseminating information relating to those 

21 techniques to the programs; or 

22 (II) funding projects for information 

23 gathering on those techniques, and dis24 semination of that information to the proVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:09 Dec 06, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6024.IH H6024

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1 grams, by groups outside the Department 

2 of Labor; and 

3 (B) facilitate the formation of new pro4 grams, in ways that include holding or funding 

5 an annual conference of representatives from 

6 States with existing programs, representatives 

7 from States developing new programs, and rep8 resentatives from States without existing pro9 grams. 

10 (c) PROGRAMS REGARDING EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP

11 AND PARTICIPATION.— 

12 (1) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.—Not later 

13 than 180 days after the date of enactment of this 

14 Act, the Secretary shall establish a program to en15 courage new programs and existing programs within 

16 the States to foster employee ownership and em17 ployee participation in business decision making 

18 throughout the United States. 

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

20 the program established under paragraph (1) is to 

21 encourage new and existing programs within the 

22 States that focus on— 

23 (A) providing education and outreach to 

24 inform employees and employers about the pos25 sibilities and benefits of employee ownership, 


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1 business ownership succession planning, and 

2 employee participation in business decision 

3 making, including providing information about 

4 financial education, employee teams, open-book 

5 management, and other tools that enable em6 ployees to share ideas and information about 

7 how their businesses can succeed; 

8 (B) providing technical assistance to assist 

9 employee efforts to become business owners, to 

10 enable employers and employees to explore and 

11 assess the feasibility of transferring full or par12 tial ownership to employees, and to encourage 

13 employees and employers to start new em14 ployee-owned businesses; 

15 (C) training employees and employers with 

16 respect to methods of employee participation in 

17 open-book management, work teams, commit18 tees, and other approaches for seeking greater 

19 employee input; and 

20 (D) training other entities to apply for 

21 funding under this subsection, to establish new 

22 programs, and to carry out program activities. 

23 (3) PROGRAM DETAILS.—The Secretary may in24 clude, in the program established under paragraph 

25 (1), provisions that— 


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1 (A) in the case of activities described in 

2 paragraph (2)(A)— 

3 (i) target key groups, such as retiring 

4 business owners, senior managers, unions, 

5 trade associations, community organiza6 tions, and economic development organiza7 tions; 

8 (ii) encourage cooperation in the orga9 nization of workshops and conferences; and 

10 (iii) prepare and distribute materials 

11 concerning employee ownership and par12 ticipation, and business ownership succes13 sion planning; 

14 (B) in the case of activities described in 

15 paragraph (2)(B)— 

16 (i) provide preliminary technical as17 sistance to employee groups, managers, 

18 and retiring owners exploring the possi19 bility of employee ownership; 

20 (ii) provide for the performance of 

21 preliminary feasibility assessments; 

22 (iii) assist in the funding of objective 

23 third-party feasibility studies and prelimi24 nary business valuations, and in selecting 


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1 and monitoring professionals qualified to 

2 conduct such studies; and 

3 (iv) provide a data bank to help em4 ployees find legal, financial, and technical 

5 advice in connection with business owner6 ship; 

7 (C) in the case of activities described in 

8 paragraph (2)(C)— 

9 (i) provide for courses on employee 

10 participation; and 

11 (ii) provide for the development and 

12 fostering of networks of employee-owned 

13 companies to spread the use of successful 

14 participation techniques; and 

15 (D) in the case of training described in 

16 paragraph (2)(D)— 

17 (i) provide for visits to existing pro18 grams by staff from new programs receiv19 ing funding under this section; and 

20 (ii) provide materials to be used for 

21 such training. 

22 (4) GUIDANCE.—The Secretary shall issue for23 mal guidance, for recipients of grants awarded under 

24 subsection (d) and one-stop partners (as defined in 

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1 tunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3102)) affiliated with the 

2 workforce development systems (as so defined) of 

3 the States, proposing that programs and other ac4 tivities funded under this section be— 

5 (A) proactive in encouraging actions and 

6 activities that promote employee ownership of, 

7 and participation in, businesses; and 

8 (B) comprehensive in emphasizing both 

9 employee ownership of, and participation in, 

10 businesses so as to increase productivity and 

11 broaden capital ownership. 

