II 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3202 

To promote the strengthening of the Haitian private sector. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 14, 2010 

Mr. LUGAR (for himself and Mr. LEAHY) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To promote the strengthening of the Haitian private sector. 

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 ‘‘Haitian-American En5 terprise Fund Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) The 7.3-magnitude earthquake that struck 

9 Haiti on January 12, 2010— 

10 (A) was Haiti’s worst natural catastrophe 

11 in 200 years; 


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1 (B) caused the deaths of more than 

2 200,000 people; 

3 (C) destroyed 105,000 homes, 50 hospitals 

4 and health centers, and 1,300 school and uni5 versity buildings; and 

6 (D) significantly damaged the Presidential 

7 Palace, the National Assembly building, and 

8 most of the other government buildings in the 

9 capital city of Port-au-Prince. 

10 (2) Even before the earthquake, Haiti was the 

11 poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, with— 

12 (A) 80 percent of the population living 

13 below the poverty line; 

14 (B) 54 percent of the population in abject 

15 poverty; and 

(C) more than 2 16 ⁄3 of the labor force be17 lieved to lack formal employment. 

18 (3) Although Haiti’s per capita gross domestic 

19 product is among the world’s lowest, positive eco20 nomic growth trends were slowly emerging before 

21 the earthquake and Haiti was 1 of 2 Caribbean 

22 countries expected to experience positive economic 

23 growth in 2009. 

24 (4) At a March 2010 meeting convened in Haiti 

25 by the Inter-American Development Bank and the 


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1 United Nations, which brought together Haitian 

2 government and private sector leaders to discuss the 

3 country’s most critical needs, meeting participants 

4 agreed that 2 critical catalysts for creating poten5 tially hundreds of thousands of jobs are— 

6 (A) modernizing Haitian policies and infra7 structure; and 

8 (B) improving the flow of foreign private 

9 investment into Haiti. 

10 (5) In section 201(b)(1) of the Support for 

11 East European Democracy Act of 1989 (Public Law 

12 101–279; 22 U.S.C. 5421), Congress authorized 

13 USAID to provide a grant of $240,000,000 to the 

14 Polish-American Enterprise Fund (referred to in 

15 this section as the ‘‘Polish Fund’’), which was orga16 nized and incorporated on April 27, 1990. 

17 (6) The Polish Fund— 

18 (A) used the USAID grant to raise 

19 $2,300,000,000 in private funds for investment 

20 in Poland; and 

21 (B) used the reflows from the USAID 

22 grant to establish the Polish-American Freedom 

23 Foundation, whose endowment exceeds 

24 $250,000,000. 


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1 (7) The success of the Polish Fund in attract2 ing private investment to Poland and in creating a 

3 legacy foundation from its reflows represents a use4 ful model for other Enterprise Funds. 

5 (8) Enterprise Funds have enjoyed success in 

6 poorer and less developed countries, such as Albania, 

7 where the Albanian-American Enterprise Fund 

8 played a pivotal role in helping to develop the bank9 ing sector, privatizing and modernizing the airport, 

10 and expanding access to international trade and in11 vestment. 

12 (9) Enterprise Funds in Albania, the Baltic 

13 States, Hungary, Poland, Russia, and other coun14 tries have created and supported programs that have 

15 contributed to the growth of an entrepreneurial mid16 dle class. 

17 (10) A professional and well-managed Haitian18 American Enterprise Fund, drawing upon the expe19 rience of members of the Boards of Directors of 

20 prior Enterprise Funds, could achieve similar suc21 cess. 

22 (11) The programs run by the Enterprise 

23 Funds in other countries, which could also be run in 

24 Haiti, include microloans, carefully designed and 

25 monitored mortgage programs, and small business 


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1 loans that would create the infrastructure and in2 vestment climate needed to begin to build an entre3 preneurial middle class in Haiti. 

4 SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 

5 The purposes of this Act are— 

6 (1) to promote the Haitian private sector, in7 cluding small businesses, the agricultural sector, and 

8 joint ventures with United States and Haitian par9 ticipants; and 

10 (2) to promote policies and practices conducive 

11 to the private sector in Haiti through loans, grants, 

12 equity investments, feasibility studies, technical as13 sistance, training, insurance, guarantees, and other 

14 measures. 

15 SEC. 4. HAITIAN-AMERICAN ENTERPRISE FUND. 

16 (a) DESIGNATION.—The President is authorized to 

17 designate a private, nonprofit organization to receive 

18 funds and support made available under this Act after de19 termining that such organization has been established for 

20 the purposes specified in section 3. The President should 

21 make such designation only after consultation with the 

22 leadership of each House of Congress. The organization 

23 designated under this subsection shall be known as the 

24 ‘‘Haitian-American Enterprise Fund’’. 

25 (b) BOARD OF DIRECTORS.— 


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1 (1) APPOINTMENT.—The Haitian-American 

2 Enterprise Fund shall be governed by a Board of 

3 Directors, which shall be comprised of 7 private citi4 zens of the United States or Haiti, appointed by the 

5 President, of which not more than 3 may be citizens 

6 of Haiti or United States citizens of Haitian de7 scent. 

8 (2) QUALIFICATIONS.—Member of the Board of 

9 Directors shall be selected from among people who 

10 have had successful business careers in private eq11 uity, banking, or finance that is similar to the expe12 rience of individuals who previously served on the 

13 Board of Directors of a successful Enterprise Fund 

14 established by the United States Government on or 

15 after January 1, 1990. 

