American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009/Division B/Title I/Subtitle I/Part II

PART II—TRADE ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE FOR FIRMS

SEC. 1861. EXPANSION TO SERVICE SECTOR FIRMS.

(a) In General.—Section 251 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2341) is amended by inserting "or service sector firm" after "agricultural firm" each place it appears.

(b) Definition of Service Sector Firm.—Section 261 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2351) is amended—

(1) by striking "chapter," and inserting "chapter:::";

(2) by striking "the term `firm"' and inserting the following:

"(1) Firm.—The term `firm"'; and

(3) by adding at the end the following:

"(2) Service sector firm.—The term `service sector firm' means a firm engaged in the business of supplying services.".

(c) Conforming Amendments.—

(1) Section 251(c)(1)(C) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2341(c)(1)(C)) is amended—

(A) by inserting "or services" after "articles" the first place it appears; and

(B) by inserting "or services which are supplied" after "produced".

(2) Section 251(c)(2)(B)(ii) of such Act is amended to read as follows:

"(ii) Any firm that engages in exploration or drilling for oil or natural gas, or otherwise produces oil or natural gas, shall be considered to be producing articles directly competitive with imports of oil and with imports of natural gas.".

SEC. 1862. MODIFICATION OF REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTIFICATION.

Section 251(c)(1)(B) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2341(c)(1)(B)) is amended to read as follows:

"(B) that—

"(i) sales or production, or both, of the firm have decreased absolutely,

"(ii) sales or production, or both, of an article or service that accounted for not less than 25 percent of the total sales or production of the firm during the 12-month period preceding the most recent 12-month period for which date are available have decreased absolutely,

"(iii) sales or production, or both, of the firm during the most recent 12-month period for which data are available have decreased compared to—

"(I) the average annual sales or production for the firm during the 24-month period preceding that 12-month period, or

"(II) the average annual sales or production for the firm during the 36-month period preceding that 12-month period, and

"(iv) sales or production, or both, of an article or service that accounted for not less than 25 percent of the total sales or production of the firm during the most recent 12-month period for which data are available have decreased compared to—

"(I) the average annual sales or production for the article or service during the 24-month period preceding that 12-month period, or

"(II) the average annual sales or production for the article or service during the 36-month period preceding that 12-month period, and".

SEC. 1863. BASIS FOR DETERMINATIONS.

Section 251 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2341), as amended, is further amended by adding at the end the following:

"(e) Basis for Secretary's Determinations.—For purposes of subsection (c)(1)(C), the Secretary may determine that there are increased imports of like or directly competitive articles or services, if customers accounting for a significant percentage of the decrease in the sales or production of the firm certify to the Secretary that such customers have increased their imports of such articles or services from a foreign country, either absolutely or relative to their acquisition of such articles or services from suppliers located in the United States.

"(f) Notification to Firms of Availability of Benefits.—Upon receiving notice from the Secretary of Labor under section 225 of the identity of a firm that is covered by a certification issued under section 223, the Secretary of Commerce shall notify the firm of the availability of adjustment assistance under this chapter.".

SEC. 1864. OVERSIGHT AND ADMINISTRATION; AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

(a) In General.—Chapter 3 of title II of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2341 et seq.) is amended—

(1) by striking sections 254, 255, 256, and 257;

(2) by redesignating sections 258, 259, 260, 261, 262, 264, and 265, as sections 256, 257, 258, 259, 260, 261, and 262, respectively; and

(3) by inserting after section 253 the following:

"SEC. 254. OVERSIGHT AND ADMINISTRATION.

"(a) In General.—The Secretary shall, to such extent and in such amounts as are provided in appropriations Acts, provide grants to intermediary organizations (referred to in section 253(b)(1)) throughout the United States pursuant to agreements with such intermediary organizations. Each such agreement shall require the intermediary organization to provide benefits to firms certified under section 251. The Secretary shall, to the maximum extent practicable, provide by October 1, 2010, that contracts entered into with intermediary organizations be for a 12-month period and that all such contracts have the same beginning date and the same ending date.

"(b) Distribution of Funds.—

"(1) In general.—Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this subsection, the Secretary shall develop a methodology for the distribution of funds among the intermediary organizations described in subsection (a).

"(2) Prompt initial distribution.—The methodology described in paragraph (1) shall ensure the prompt initial distribution of funds and establish additional criteria governing the apportionment and distribution of the remainder of such funds among the intermediary organizations.

"(3) Criteria.—The methodology described in paragraph (1) shall include criteria based on the data in the annual report on the trade adjustment assistance for firms program described in section 1866 of the Trade and Globalization Adjustment Assistance Act of 2009.

"(c) Requirements for Contracts.—An agreement with an intermediary organization described in subsection (a) shall require the intermediary organization to contract for the supply of services to carry out grants under this chapter in accordance with terms and conditions that are consistent with guidelines established by the Secretary.

"(d) Consultations.—

"(1) Consultations regarding methodology.—The Secretary shall consult with the Committee on Finance of the Senate and the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives—

"(A) not less than 30 days before finalizing the methodology described in subsection (b); and

"(B) not less than 60 days before adopting any changes to such methodology.

"(2) Consultations regarding guidelines.—The Secretary shall consult with the Committee on Finance of the Senate and the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives not less than 60 days before finalizing the guidelines described in subsection (c) or adopting any subsequent changes to such guidelines.

