IV 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 561 
Commending the cooperative business model and the businesses, employees, 
and practitioners nationally and internationally who use it for their 
contributions to the economy and social impacts they make on their 
communities. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 6, 2017 
Mr. POLIS (for himself, Mr. POCAN, and Ms. PINGREE) submitted the fol-
lowing resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 
Commerce 
RESOLUTION 
Commending the cooperative business model and the busi-
nesses, employees, and practitioners nationally and inter-
nationally who use it for their contributions to the econ-
omy and social impacts they make on their communities. 
Whereas cooperatives are member-owned businesses, owned 
and governed by the people that use the business, create 
its products, or manage its operations, and operate under 
the 7 agreed upon principles of— 
(1) voluntary open membership; 
(2) democratic control; 
(3) owner economic participation; 
(4) autonomy and independence; 
(5) education, training, and information; 
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(6) cooperation among cooperatives; and 
(7) concern for community; 
Whereas cooperative entrepreneurs are often categorized into 
4 variations of the business model—consumer, producer, 
purchasing, and worker cooperatives—and can be found 
in almost every economic sector in the United States, 
throughout all 50 States and territories, and every con-
gressional district in the United States; 
Whereas internationally the principles of cooperation and the 
cooperative business model help smallholder farmers or-
ganize themselves and gain access to local and global 
markets, training, improved inputs, and aggregated sales 
and marketing; 
Whereas this provides farmers ownership over their economic 
decisions, a focus on learning, and a broader under-
standing of environmental and social concerns; 
Whereas cooperatives help farmers increase incomes and be-
come more resilient to shocks and stresses by working to-
gether to plan and prepare for the future; 
Whereas cooperative values stress self-help and inclusion of 
vulnerable groups to ensure access to women and youth; 
Whereas the Global Food Security Act identified cooperatives 
among key stakeholders who are actors engaged in efforts 
to advance global food security programs and objectives 
and listed cooperatives as part of a comprehensive whole 
of Government strategy where the President would lever-
age the resources and expertise of cooperatives as part of 
our national security interests to promote global food se-
curity, resilience, and nutrition consistent with national 
food security investment plans which are reinforced 
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through programs, activities, and initiatives that lead 
to— 
(1) self-sufficiency; 
(2) accelerated economic growth, reducing poverty, 
hunger, and malnutrition, especially among women and 
children; 
(3) increased productivity, income, and livelihoods of 
small-scale producers, especially women; 
(4) building resilience and reduce reliance on emer-
gency food; 
(5) promoting property rights; 
(6) improving nutritional status of women and chil-
dren; 
(7) aligning and leveraging broader United States 
strategies in science and technology in water, sanitation, 
and hygiene; 
(8) partnering with higher education; and 
(9) ensuring effective use of taxpayer dollars; 
Whereas annual Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and 
Drug Administration, and Related Agencies and State 
and Foreign Operations appropriation bills fund titles 
and programs within the United States Agency for Inter-
national Development and the Department of Agriculture 
under Development Assistance, Feed the Future, Food 
for Peace Title II, and the Cooperative Development Pro-
gram, and grantee organizations use funding to advance 
international development using cooperative principles 
and the cooperative model; 
Whereas Federal legislation authorized a cooperative research 
program with academic institutions to conduct research 
on the effects of all types of cooperatives on the national 
economy as part of the 2008 farm bill; 
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Whereas the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug 
Administration, and Related Agencies appropriations 
Acts included appropriations in fiscal years 2006 through 
2010 for the Department of Agriculture to enter into 
agreements with academic institutions to conduct re-
search on the national economic impact on all types of 
cooperatives, which totaled $2,095,000; 
Whereas the University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives 
completed a research study in 2009 entitled, ‘‘Research 
on the Economic Impacts of Cooperatives’’, whereby they 
built a comprehensive list of all United States coopera-
tives, gathered economic data from cooperatives, and con-
ducted analysis on direct and indirect economic impacts, 
and developed approaches for measuring the unique eco-