16 (3) ADDITIONAL BOARD MEMBERS.—Upon the 

17 recommendation of the Board of Directors, the 

18 President may appoint up to 2 additional members 

19 to the Board (beyond the number of Directors speci20 fied in paragraph (1)), of which not more than 1 

21 may be a citizen of Haiti or a United States citizen 

22 of Haitian descent. 

23 (c) GRANTS.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—Amounts appropriated to 

25 the President pursuant to section 8 shall be granted 


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1 to the Haitian-American Enterprise Fund by the 

2 United States Agency for International Development 

3 to enable the Fund to carry out the purposes speci4 fied in section 3 and for the administrative expenses 

5 of the Fund. 

6 (2) ELIGIBLE PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS.— 

7 Grants awarded under this section may only be used 

8 for programs and projects that support the purposes 

9 set forth in section 3. 

10 (3) COMPLIANCE REQUIREMENT.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—Grants may not be 

12 awarded to the Haitian-American Enterprise 

13 Fund under this section unless the Fund agrees 

14 to comply with the requirements under this sec15 tion. 

16 (B) GRANT AGREEMENT.—The grant 

17 agreement between the United States Agency 

18 for International Development (‘‘USAID’’) and 

19 the Haitian-American Enterprise Fund shall 

20 state that the Fund shall liquidate its assets 

21 and dissolve not later than December 31, 2020, 

22 unless the USAID Administrator determines, 

23 after consultation with the appropriate congres24 sional committees, that the Fund should be ex25 tended. 


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1 (C) DISPOSITION OF ASSETS.—All assets 

2 of the Haitian-American Enterprise Fund at 

3 the time the Fund is dissolved shall be used by 

4 the Board of Directors to organize and endow 

5 a follow-on United States-Haitian legacy foun6 dation. 

7 (d) NOTIFICATION.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 15 days be9 fore designating an organization to operate as the 

10 Haitian-American Enterprise Fund pursuant to sub11 section (a), the President shall provide the informa12 tion described in paragraph (2) to the Chairman and 

13 Ranking Member of the appropriate congressional 

14 committees. 

15 (2) INFORMATION.—The information described 

16 in this paragraph is— 

17 (A) the identity of the organization to be 

18 designated to operate as the Haitian-American 

19 Enterprise Fund pursuant to subsection (a); 

20 and 

21 (B) the names and qualifications of the in22 dividuals who will comprise the Initial Board. 

23 (e) DEFINED TERM.—In this section, the term ‘‘ap24 propriate congressional committees’’ means— 


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1 (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 

2 Senate; 

3 (2) the Committee on Appropriations of the 

4 Senate; 

5 (3) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 

6 House of Representatives; and 

7 (4) the Committee on Appropriations of the 

8 House of Representatives. 

9 SEC. 5. OPERATION PROVISIONS. 

10 (a) APPLICABLE PROVISIONS.—Subsections (d)(5), 

11 (g), (h), (i), (k), (l), (m), (n), (o), and (p) of section 201 

12 of the Support for East European Democracy (SEED) 

13 Act of 1989 (Public Law 101–179; 22 U.S.C. 5421) shall 

14 apply with respect to the Haitian-American Enterprise 

15 Fund in the same manner as such provisions apply to En16 terprise Funds designated pursuant to subsection (d) of 

17 such section. 

18 (b) REINVESTMENT.—Returns on investments of the 

19 Haitian-American Enterprise Fund and other payments to 

20 the Fund may be reinvested in projects carried out by the 

21 Fund without further appropriation by Congress. 

22 SEC. 6. BEST PRACTICES AND PROCEDURES. 

23 To the maximum extent practicable, the Board of Di24 rectors of the Haitian-American Enterprise Fund should 

25 adopt the best practices and procedures used by EnterVerDate Nov 24 2008 01:56 Apr 15, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3202.IS S3202

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1 prise Funds, including those for which funding has been 

2 made available pursuant to section 201 of the Support for 

3 East European Democracy (SEED) Act of 1989 (Public 

4 Law 101–179; 22 U.S.C. 5421). 

5 SEC. 7. EXPERIENCE OF OTHER ENTERPRISE FUNDS. 

6 In implementing this Act, the President shall ensure 

7 that the Articles of Incorporation of the Haitian-American 

8 Enterprise Fund (including provisions specifying the re9 sponsibilities of the Board of Directors of the Fund), the 

10 terms of United States Government grant agreements 

11 with the Fund, and United States Government oversight 

12 of the Fund are, to the maximum extent practicable, con13 sistent with the Articles of Incorporation of, the terms of 

14 grant agreements with, and the oversight of the Enter15 prise Funds established pursuant to section 201 of the 

16 Support for East European Democracy (SEED) Act of 

17 1989 (22 U.S.C. 5421) and comparable provisions of law. 

18 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro20 priated to the President $100,000,000, which shall be 

21 used to provide funding for grants to the Haitian-Amer22 ican Enterprise Fund, which shall be used for the pur23 poses specified in section 3. 


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1 (b) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Amounts appro2 priated pursuant to subsection (a) shall remain available 

3 until expended. 

4 (c) NONAPPLICABILITY OF OTHER LAWS.—Amounts 

5 appropriated pursuant to subsection (a) may be used to 

6 carry out this Act notwithstanding any other provision of 

7 law. 

Æ 


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