I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1600
To provide that Federal contracts and certain Federal subsidies shall be
provided only to businesses which have qualified profit-sharing plans.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 28, 1999
Mr. FATTAH (for himself, Mr. FILNER, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. MEEKS
of New York, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. SABO, Mr. HILLIARD, Mr.
CUMMINGS, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. HINCHEY, Ms. BROWN of
Florida, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mr.
OWENS, Mr. CLAY, Mr. GUTIERREZ, and Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Gov-
ernment Reform, and in addition to the Committee on Education and the
Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker,
in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris-
diction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To provide that Federal contracts and certain Federal sub-
sidies shall be provided only to businesses which have
qualified profit-sharing plans.
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 ‘‘American Profit Shar-
ing Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that—
(1) reducing income disparities will stimulate
and stabilize the national economy;
(2) the best solutions to prevailing income dis-
parities are structural changes in our income dis-
tribution system;
(3) it is important that American corporations
retain the flexibility to compete effectively in this
global economy;
(4) it is equally important that the well-being of
the American worker be protected in this changing
economic environment;
(5) the most effective incomes policy approach
in such an environment is diversification of sources
and types of income for the American worker;
(6) return to capital in terms of interest, divi-
dends, and capital gains have soared in recent years
and is the single most robust source of income
growth;
(7) a significant percentage of this increase in
the return to capital has been a direct result of pub-
lic policy and public investment;
(8) in this country, profit sharing has been
shown to contribute to increased productivity and
profitability; and
(9) it is appropriate that taxpayers participate
in capital expansions created and financed with tax
dollars.
SEC. 3. PROVISION OF FEDERAL CONTRACTS AND CERTAIN
FEDERAL SUBSIDIES ONLY TO BUSINESSES
WITH QUALIFIED PROFIT-SHARING PLANS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Federal contracts and specified
Federal subsidies may be provided only to businesses
which have a stock bonus or profit-sharing plan which
meets the requirements of section 401(a) of the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986.
(b) EXCEPTION
FOR
START-UP
SMALL
BUSI-
NESSES.—Subsection (a) shall not apply to any business
for a year unless—
(1) such business has been in existence for at
least 10 prior years,
(2) such business has more than 5 full-time em-
ployees (or their equivalent) at any time during the
year, and
(3) the gross income of the business for the
year exceeds $5,000,000.
Rules similar to the rules of paragraph (2), and subpara-
graphs (B), (C), and (D) of paragraph (3), of section
448(c) shall apply for purposes of the preceding sentence.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
(a) FEDERAL CONTRACT.—For purposes of this Act,
the term ‘‘Federal contract’’ means any contract funded
directly or indirectly with Federal funds.
(b) SPECIFIED FEDERAL SUBSIDY.—For purposes of
this Act, the term ‘‘specified Federal subsidy’’ means any
of the following Federal benefits which benefit the busi-
ness:
(1) Any grant or other payment funded directly
or indirectly with Federal funds.
(2) Any guaranteed loan if such guarantee is by
any Federal agency or any payment under the guar-
antee is directly or indirectly from Federal funds.
(3) Any loan the interest rate on which, or the
other terms of which, are more favorable than loans
otherwise available to the borrower from non-Federal
sources if the more favorable interest rate or other
terms are funded directly or indirectly by Federal
funds.
Paragraphs (2) and (3) shall not apply to loans under dis-
aster loan programs.
SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.
This Act shall take effect on the first day of the first
fiscal year beginning after the date of the enactment of
this Act.
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