Make It In America Manufacturing Communities Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2631 To improve the competitiveness of United States manufacturing by designating and supporting manufacturing communities. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 9, 2019 Mr. CICILLINE (for himself, Mr. REED, Mr. RYAN, Ms. BROWNLEY of Cali- fornia, Mr. SCHRADER, and Mrs. BUSTOS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services A BILL To improve the competitiveness of United States manufac- turing by designating and supporting manufacturing communities. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Make It In America 4 Manufacturing Communities Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act: 7 (1) MANUFACTURING COMMUNITY SUPPORT 8 PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘Manufacturing Community 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:37 May 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2631.IH H2631 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2631 IH Support Program’’ means the program established 1 under section 3(a). 2 (2) PARTICIPATING AGENCY.—The term ‘‘par- 3 ticipating agency’’ means a Federal agency that 4 elects to participate in the Manufacturing Commu- 5 nity Support Program. 6 (3) PARTICIPATING PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘par- 7 ticipating program’’ means a program identified by 8 a participating agency under section 3(c)(1)(C). 9 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 10 the Secretary of Commerce. 11 SEC. 3. PROGRAM TO DESIGNATE AND SUPPORT MANUFAC- 12 TURING COMMUNITIES. 13 (a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary shall es- 14 tablish a program to improve the competitiveness of 15 United States manufacturing— 16 (1) by designating consortiums as manufac- 17 turing communities under subsection (b); and 18 (2) by supporting manufacturing communities, 19 as so designated, under subsection (c). 20 (b) DESIGNATION OF MANUFACTURING COMMU- 21 NITIES.— 22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para- 23 graph (7), for purposes of the Manufacturing Com- 24 munity Support Program, the Secretary shall des- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:37 May 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2631.IH H2631 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2631 IH ignate eligible consortiums as manufacturing com- 1 munities through a competitive process. 2 (2) ELIGIBLE CONSORTIUMS.— 3 (A) IN GENERAL.—An eligible consortium 4 is a consortium that— 5 (i) represents a region defined by the 6 consortium in accordance with subpara- 7 graph (B); 8 (ii) includes at least one— 9 (I) institution of higher edu- 10 cation; 11 (II) private sector entity; and 12 (III) government entity; 13 (iii) may include one or more— 14 (I) private sector partners; 15 (II) institutions of higher edu- 16 cation; 17 (III) government entities; 18 (IV) economic development and 19 other community and labor groups; 20 (V) financial institutions; or 21 (VI) utilities; and 22 (iv) has, as a lead applicant— 23 (I) a district organization (as de- 24 fined in section 300.3 of title 13, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:37 May 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2631.IH H2631 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2631 IH Code of Federal Regulations, or suc- 1 cessor regulation); 2 (II) an Indian tribe (as defined 3 in section 4 of the Indian Self-Deter- 4 mination and Education Assistance 5 Act (25 U.S.C. 450b)) or a consor- 6 tium of Indian tribes; 7 (III) a State or a political sub- 8 division of a State, including a special 9 purpose unit of a State or local gov- 10 ernment engaged in economic or in- 11 frastructure development activities, or 12 a consortium of political subdivisions; 13 (IV) an institution of higher edu- 14 cation or a consortium of institutions 15 of higher education; or 16 (V) a public or private nonprofit 17 organization or association that has 18 an application that is supported by a 19 State, a political subdivision of a 20 State, or a native community. 21 (B) REGIONS.—Subject to approval by the 22 Secretary, a consortium may define the region 23 that it represents if the region— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:37 May 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2631.IH H2631 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2631 IH (i) is large enough to contain critical 1 elements of the key technologies or supply 2 chain prioritized by the consortium; and 3 (ii) is small enough to enable close 4 collaboration among members of the con- 5 sortium. 6 (3) DURATION.—Each designation under para- 7 graph (1) shall be for a period of two years. 8 (4) RENEWAL.— 9 (A) IN GENERAL.—Upon receipt of an ap- 10 plication submitted under subparagraph (B), 11 the Secretary may renew a designation made 12 under paragraph (1) for up to two additional 13 two-year periods. Any designation as a manu- 14 facturing community or renewal of such des- 15 ignation that is in effect before the date of the 16 enactment of this Act shall count toward the 17 limit set forth in this subparagraph. 