I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2525 

To amend the Trade Act of 1974 with respect to the trade adjustment 

assistance program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 13, 2011 

Mr. WU introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To amend the Trade Act of 1974 with respect to the trade 

adjustment assistance program, 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 ‘‘Trade Adjustment As5 sistance Accountability Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO TRADE ADJUSTMENT ASSIST7 ANCE PROGRAM. 

8 (a) EXTENSION OF ASSISTANCE PROGRAM FOR

9 WORKERS.—Section 245(a) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 

10 U.S.C. 2317(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘October 1, 2001, 


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1 and ending December 31, 2007’’ and inserting ‘‘February 

2 13, 2011, and ending September 30, 2014’’. 

3 (b) NOTICE TO PETITIONER OF INITIATION OF IN4 VESTIGATION.—Section 221(a)(3) of the Trade Act of 

5 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2271(a)(3)) is amended by adding at the 

6 end the following: ‘‘The Secretary shall also send written 

7 or electronic notification of the receipt of the petition and 

8 the initiation of the investigation directly to the peti9 tioner.’’. 

10 (c) PROCEDURAL MATTERS.— 

11 (1) BASIS FOR SECRETARY’S DETERMINA12 TION.—Section 222 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 

13 U.S.C. 2272) is amended by adding at the end the 

14 following: 

15 ‘‘(d) BASIS FOR SECRETARY’S DETERMINATIONS.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall, in de17 termining whether to certify a group of workers 

18 under section 223, obtain from the workers’ firm, a 

19 customer of the workers’ firm, or the petitioner, in20 formation that the Secretary determines to be nec21 essary to make the certification, through question22 naires and in such other manner as the Secretary 

23 determines appropriate. 

24 ‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.—The Sec25 retary may seek additional information to determine 


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1 whether to certify a group of workers under sub2 section (a) or (b)— 

3 ‘‘(A) by contacting— 

4 ‘‘(i) officials or employees of the work5 ers’ firm; 

6 ‘‘(ii) officials of customers of the 

7 workers’ firm; 

8 ‘‘(iii) officials of certified or recog9 nized unions or other duly authorized rep10 resentatives of the group of workers; or 

11 ‘‘(iv) one-stop operators or one-stop 

12 partners (as defined in section 101 of the 

13 Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (29 

14 U.S.C. 2801)); 

15 ‘‘(B) by reviewing all certifications or deni16 als of petitions for trade adjustment assistance 

17 within the same industry as the petitioner and 

18 considering the impact of trade on those deter19 minations; or 

20 ‘‘(C) by using other available sources of in21 formation. 

22 ‘‘(3) VERIFICATION OF INFORMATION.— 

23 ‘‘(A) CERTIFICATION.—The Secretary shall 

24 require a firm or customer to certify— 


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1 ‘‘(i) all information obtained under 

2 paragraph (1) from the firm or customer 

3 (as the case may be) through question4 naires; and 

5 ‘‘(ii) all other information obtained 

6 under paragraph (1) from the firm or cus7 tomer (as the case may be) on which the 

8 Secretary relies in making a determination 

9 under section 223, unless the Secretary 

10 has a reasonable basis for determining that 

11 such information is accurate and complete 

12 without being certified. 

13 ‘‘(B) PROTECTION OF CONFIDENTIAL IN14 FORMATION.—The Secretary may not release 

15 information obtained under paragraph (1) that 

16 the Secretary considers to be confidential busi17 ness information unless the firm or customer 

18 (as the case may be) submitting the confidential 

19 business information had notice, at the time of 

20 submission, that the information would be re21 leased by the Secretary, or the firm or customer 

22 (as the case may be) subsequently consents to 

23 the release of the information. Nothing in this 

24 subparagraph shall be construed to prohibit the 

25 Secretary from providing such confidential busiVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:53 Jul 14, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2525.IH H2525

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1 ness information to a court in camera or to an2 other party under a protective order issued by 

3 a court. 

4 ‘‘(C) REVIEW OF INFORMATION.—If the 

5 petition for certification is denied and the peti6 tioner appeals the denial, the Secretary shall 

7 notify the petitioner of any information sub8 mitted or certified as part of an investigation 

9 that was adverse to the petitioner’s claim, and 

10 shall allow a petitioner to review any documents 

11 not protected under subparagraph (B). The pe12 titioner shall be permitted an opportunity to 

13 submit and certify a rebuttal to the information 

14 submitted by the firm or firm’s customer as an 

15 addendum to the appeal, before the Secretary 

16 reviews the appeal.’’. 

17 (2) DETERMINATION OF SECRETARY.—Section 

18 223(a) of the Trade Act of 1974 is amended— 

19 (A) by striking ‘‘(a) As soon as possible’’ 

20 and inserting— 

21 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 

22 ‘‘(1) INITIAL DETERMINATIONS.—As soon as 

23 possible’’; and 

24 (B) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(2) NOTIFICATIONS TO PETITIONER.—Not 

2 later than 60 days after a petition or appeal is filed, 

3 the Secretary shall provide a written or electronic re4 sponse to a written request for information from the 

5 petitioner regarding the status of the petition. The 

6 response shall include the current stage of the inves7 tigation, details on outstanding requests for informa8 tion from the firm or firm’s customer described in 

9 222(e), any other reason for the delay, and the ex10 pected date of the final determination. Such notifica11 tion shall be provided to the petitioner not later than 

12 21 days after it is received by the Secretary.’’. 

13 (d) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 285(a) of 

14 the Trade Act of 1974 is amended by striking ‘‘December 

15 31, 2007’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘September 

16 30, 2014’’. 

17 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 

18 (1) EXTENSION OF PROGRAM.—The amend19 ments made by subsections (a) and (d) apply to peti20 tions for certification of eligibility for adjustment as21 sistance under chapter 2 of title II of the Trade Act 

22 of 1974 that are filed before, on, or after the date 

23 of the enactment of this Act for such eligibility on 

24 or after February 13, 2011. 


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1 (2) PROCEDURAL REQUIREMENTS.—The 

2 amendments made by subsections (b) and (c) apply 

3 with respect to petitions for certification of eligibility 

4 for adjustment assistance under chapter 2 of title II 

5 of the Trade Act of 1974 that are filed or after the 

6 date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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