I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4711
To establish an Office of Community Economic Adjustment in the Economic
Development Administration of the Department of Commerce to coordi-
nate the Federal response in regions and communities experiencing severe
and sudden economic distress, to help these regions and communities
in restructuring their economies, and to expand the authorization of
appropriations for these purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 21, 2000
Mr. LARSON (for himself, Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania, Mr. KASICH, Mrs.
JOHNSON of Connecticut, Mr. MURTHA, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. MEEKS of New
York, Mr. DOOLEY of California, Mr. DELAHUNT, Ms. DELAURO, Mr.
LAFALCE, Mr. POMEROY, Mr. MOAKLEY, Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi, Mr.
CLEMENT, Mr. TRAFICANT, Mr. TANNER, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. GEJDEN-
SON, Mr. FORD, Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts, Mr. RANGEL, Ms. PELOSI,
Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. WU, Mr. INSLEE, Mr. ACKER-
MAN, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. SPRATT, Mrs.
LOWEY, Mr. BOSWELL, Mr. MALONEY of Connecticut, Mr. HOEFFEL,
Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. RODRIGUEZ, Mr.
FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. TURNER, Mr. MOLLOHAN, Mr. DINGELL,
Ms. WATERS, Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Mr. BALDACCI, Mr. TIERNEY, Mr.
JOHN, Mr. SHOWS, Mr. SAWYER, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. JEFFERSON, Mr.
KENNEDY of Rhode Island, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. HINOJOSA,
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Ms.
CARSON, Mr. MOORE, Mr. OWENS, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Ms. BERKLEY,
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. BONIOR, Mr. UDALL of New Mexico,
Mr. BORSKI, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. HOLDEN,
Mr. KLINK, Mr. KANJORSKI, Mr. STUPAK, Mr. MASCARA, Mr. DOYLE,
Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. MATSUI, Mr. HILL of Indiana, Mr.
KLECZKA, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. JACKSON of
Illinois, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, Mr. STARK, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr.
WEINER, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. BLAGOJEVICH, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. LI-
PINSKI, Mr. EVANS, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. HASTINGS
of Florida, Mr. SKELTON, Ms. DANNER, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mrs. THUR-
MAN, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. NADLER, Mr. PASTOR, Mr. PRICE
of North Carolina, Mr. SANDLIN, Ms. NORTON, Mr. BOUCHER, Mr.
ETHERIDGE, Mr. PHELPS, Mr. ENGEL, Ms. MCCARTHY of Missouri, Mr.
MCGOVERN, Mr. COYNE, Mr. HILLIARD, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi,
Mr. CLAY, Mr. WYNN, Mr. ENGLISH, Mr. GORDON, Mr. PAYNE, Mrs.
FOWLER, Mr. BARRETT of Wisconsin, Ms. SANCHEZ, Mr. PETERSON of
Minnesota, Mr. GOODE, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. CHAMBLISS, Mr. BACA, Mr.
FILNER, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr. BERRY, Mr. SNYDER, Mrs. EMER-
SON, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. GILLMOR, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr.
EHLERS, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Ms. LEE, Mr. SERRANO,
Mr. BAIRD, Mr. FROST, Mr. WISE, Mr. PICKETT, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Ms.
KAPTUR, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mrs. CLAYTON, Mr. SCOTT, Mr. DEUTSCH,
Mr. BOYD, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. CONYERS, Mrs. MINK of Hawaii, Mrs.
MALONEY of New York, Mr. CONDIT, Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon, Mr.
WEYGAND, Mr. OLVER, Ms. KILPATRICK, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD,
Mr. UNDERWOOD, Mrs. MEEK of Florida, Mrs. TAUSCHER, Mr. STEN-
HOLM, and Mr. KUYKENDALL) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in
addition to the Committee on Banking and Financial Services, for a pe-
riod to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for con-
sideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned
A BILL
To establish an Office of Community Economic Adjustment
in the Economic Development Administration of the De-
partment of Commerce to coordinate the Federal re-
sponse in regions and communities experiencing severe
and sudden economic distress, to help these regions and
communities in restructuring their economies, and to
expand the authorization of appropriations for these pur-
poses.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Community Economic
Adjustment Act of 2000’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following:
(1) When a community suffers a significant loss
of jobs over a relatively short period of time whether
from industrial or corporate restructuring, new re-
quirements in Federal laws or regulations, reduction
in defense expenditures, depletion of natural re-
sources, natural disasters, changing trade patterns
or other reasons, it can experience sudden economic
distress.
(2) Federal departments and agencies with ex-
isting programs that support workers and commu-
nities in States and local areas in their efforts to re-
cover from this economic distress do so in a capacity
defined by the mission of the department or agency.
(3) Federal departments and agencies providing
such assistance include the Department of Agri-
culture, Department of Commerce, Department of
Defense, Department of Education, Department of
Labor, Department of Housing and Urban Develop-
ment, the Department of the Treasury, and the
Small Business Administration.