18 (B) APPLICATION FOR RENEWAL.—An eli- 19 gible consortium seeking a renewal under sub- 20 paragraph (A) shall submit an application to 21 the Secretary at such time, in such manner, 22 and containing such information as the Sec- 23 retary may require. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:37 May 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2631.IH H2631 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2631 IH (C) MODIFICATIONS AUTHORIZED.—The 1 Secretary may renew a designation under sub- 2 paragraph (A) for an eligible consortium that— 3 (i) has changed its composition, either 4 by adding or removing members; or 5 (ii) as part of its application under 6 subparagraph (B), submits a revision to 7 the plan submitted under paragraph 8 (5)(B)(iv) or the strategy submitted under 9 paragraph (5)(B)(v). 10 (D) EVALUATION FOR RENEWAL.—In de- 11 termining whether to renew a designation of an 12 eligible consortium under paragraph (1), the 13 Secretary shall assess the eligible consortium 14 based upon— 15 (i) the performance of the consortium 16 against the terms of the consortium’s most 17 recent designation under paragraph (1) 18 and any post-designation awards the con- 19 sortium may have received; 20 (ii) the progress the consortium has 21 made with respect to project-specific 22 metrics the consortium proposed in the 23 consortium’s application for the most re- 24 cent designation under paragraph (1), par- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:37 May 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2631.IH H2631 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2631 IH ticularly with respect to those metrics that 1 were designed to help communities track 2 their own progress; 3 (iii) whether any changes to the com- 4 position of the eligible consortium or revi- 5 sions to the plan or strategy described in 6 subparagraph (C)(ii) would improve the 7 competitiveness of United States manufac- 8 turing; and 9 (iv) such other criteria as the Sec- 10 retary considers appropriate. 11 (5) APPLICATION FOR DESIGNATION.— 12 (A) IN GENERAL.—An eligible consortium 13 seeking a designation under paragraph (1) shall 14 submit an application to the Secretary at such 15 time and in such manner as the Secretary may 16 require. 17 (B) CONTENTS.—Each application sub- 18 mitted to the Secretary under subparagraph (A) 19 shall include— 20 (i) a description of the regional 21 boundaries of the consortium; 22 (ii) a description of the manufacturing 23 concentration of the consortium, including 24 an assessment of how the manufacturing 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:37 May 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2631.IH H2631 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2631 IH concentration of the consortium competi- 1 tively ranks nationally according to meas- 2 ures relating to employment, sales, location 3 quotients for an industry’s level of con- 4 centration, or such other measures as the 5 Secretary considers appropriate; 6 (iii) an integrated assessment of the 7 local industrial ecosystem of the region of 8 the consortium, which may include assess- 9 ment of workforce and training, such as 10 that involving women and underrep- 11 resented minorities, supplier network, re- 12 search and innovation, infrastructure or 13 site development, trade and international 14 investment, operational improvements, and 15 capital access components needed for man- 16 ufacturing activities in such region; 17 (iv) an evidence-based plan for devel- 18 oping components of such ecosystem (se- 19 lected by the consortium)— 20 (I) by making specific invest- 21 ments to address gaps in such eco- 22 system; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:37 May 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2631.IH H2631 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 2631 IH (II) by making the manufac- 1 turing of the region of the consortium 2 uniquely competitive; 3 (v) a description of the investments 4 the consortium proposes and the imple- 5 mentation strategy the consortium intends 6 to use to address gaps in such ecosystem; 7 (vi) a description of the outcome- 8 based metrics, benchmarks, and milestones 9 that the consortium will track and the 10 evaluation methods the consortium will use 11 while designated as a manufacturing com- 12 munity to gauge performance of the strat- 13 egy of the consortium to improve the man- 14 ufacturing in the region of the consortium; 15 and 16 (vii) such other matters as the Sec- 17 retary considers appropriate. 18 (6) EVALUATION OF APPLICATIONS.