12 (d) GRANTS.— 

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

14 established under subsection (c), the Secretary may 

15 make grants for use in connection with new pro16 grams and existing programs within a State for any 

17 of the following activities: 

18 (A) Education and outreach as provided in 

19 subsection (c)(2)(A). 

20 (B) Technical assistance as provided in 

21 subsection (c)(2)(B). 

22 (C) Training activities for employees and 

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

24 (D) Activities facilitating cooperation 

25 among employee-owned firms. 


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1 (E) Training as provided in subsection 

2 (c)(2)(D) for new programs provided by partici3 pants in existing programs dedicated to the ob4 jectives of this section, except that, for each fis5 cal year, the amount of the grants made for 

6 such training shall not exceed 10 percent of the 

7 total amount of the grants made under this sec8 tion. 

9 (2) AMOUNTS AND CONDITIONS.—The Sec10 retary shall determine the amount and any condi11 tions for a grant made under this subsection. The 

12 amount of the grant shall be subject to paragraph 

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

14 for the grant. 

15 (3) APPLICATIONS.—Each entity desiring a 

16 grant under this subsection shall submit an applica17 tion to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, 

18 and accompanied by such information as the Sec19 retary may reasonably require. 

20 (4) STATE APPLICATIONS.—Each State may 

21 sponsor and submit an application under paragraph 

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

23 of State or local government, State-supported insti24 tution of higher education, or nonprofit organization, 

25 meeting the requirements of this section. 


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1 (5) APPLICATIONS BY ENTITIES.— 

2 (A) ENTITY APPLICATIONS.—If a State 

3 fails to support or establish a program pursu4 ant to this section during any fiscal year, the 

5 Secretary shall, in the subsequent fiscal years, 

6 allow local entities described in paragraph (4) 

7 from that State to make applications for grants 

8 under paragraph (3) on their own initiative. 

9 (B) APPLICATION SCREENING.—Any State 

10 failing to support or establish a program pursu11 ant to this section during any fiscal year may 

12 submit applications under paragraph (3) in the 

13 subsequent fiscal years but may not screen ap14 plications by local entities described in para15 graph (4) before submitting the applications to 

16 the Secretary. 

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

18 under this subsection shall not receive, during a fis19 cal year, in the aggregate, more than the following 

20 amounts: 

21 (A) For fiscal year 2022, $300,000. 

22 (B) For fiscal year 2023, $330,000. 

23 (C) For fiscal year 2024, $363,000. 

24 (D) For fiscal year 2025, $399,300. 

25 (E) For fiscal year 2026, $439,200. 


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1 (7) ANNUAL REPORT.—For each year, each re2 cipient of a grant under this subsection shall submit 

3 to the Secretary a report describing how grant funds 

4 allocated pursuant to this subsection were expended 

5 during the 12-month period preceding the date of 

6 the submission of the report. 

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

8 reserve not more than 10 percent of the funds appro9 priated for a fiscal year to carry out this section, for the 

10 purposes of conducting evaluations of the grant programs 

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

12 assistance. 

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

14 36-month period following the date of enactment of this 

15 Act, the Secretary shall prepare and submit to Congress 

16 a report— 

17 (1) on progress related to employee ownership 

18 and participation in businesses in the United States; 

19 and 

20 (2) containing an analysis of critical costs and 

21 benefits of activities carried out under this section. 

22 (g) AUTHORIZATIONS OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

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

24 appropriated for the purpose of making grants pur25 suant to subsection (d) the following: 


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1 (A) For fiscal year 2022, $4,000,000. 

2 (B) For fiscal year 2023, $7,000,000. 

3 (C) For fiscal year 2024, $10,000,000. 

4 (D) For fiscal year 2025, $13,000,000. 

5 (E) For fiscal year 2026, $16,000,000. 

6 (2) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—There are 

7 authorized to be appropriated for the purpose of 

8 funding the administrative expenses related to the 

9 Initiative, for each of fiscal years 2022 through 

10 2026, an amount not in excess of the lesser of— 

11 (A) $350,000; or 

12 (B) 5.0 percent of the maximum amount 

13 available under paragraph (1) for that fiscal 

14 year. 

Æ 


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