(4) To date, no Federal department or agency
has unique authority to coordinate these often inde-
pendent efforts across the Federal Government in
the same manner as the Federal Emergency Man-
agement Agency is charged to coordinate the Fed-
eral response to a disaster or the Department of De-
fense’s Office of Economic Adjustment is charged to
coordinate the Federal response for communities ex-
periencing base closures and realignments.
(5) There is a recognized need for the Federal
Government to be able to coordinate its response to
communities experiencing sudden economic distress
both at the national level and in the community
itself, and to further be able to coordinate the Fed-
eral response with State and local efforts.
(6) The Office of Economic Adjustment of the
Department of Defense has successfully provided
such coordination across the Federal Government
for communities experiencing defense base closures
and is a good model on which to base any govern-
ment-wide coordination effort with respect to com-
munities experiencing sudden economic distress.
(7) The mission of the Economic Development
Administration of the Department of Commerce in-
cludes helping States and local areas to design and
implement strategies for facilitating adjustment to
changes in their economic situation that are causing
or threaten to cause serious structural damage to
the underlying economic base which may occur sud-
denly, and as a result, is the most appropriate place
in the Federal Government to locate an office to co-
ordinate Federal response to communities experi-
encing sudden economic distress.
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—
(1) to help communities to adjust to such eco-
nomic dislocation by providing for targeted and inte-
grated Federal responses by authorizing the Sec-
retary of Commerce to coordinate the Federal re-
sponse through an Office of Community Economic
Adjustment which will employ methods and tech-
niques proven successful by the Defense Depart-
ment’s Office of Economic Adjustment in connection
with defense base closures; and
(2) to increase authorization of appropriations
for community adjustment programs of the Eco-
nomic Development Administration to provide the
Secretary of Commerce with more resources for
grant assistance for communities to support the de-
velopment and implementation of adjustment strate-
gies that are designed to restore vital economic ac-
tivity and create new jobs.
SEC. 3 OFFICE OF COMMUNITY ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT.
Title V of the Public Works and Economic Develop-
ment Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3191) is amended by adding
at the end the following:
‘‘SEC. 508. OFFICE OF COMMUNITY ECONOMIC ADJUST-
MENT.
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary is authorized
to establish in the Economic Development Administration
an Office of Community Economic Adjustment (herein-
after in this section referred to as the ‘Office’). The head
of the Office shall, not later than 90 days after the date
of the enactment of the Community Economic Adjustment
Act of 2000, develop an operating plan for the Office.
‘‘(b) DUTIES.—The Office shall—
‘‘(1) coordinate the Federal Government’s re-
sponse to communities experiencing sudden economic
distress caused by a loss of jobs due to plant clo-
sures, significant layoffs, or significant relocation of
jobs to other communities for any reason, including
shifting patterns in international trade, natural dis-
asters or other problems, by—
‘‘(A) identifying relevant programs and re-
sources to ensure that communities are aware
of all available Federal resources that com-
plement or support state and local resources
and programs; and
‘‘(B) working with the Departments of the
Treasury, Agriculture, Labor, Housing and
Urban Development, and Education, the Small
Business Administration, and other agencies to
ensure that communities receive Federal assist-
ance in a targeted, integrated manner;
‘‘(C) assigning a project manager as ap-
propriate to work with an affected community
to carry out subparagraphs (A) and (B);
‘‘(2) provide technical assistance, planning
grants, and other assistance under this Act to help
communities organize themselves, develop, and carry
out economic adjustment strategies for replacing in-
dustry and jobs that have been lost or are threat-
ened by the economic downturn;
‘‘(3) help eligible applicants in completing appli-
cations for other assistance that may be useful in al-
leviating the economic distress in the communities;
and
‘‘(4) perform such other duties as the Secretary
may deem appropriate.’’.
SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
Title VII of the Public Works and Economic Develop-
ment Act (42 U.S.C. 3231) is amended by adding at the
end the following:
‘‘SEC. 704. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR COM-
MUNITY ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE.
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In addition to amounts made
available under section 701, there is authorized to be ap-
propriated $35,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2001
through 2005 for community adjustment assistance under
the economic adjustment program of the Economic Devel-
opment Administration, of which—
‘‘(1) $10,000,000 is authorized to be appro-
priated for each such fiscal year to the Office of
Community Economic Adjustment established under
section 508(a) for the conduct of the duties of the
Office under section 508(b), of which not to exceed
$1,500,000 may be made available for salaries and
expenses of the Office; and
‘‘(2) $25,000,000 is authorized to be appro-
priated for each such fiscal year for additional eco-
nomic development program funds in addition to the
amounts available for such purposes for communities
successfully completing planning grants (as de-
scribed in section 508(b)(2)) to implement their ap-
proved plans.
‘‘(b) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appropriated pursu-
ant to the authorization of appropriations under sub-
section (a) are authorized to remain available until ex-
pended.’’.
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