—The Sec- 19 retary shall evaluate each application received under 20 paragraph (5) to determine— 21 (A) whether the applicant demonstrates a 22 significant level of regional cooperation in their 23 proposal; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:37 May 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2631.IH H2631 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 2631 IH (B) how the manufacturing concentration 1 of the applicant competitively ranks nationally 2 according to measures described in paragraph 3 (5)(B)(ii). 4 (7) CERTAIN COMMUNITIES PREVIOUSLY REC- 5 OGNIZED.—Each consortium that was designated as 6 a manufacturing community by the Secretary in car- 7 rying out the Investing in Manufacturing Commu- 8 nities Partnership initiative of the Department of 9 Commerce before the date of the enactment of this 10 Act shall be deemed a manufacturing community 11 designated under this subsection if such consortium 12 is still designated as a manufacturing community by 13 the Secretary as part of such initiative. 14 (c) SUPPORT FOR DESIGNATED MANUFACTURING 15 COMMUNITIES.— 16 (1) PREFERENTIAL CONSIDERATION.— 17 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 18 subparagraph (D), if a member of a consortium 19 designated as a manufacturing community 20 under subsection (b) seeks financial or technical 21 assistance under a participating program of a 22 participating agency, the head of such agency 23 may give preferential consideration to such 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:37 May 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2631.IH H2631 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 2631 IH member with respect to the awarding of such fi- 1 nancial or technical assistance if— 2 (i) such head considers the award of 3 the financial or technical assistance con- 4 sistent with the economic development 5 strategy of the consortium; and 6 (ii) the member otherwise meets all 7 applicable requirements for the financial or 8 technical assistance. 9 (B) PARTICIPATING AGENCIES.—The Sec- 10 retary shall invite other Federal agencies to be- 11 come participating agencies of the Manufac- 12 turing Community Support Program. 13 (C) PARTICIPATING PROGRAMS.—The head 14 of each participating agency shall identify all 15 programs administered by such participating 16 agency that are applicable to the Manufacturing 17 Community Support Program. 18 (D) MULTIPLE MEMBERS OF THE SAME 19 CONSORTIUM SEEKING THE SAME FINANCIAL 20 OR TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 21 (i) IN GENERAL.—If a participating 22 agency receives applications for the same 23 financial or technical assistance from more 24 than one member of the same consortium 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:37 May 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2631.IH H2631 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 2631 IH designated as a manufacturing community 1 under subsection (b), the head of such 2 agency may determine how preference will 3 be given under subparagraph (A), includ- 4 ing by requiring the consortium to select 5 which of the members should be given 6 preference. 7 (ii) COORDINATION.—If the head of a 8 participating agency determines that more 9 than one member of a consortium should 10 be given preference for financial or tech- 11 nical assistance under subparagraph (A), 12 he or she may require such members to 13 demonstrate coordination with each other 14 in developing their applications for the fi- 15 nancial or technical assistance. 16 (E) REPORT.—Not later than 90 days 17 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 18 head of each participating agency shall submit 19 a report to the Secretary that specifies how the 20 head will give preferential consideration under 21 subparagraph (A). 22 (2) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary 23 may make a Federal point of contact available to 24 each consortium designated as a manufacturing 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:37 May 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2631.IH H2631 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 2631 IH community under subsection (b) to help the mem- 1 bers of the consortium access Federal funds and 2 technical assistance. 3 (3) FINANCIAL AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 4 (A) IN GENERAL.—Under the Manufac- 5 turing Community Support Program, the head 6 of a participating agency may award financial 7 or technical assistance to a member of a consor- 8 tium designated as a manufacturing community 9 under subsection (b) as he or she considers ap- 10 propriate for purposes of such program and 11 consistent with the economic development strat- 12 egy of the consortium. 13 (B) USE OF FUNDS.— 14 (i) IN GENERAL.—A recipient of fi- 15 nancial or technical assistance under sub- 16 paragraph (A) may use such financial or 17 technical assistance to support an invest- 18 ment in an ecosystem that will improve the 19 competitiveness of United States manufac- 20 turing. 21 (ii) INVESTMENTS SUPPORTED.—In- 22 vestments supported under this subpara- 23 graph may include— 24 (I) infrastructure; 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