Boosting America’s Exports Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5437 To provide for certain actions by the International Trade Administration in order to increase exports by small- and medium-sized enterprises, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER 16, 2019 Mrs. BUSTOS (for herself and Mr. RUTHERFORD) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs A BILL To provide for certain actions by the International Trade Administration in order to increase exports by small- and medium-sized enterprises, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘Boosting America’s 4 Exports Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act: 7 (1) COMMERCIAL SERVICE.—The term ‘‘Com- 8 mercial Service’’ means the United States and For- 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:42 Dec 27, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5437.IH H5437 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 5437 IH eign Commercial Service of the Department of Com- 1 merce. 2 (2) DIRECTOR GENERAL.—The term ‘‘Director 3 General’’ means the Assistant Secretary for Global 4 Markets and Director General of the United States 5 and Foreign Commercial Service. 6 (3) SMALL- AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTER- 7 PRISES.—The term ‘‘small- and medium-sized enter- 8 prises’’ or ‘‘SMEs’’ means firms with less than 500 9 employees. 10 (4) UNDER SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Under 11 Secretary’’ means the Under Secretary of Commerce 12 for International Trade. 13 (5) UNITED STATES EXPORT ASSISTANCE CEN- 14 TER.—The term ‘‘United States Export Assistance 15 Center’’ or ‘‘USEAC’’ means a United States Ex- 16 port Assistance Center established by the Commer- 17 cial Service to provide assistance to United States 18 firms in exporting their goods and services. 19 SEC. 3. ASSESSMENT OF UNITED STATES EXPORT ASSIST- 20 ANCE CENTERS. 21 (a) ASSESSMENT.—The Under Secretary shall con- 22 duct an assessment of the location of and services provided 23 by United States Export Assistance Centers in relation to 24 the location of small- and medium-sized enterprises that 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:42 Dec 27, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5437.IH H5437 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 5437 IH are exporters or potential exporters of products or serv- 1 ices. 2 (b) REPORT.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year 4 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 5 Under Secretary shall submit to Congress a report 6 on the assessment conducted under subsection (a). 7 (2) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The report 8 required under this subsection shall identify— 9 (A) those locations of USEACs that are 10 serving a comparatively high number of SMEs; 11 and 12 (B) other locations where USEACs should 13 be established. 14 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Under Secretary shall 15 implement the changes recommended in the report sub- 16 mitted to Congress under subsection (b) not later than 17 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act. The 18 Under Secretary may establish up to 30 new USEACs on 19 the basis of the report. 20 SEC. 4. ACTIVITIES OF COMMERCIAL SERVICE. 21 (a) INCREASED ACTIVITIES.—The Under Secretary 22 shall take the necessary steps, through actions by the 23 Commercial Service, to increase the exports, by volume 24 and types of products and services, by small- and medium- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:42 Dec 27, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5437.IH H5437 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 5437 IH sized enterprises. In order to achieve that goal, the Direc- 1 tor General shall set goals and measure exports by SMEs 2 in each fiscal year, in particular exports by SMEs that 3 had not exported previously, including measuring— 4 (1) the total volume of exports, by product and 5 type of services, including as compared to the vol- 6 ume of such exports in the preceding fiscal year; 7 (2) the number of non-exporting SMEs con- 8 tacted through recruitment efforts of the Commer- 9 cial Service; 10 (3) the number of new SMEs exporting in the 11 fiscal year; and 12 (4) customer service, such as response times 13 and customer satisfaction, to SMEs that contact 14 United States Export Assistance Centers, in par- 15 ticular non-exporting SMEs. 16 (b) PERSONNEL FOR USEACS.—The Under Sec- 17 retary shall ensure that the following is carried out upon 18 the implementation of the report submitted under section 19 3: 20 (1) FUNCTIONS OF PERSONNEL.—Personnel at 21 each USEAC shall identify and conduct outreach to 22 potential exporters that are SMEs, attend relevant 23 business conferences and trade shows to advertise 24 the availability of the resources of the USEAC to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:42 Dec 27, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5437.IH H5437 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 5437 IH SMEs, and perform other tasks designed to help 1 non-exporting SMEs become exporters. 2 (2) ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL.—The Under Sec- 3 retary shall, in the case of USEACs that are exist- 4 ing USEACs and not new USEACs established on 5 the basis of the report, increase the personnel at 6 those USEACs (by an average of not more than 5 7 for each USEAC) to the extent necessary to enhance 8 the ability of the USEACs, through outreach and 9 provision of services to SMEs, to increase exports by 10 SMEs, in particular non-exporting SMEs. 11 (3) TRADE SPECIALISTS.—The Director Gen- 12 eral shall ensure that specialists in an increased 13 number of areas are on the staff of USEACs in 14 order to serve an increased number of SMEs. 15 (4) COLLABORATION WITH OTHER ENTITIES.— 16 The Director General shall ensure that staff at each 17 USEAC is assigned to conduct outreach to and col- 18 laborate with entities of the States and other non- 19 Federal entities with respect to export promotion ac- 20 tivities designed to increase exports by SMEs. 21 (5) ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL.—The Direc- 22 tor General shall ensure that USEACs have per- 23 sonnel dedicated to administrative duties as needed 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:42 Dec 27, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5437.IH H5437 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 5437 IH in order to enable other personnel to work more on 1 client-oriented tasks. 2 SEC. 5. ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS. 3 The Under Secretary shall submit to Congress an an- 4 nual report on the implementation of this Act, including 5 the actions of the Director General under section 4. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:42 Dec 27, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5437.IH H5437 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS