I 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2437 
To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to establish 
a national program to create jobs and increase economic development 
by promoting cooperative development. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 19, 2013 
Mr. FATTAH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Develop-
ment to establish a national program to create jobs and 
increase economic development by promoting cooperative 
development. 
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 ‘‘Creating Jobs Through 
Cooperatives Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following: 
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(1) That Federal policy can promote coopera-
tive development, which demonstrably has the fol-
lowing benefits for communities located in such 
areas: 
(A) Advancing local economic stability. 
(B) Increasing local circulation of capital, 
thereby increasing economic multipliers and the 
impact of community investment to spur locally 
oriented economic growth. 
(C) Developing, attracting, and anchoring 
new productive capital in low-income commu-
nities. 
(D) Expanding investment opportunities 
and asset creation for low- and moderate-in-
come Americans. 
(2) Cooperatives operate in all 50 States and 
across all sectors of the United States economy, in-
cluding industries such as energy, telecommuni-
cations, food distribution, insurance, credit unions, 
agriculture, health, housing, and wholesale and retail 
purchasing and distribution. 
(3) There are 29,000 cooperatives in the United 
States that account for more than $3 trillion in as-
sets, over $500 billion in total revenue, $25 billion 
in wages and benefits, and nearly two million jobs. 
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(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to estab-
lish a Federal program that will create jobs and increase 
economic development by promoting cooperative develop-
ment. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) COOPERATIVE
DEVELOPMENT.—The term 
‘‘cooperative development’’ means technical assist-
ance provided for the purpose of— 
(A) providing financial forecasting, feasi-
bility analysis, business planning, and other 
preparatory activity to ensure that a coopera-
tive organization, or organizations that are in 
the process of establishing such an organiza-
tion, are grounded in sound business practices; 
(B) assisting with establishing incorpora-
tion documents, bylaws, and policies that ensure 
that cooperative organizations— 
(i) adhere to legal obligations of a 
local or State government or the Federal 
Government; and 
(ii) are governed by transparent and 
agreed-upon rules; 
(C) educating, with respect to how cooper-
ative organizations function— 
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(i) board members, management, and 
employees of cooperative organizations; 
(ii) local communities affected by such 
organizations and the general public; and 
(iii) professionals involved in coopera-
tive development; 
(D) providing organizational planning for 
cooperative organizations, including board meet-
ings and board development, and strategic plan-
ning; 
(E) hosting networking activities and con-
ferences involving cooperative organizations, en-
tities that work with such organizations, and 
professional organizations that engage in coop-
erative development; 
(F) providing professional development of 
professionals involved in cooperative develop-
ment by offering training focused on coopera-
tive development; and 
(G) providing administrative and oper-
ational set-up of cooperative organizations. 
(2) COOPERATIVE
ORGANIZATION.—The term 
‘‘cooperative organization’’ means an autonomous 
association of persons united voluntarily to meet 
their common economic, social, and cultural needs 
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and aspirations through a jointly owned and demo-
cratically controlled enterprise. 
(3) ELIGIBLE PROJECT AREA.— 
(A) IN
GENERAL.—The term ‘‘eligible 
project area’’ means an area located within— 
(i) a census tract that is defined as 
low- or moderate-income by the Bureau of 
the Census of the Department of Com-
merce; 
(ii) a population census tract that is 
treated as a low-income community under 
section 45D(e) of the Internal Revenue 
Code of 1986; or 
(iii) subject to subparagraph (B), an 
area that— 
(I) is adjacent or close to an area 
that meets the requirements of either 
clause (i) or (ii); and 
(II) is given special approval by 
the Secretary to be classified as an el-
igible project area. 
(B) LIMITATION.—The Secretary shall 
limit the number of projects funded under this 
Act that are located in an area described in 
subparagraph (A)(iii). 
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(4) LOCAL COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT CEN-
TER.—The term ‘‘local cooperative development cen-
ter’’ means a nonprofit organization, college, or uni-
versity, or a group of such organizations, colleges, or 
universities, with expertise in establishing and devel-
oping cooperative organizations. 
(5) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘program’’ means 
the National Cooperative Development Program es-
tablished under section 4. 
(6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, 
or the Secretary’s designee. 
SEC. 4. NATIONAL COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT PRO-
GRAM. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Housing 
and Urban Development shall establish a program to be 
known as the National Cooperative Development Program 
to carry out the purpose described in section 2(b). 
(b) ASSISTANCE
FOR
COOPERATIVE
DEVELOP-
MENT.— 
(1) USES.—The Secretary shall use amounts 
made available for the program for— 
(A) providing grants to local cooperative 
development centers, to carry out activities that 
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