"SEC. 255. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

"(a) In General.—There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary $50,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2009 through 2010, and $12,501,000 for the period beginning October 1, 2010, and ending December 31, 2010, to carry out the provisions of this chapter. Amounts appropriated pursuant to this subsection shall—

"(1) be available to provide adjustment assistance to firms that file a petition for such assistance pursuant to this chapter on or before December 31, 2010; and

"(2) otherwise remain available until expended.

"(b) Personnel.—Of the amounts appropriated pursuant to this section for each fiscal year, $350,000 shall be available for full-time positions in the Department of Commerce to administer the provisions of this chapter. Of such funds the Secretary shall make available to the Economic Development Administration such sums as may be necessary to establish the position of Director of Adjustment Assistance for Firms and such other full-time positions as may be appropriate to administer the provisions of this chapter.".

(b) Residual Authority.—The Secretary of Commerce shall have the authority to modify, terminate, resolve, liquidate, or take any other action with respect to a loan, guarantee, contract, or any other financial assistance that was extended under section 254, 255, 256, or 257 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2344, 2345, 2346, and 2347), as in effect on the day before the effective date set forth in section 1891.

(c) Conforming Amendments.—

(1) Section 256 of the Trade Act of 1974, as redesignated by subsection (a) of this section, is amended by striking subsection (d).

(2) Section 258 of the Trade Act of 1974, as redesignated by subsection (a) of this section, is amended—

(A) in the first sentence, by striking "and financial"; and

(B) in the last sentence—

(i) by striking "sections 253 and 254" and inserting "section 253"; and

(ii) by striking "title 28 of the United States Code" and inserting "title 28, United States Code".

(d) Clerical Amendments.—The table of contents of the Trade Act of 1974 is amended by striking the items relating to sections 254, 255, 256, 257, 258, 259, 260, 261, 262, 264, and 265, and inserting the following:

"Sec. 254. Oversight and administration.

"Sec. 255. Authorization of appropriations.

"Sec. 256. Protective provisions.

"Sec. 257. Penalties.

"Sec. 258. Civil actions.

"Sec. 259. Definitions.

"Sec. 260. Regulations.

"Sec. 261. Study by Secretary of Commerce when International Trade Commission begins investigation; action where there is affirmative finding.

"Sec. 262. Assistance to industries.".

(e) Effective Date.—This section and the amendments made by this section shall take effect upon the expiration of the 90-day period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, except that subsections (b) and (d) of section 254 of the Trade Act of 1974 (as added by subsection (a) of this section) shall take effect on such date of enactment.

SEC. 1865. INCREASED PENALTIES FOR FALSE STATEMENTS.

Section 257 of the Trade Act of 1974, as redesignated by section 1864(a), is amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 257. PENALTIES.

"Any person who—

"(1) makes a false statement of a material fact knowing it to be false, or knowingly fails to disclose a material fact, or willfully overvalues any security, for the purpose of influencing in any way a determination under this chapter, or for the purpose of obtaining money, property, or anything of value under this chapter, or

"(2) makes a false statement of a material fact knowing it to be false, or knowingly fails to disclose a material fact, when providing information to the Secretary during an investigation of a petition under this chapter, shall be imprisoned for not more than 2 years, or fined under title 18, United States Code, or both.".

SEC. 1866. ANNUAL REPORT ON TRADE ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE FOR FIRMS.

(a) In General.—Not later than December 15, 2009, and each year thereafter, the Secretary of Commerce shall prepare a report containing data regarding the trade adjustment assistance for firms program provided for in chapter 3 of title II of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2341 et seq.) for the preceding fiscal year. The data shall include the following:

(1) The number of firms that inquired about the program.

(2) The number of petitions filed under section 251.

(3) The number of petitions certified and denied.

(4) The average time for processing petitions.

(5) The number of petitions filed and firms certified for each congressional district of the United States.

(6) The number of firms that received assistance in preparing their petitions.

(7) The number of firms that received assistance developing business recovery plans.

(8) The number of business recovery plans approved and denied by the Secretary of Commerce.

(9) Sales, employment, and productivity at each firm participating in the program at the time of certification.

(10) Sales, employment, and productivity at each firm upon completion of the program and each year for the 2-year period following completion.

(11) The financial assistance received by each firm participating in the program.

(12) The financial contribution made by each firm participating in the program.

(13) The types of technical assistance included in the business recovery plans of firms participating in the program.

(14) The number of firms leaving the program before completing the project or projects in their business recovery plans and the reason the project was not completed.

(b) Classification of Data.—To the extent possible, in collecting and reporting the data described in subsection (a), the Secretary shall classify the data by intermediary organization, State, and national totals.

(c) Report to Congress; Publication.—The Secretary of Commerce shall—

(1) submit the report described in subsection (a) to the Committee on Finance of the Senate and the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives; and

(2) publish the report in the Federal Register and on the website of the Department of Commerce.

(d) Protection of Confidential Information.—The Secretary of Commerce may not release information described in subsection (a) that the Secretary considers to be confidential business information unless the person submitting the confidential business information had notice, at the time of submission, that such information would be released by the Secretary, or such person subsequently consents to the release of the information. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to prohibit the Secretary from providing such confidential business information to a court in camera or to another party under a protective order issued by a court.

SEC. 1867. TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS.

(a) In General.—Section 251 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2341), as amended, is further amended—

(1) in subsection (a), by striking "he has" and inserting "the Secretary has"; and

(2) in subsection (d), by striking "60 days" and inserting "40 days".

(b) Technical Assistance.—Section 253(a)(3) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2343(a)(3)) is amended by striking "of a certified firm" and inserting "to a certified firm".