nomic and social impacts of cooperatives; 
Whereas it was found that 30,000 United States cooperatives 
operate at 73,000 places of business throughout the 
United States, that these cooperatives own $3 trillion 
worth of assets in the United States economy, provide 
more than $25 billion in wages, account for nearly $654 
billion in revenue, employ 2 million people, and account 
for more than 350 million memberships nationwide; 
Whereas in the education sector, the collective purchasing for 
educational institutions, the direct delivery of education 
services to the children of parent-members, or affiliated 
worker-owned schools with teachers as member-owners 
account for $1 billion in revenue and $700 million in 
value-added income, provide 15,000 jobs with $500 mil-
lion in wages paid, and account for 1,000 child care or 
early learning cooperatives throughout the United States; 
Whereas in the utility services sector, utility cooperatives are 
tasked with the delivery of public services such as elec-
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tricity, water, and telecommunications, mainly through-
out the rural United States, where investor-owned utility 
companies typically do not operate due to low profit-
ability; 
Whereas in these types of cooperatives, power is literally in 
the hands of the communities in which they serve, as 42 
percent of the United States electric distribution, 75 per-
cent of the Nation’s land mass, and 900 of these mem-
ber-owned cooperatives exist in 47 States and provide 
power to 18 million homes, schools, and businesses; 
Whereas in the financial services sector, cooperatives includ-
ing credit unions, farm credit banks, and financing orga-
nizations that lend to cooperatives ensure that all revenue 
is funneled back into the business to lower interest rates 
and provide other benefits to its member-owners; 
Whereas more than 100 million people in the United States 
belong to over 6,000 credit unions; 
Whereas in the insurance sector, the first cooperative was a 
mutual insurance company founded in 1752 by Benjamin 
Franklin; 
Whereas with no stockholders, policyholders vote in board 
elections and profits earned are cycled back into cost sav-
ing programs or returned as dividend payments; 
Whereas three of the largest mutual insurance providers rep-
resent 18 percent of the insurance market in the United 
States, employ 2.6 million people, and account for $1.2 
trillion in net premiums; 
Whereas in purchasing and shared-service cooperatives, inde-
pendent and franchise businesses who rely on them 
thrive; 
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Whereas brands such as ACE and True Value Hardware, 
CARE Pharmacies, Carpet One, and Restaurant Serv-
ices, Inc., number in strength to an estimated 750 in the 
United States, and are owned by their independent mem-
bers and represent $1.1 trillion in collective assets, and 
$158 billion in revenue; 
Whereas top franchises such as Burger King, Subway, Pizza 
Hut, and Taco Bell all use purchasing cooperatives; 
Whereas in the agriculture sector, cooperatives account for a 
significant portion of the economic activity in the United 
States agriculture and food markets; 
Whereas these producer cooperatives collectively help farmers 
buy required supplies and services to operate their indi-
vidual farms and help more efficiently market their raw 
or processed products more than if they performed these 
duties individually; 
Whereas 2,106 such cooperatives exist and represent over 2 
million owners and provide for over 190,000 jobs from 
familiar consumer names such as Blue Diamond Al-
monds, Florida’s Natural, Ocean Spray, Sun-Maid, and 
Sunsweet; 
Whereas in the food and grocery sector, cooperatives are con-
sumer-owned grocery retail businesses that provide high- 
quality, organic, and locally sourced products to their 
member-owners and customers; 
Whereas food cooperatives range in size from small, local 
buying clubs to multistore regional giants that go head- 
to-head with national chain stores, having combined an-
nual sales of nearly $2 billion, where 38 percent of rev-
enue is spent locally, accounting for $1,600 returned to 
the community for every $1,000 spent; 
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Whereas these cooperatives do 2.5 times more business with 
local farms and producers than conventional stores; 
Whereas in the housing sector, housing cooperatives and resi-
dent-owned communities are an alternative to conven-
tional rental apartments, mobile home parks, and con-
dominiums; 
Whereas a housing cooperative owns the building or land and 
empowers each resident with ownership and responsi-
bility; 
Whereas housing cooperatives have roots dating to the late 
1800s and today are mostly concentrated in major cities 
like New York City, Chicago, and Washington, DC, and 
increasingly are becoming an alternative for students at 
colleges throughout the United States; 
Whereas over 6,400 housing cooperatives provide housing to 
over 1.2 million families; 
Whereas 23 colleges and universities offer access to housing 
