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. 
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 ‘‘Trade Adjustment As-
sistance Accountability Act of 2011’’. 
SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO TRADE ADJUSTMENT ASSIST-
ANCE PROGRAM. 
(a) EXTENSION
OF
ASSISTANCE
PROGRAM
FOR 
WORKERS.—Section 245(a) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 
U.S.C. 2317(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘October 1, 2001, 
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and ending December 31, 2007’’ and inserting ‘‘February 
13, 2011, and ending September 30, 2014’’. 
(b) NOTICE TO PETITIONER OF INITIATION OF IN-
VESTIGATION.—Section 221(a)(3) of the Trade Act of 
1974 (19 U.S.C. 2271(a)(3)) is amended by adding at the 
end the following: ‘‘The Secretary shall also send written 
or electronic notification of the receipt of the petition and 
the initiation of the investigation directly to the peti-
tioner.’’. 
(c) PROCEDURAL MATTERS.— 
(1) BASIS
FOR
SECRETARY’S
DETERMINA-
TION.—Section 222 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 
U.S.C. 2272) is amended by adding at the end the 
following: 
‘‘(d) BASIS FOR SECRETARY’S DETERMINATIONS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall, in de-
termining whether to certify a group of workers 
under section 223, obtain from the workers’ firm, a 
customer of the workers’ firm, or the petitioner, in-
formation that the Secretary determines to be nec-
essary to make the certification, through question-
naires and in such other manner as the Secretary 
determines appropriate. 
‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION.—The Sec-
retary may seek additional information to determine 
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whether to certify a group of workers under sub-
section (a) or (b)— 
‘‘(A) by contacting— 
‘‘(i) officials or employees of the work-
ers’ firm; 
‘‘(ii) officials of customers of the 
workers’ firm; 
‘‘(iii) officials of certified or recog-
nized unions or other duly authorized rep-
resentatives of the group of workers; or 
‘‘(iv) one-stop operators or one-stop 
partners (as defined in section 101 of the 
Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (29 
U.S.C. 2801)); 
‘‘(B) by reviewing all certifications or deni-
als of petitions for trade adjustment assistance 
within the same industry as the petitioner and 
considering the impact of trade on those deter-
minations; or 
‘‘(C) by using other available sources of in-
formation. 
‘‘(3) VERIFICATION OF INFORMATION.— 
‘‘(A) CERTIFICATION.—The Secretary shall 
require a firm or customer to certify— 
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‘‘(i) all information obtained under 
paragraph (1) from the firm or customer 
(as the case may be) through question-
naires; and 
‘‘(ii) all other information obtained 
under paragraph (1) from the firm or cus-
tomer (as the case may be) on which the 
Secretary relies in making a determination 
under section 223, unless the Secretary 
has a reasonable basis for determining that 
such information is accurate and complete 
without being certified. 
‘‘(B) PROTECTION OF CONFIDENTIAL IN-
FORMATION.—The Secretary may not release 
information obtained under paragraph (1) that 
the Secretary considers to be confidential busi-
ness information unless the firm or customer 
(as the case may be) submitting the confidential 
business information had notice, at the time of 
submission, that the information would be re-
leased by the Secretary, or the firm or customer 
(as the case may be) subsequently consents to 
the release of the information. Nothing in this 
subparagraph shall be construed to prohibit the 
Secretary from providing such confidential busi-
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ness information to a court in camera or to an-
other party under a protective order issued by 
a court. 
‘‘(C) REVIEW
OF
INFORMATION.—If the 
petition for certification is denied and the peti-
tioner appeals the denial, the Secretary shall 
notify the petitioner of any information sub-
mitted or certified as part of an investigation 
that was adverse to the petitioner’s claim, and 
shall allow a petitioner to review any documents 
not protected under subparagraph (B). The pe-
titioner shall be permitted an opportunity to 
submit and certify a rebuttal to the information 
submitted by the firm or firm’s customer as an 
addendum to the appeal, before the Secretary 
reviews the appeal.’’. 
(2) DETERMINATION OF SECRETARY.—Section 
223(a) of the Trade Act of 1974 is amended— 
(A) by striking ‘‘(a) As soon as possible’’ 
and inserting— 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 
‘‘(1) INITIAL
DETERMINATIONS.—As soon as 
possible’’; and 
(B) by adding at the end the following: 
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‘‘(2) NOTIFICATIONS
TO
PETITIONER.—Not 
later than 60 days after a petition or appeal is filed, 
the Secretary shall provide a written or electronic re-
sponse to a written request for information from the 
petitioner regarding the status of the petition. The 
response shall include the current stage of the inves-
tigation, details on outstanding requests for informa-
tion from the firm or firm’s customer described in 
222(e), any other reason for the delay, and the ex-
pected date of the final determination. Such notifica-
tion shall be provided to the petitioner not later than 
21 days after it is received by the Secretary.’’. 
(d) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 285(a) of 
the Trade Act of 1974 is amended by striking ‘‘December 
31, 2007’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘September 
30, 2014’’. 
(e) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 
(1) EXTENSION
OF
PROGRAM.—The amend-
ments made by subsections (a) and (d) apply to peti-
tions for certification of eligibility for adjustment as-
sistance under chapter 2 of title II of the Trade Act 
of 1974 that are filed before, on, or after the date 
of the enactment of this Act for such eligibility on 
or after February 13, 2011. 
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(2) 
PROCEDURAL
REQUIREMENTS.—The 
amendments made by subsections (b) and (c) apply 
with respect to petitions for certification of eligibility 
for adjustment assistance under chapter 2 of title II 
of the Trade Act of 1974 that are filed or after the 
date of the enactment of this Act. 
Æ 
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