cooperative units, saving students an average of 50 per-
cent on their room and board; 
Whereas consumer or storefront cooperatives serve a number 
of the Nation’s consumer needs and wants in many in-
dustries; 
Whereas stores that offer outdoor gear such as REI, auto-
motive parts such as NAPA, as well as those that make 
and sell baked goods, beer, and wine, and services such 
as taxi services and pedicabs, are increasing in popularity 
and use; 
Whereas in worker cooperatives, members both perform the 
work and govern the business; 
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Whereas in recent years, many businesses are choosing to 
structure this way so that workers have greater control 
over the business in which they work and own; 
Whereas many sole proprietor, partnership, or family busi-
nesses are converting to worker-owned cooperatives when 
faced with a potential closure or buyout; 
Whereas there are an estimated 350 worker-owned coopera-
tives that employ over 4,500 people in the United States 
and generate over $500 million in annual revenue; 
Whereas one of the largest worker-owned cooperatives, Coop-
erative Home Care Associates, has been able to reduce 
their once high employee turnover rate of 60 percent 
down to 15 percent by providing a more equitable work 
environment; 
Whereas cooperatives are a proven strategy in helping people 
build a more inclusive economy that is more equitable, 
participatory, growing, sustainable, and stable; 
Whereas a survey of Americans was conducted in April of 
2015 and found that cooperatives are preferred over for- 
profit, investor-owned business models for the values of 
having the best interests of the consumer in mind, run-
ning the business in a trustworthy manner, commitment 
to and involvement in their communities, commitment to 
the highest quality of service, offering fair and competi-
tive prices, being counted on to meet a customer’s needs, 
and providing products or services of high value; 
Whereas an Interagency Working Group on Cooperative De-
velopment was established in the Agricultural Act of 
2014 and authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to co-
ordinate and chair an interagency working group to fos-
ter cooperative development and ensure coordination with 
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Federal agencies and national and local cooperative orga-
nizations that have cooperative programs and interests, 
and has organized four meetings thus far; 
Whereas a bipartisan Congressional Cooperative Business 
Caucus was established and approved by the Committee 
on House Administration of the House of Representatives 
in the 114th and 115th Congress, which united Members 
of Congress in a cause to create a better informed elec-
torate and a more educated public on the important role 
that cooperatives play in the national and international 
economy, to promote the cooperative business model be-
cause it ensures consumers have access to high quality 
goods and services at competitive prices and costs that 
better the lives of individuals, families, and their commu-
nities, and to address and correct awareness challenges 
among the public and within the Government on what a 
co-op looks like, who are co-ops, where are co-ops, and 
why do people choose them; 
Whereas the Census Bureau, as part of its 2017 Economic 
Census, will include a question in its survey of all busi-
nesses asking if the business is organized as a coopera-
tive which will yield both quantitative and qualitative 
data on the effects and importance of cooperatives across 
the American economy; 
Whereas, annually, the National Cooperative Bank publishes 
the ‘‘NCB Co-op 100’’, the only annual report of its kind 
to track the profits and successes of the top 100 revenue- 
earning cooperative businesses in the United States; and 
Whereas the national apex organization representing people 
and organizations that use the cooperative business 
model to build a better world, the National Cooperative 
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Business Association CLUSA International, celebrated its 
100th anniversary in 2016: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) commends the cooperative business model 
for its contributions to the Nation’s and the world’s 
economy, the jobs it creates, and its social impacts 
on the communities in which they operate; 
(2) expresses its confidence in and support for 
cooperatives toward continuing their successes; 
(3) will seek to enact legislation ensuring that 
cooperatives won’t be adversely affected; 
(4) will be mindful in crafting legislation affect-
ing other business models so that the legislation does 
not adversely affect the cooperative business model’s 
competitive position; and 
(5) will seek to enact legislation studying, sup-
porting, encouraging, and promoting the use of the 
cooperative business model across all policy areas 
that can be an additional alternative toward helping 
solve a number of the Nation’s and the world’s pol-
icy issues and concerns. 
Æ 
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