H.R. 5250 — Introduced in House

I 113th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 5250 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES July 29, 2014 Ms. Norton introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform A BILL To use Federal purchasing power to create good jobs, rebuild the middle class, address income inequality, stimulate the economy, and to achieve other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Restore Opportunity, Strengthen, and Improve the Economy Act. 2. Findings and purposes (a) Findings The Congress of the United States finds the following: (1) The disappearance of good jobs, the shrinking of the middle class, and growing income inequality are the greatest domestic challenges confronting the Nation. (2) The United States Government is the largest purchaser of goods and services in the Nation’s private-sector economy, spending over $1.5 trillion dollars annually at firms that employ a quarter of American workers. (3) (A) Federal purchasing power is currently creating millions of poverty-level jobs, subsidizing labor law-breakers, and funding ballooning executive compensation. (B) The Federal Government is the Nation’s leading creator of low-wage jobs in the private sector, funding more than 2,000,000 jobs paying under $12 per hour. (C) The Federal Government awards taxpayer dollars to a substantial number of firms that violate Federal labor, employment, and occupational safety laws. (D) Federal Government purchasing subsidizes the excessive salaries of private-sector executives who do business with the American people. (4) When Federal purchasing power is used in such a manner, workers have less to spend on the necessities of life and are forced to rely on public assistance. Lack of working purchasing power hurts job creation and undermines economic growth, ultimately imposing significant costs on American taxpayers. (5) (A) Federal purchasing power should be used to create good jobs, rebuild the middle class, and curb rising income inequality. (B) Federal purchasing power should be used to create good jobs for America. Good jobs allow workers and their families to live in dignity without relying on public assistance or private charity. Good jobs pay enough to provide for subsistence, health care, education, housing, and savings, as well as enough disposable income to allow workers to enjoy quality time off with their loved ones. (C) Federal purchasing power should be used to rebuild the middle class. A strong middle class stimulates the economy by increasing consumer spending and job growth. (D) Federal purchasing power should be used to narrow the growing gulf between the richest one percent of the population and ordinary working families that is threatening the survival of participatory democracy. (b) Purposes The purposes of this Act are the following: (1) To use Federal purchasing power to incentivize private-sector firms. (2) To create good jobs for America’s workers. (3) To rebuild America’s middle class. (4) To address America’s crisis of income inequality. (5) To invigorate the economy by increasing the purchasing power of working Americans. 3. Good jobs model employer standards For purposes of this Act, a Good Jobs Model Employer is one which meets the following standards: (1) Respects employees’ rights to bargain collectively with their employers without being forced to take strike action to win better wages and working conditions. (2) Offers to each employee living wages, decent benefits including health care, paid leave for sickness and caregiving, and fair work schedules that are predictable and stable. (3) Affirmatively demonstrates an exemplary standard of compliance with workplace protection laws, including laws governing labor relations, wages and hours, and health and safety, as well as other applicable labor laws. (4) Limits executive compensation to 50 times the median salary paid to the company’s workers. (5) Employs a workforce not less than 35 percent of which reside within one or more Historically Underutilized Business Zones. (6) Subcontracts only with other Good Jobs Model Employers. 4. Application to Federal contracts and assistance (a) Eligibility for award of procurement contracts In the award of a contract for the acquisition of supplies or services, an executive agency may not award the contract to a source that is not a Good Jobs Model Employer, unless there is no offer from a source that is a Good Jobs Model Employer. (b) Eligibility for award of financial and nonfinancial assistance An executive agency may not provide other forms of financial or nonfinancial assistance to entities that are not model employers when there is a similarly situated Good Jobs Model Employer that could receive the assistance, unless doing so would substantially undermine the value of the assistance to the public good. (c) Incorporation into future Federal contracts and assistance agreements Beginning on January 1, 2015, executive agencies shall incorporate into each new contract, contract-like instrument, or assistance agreement a clause requiring the contractor or recipient to conduct itself as a Good Jobs Model Employer for the duration of the contract. (d) Exclusions None of the provisions of this section shall be interpreted to apply to— (1) direct Federal statutory entitlements; (2) mandatory awards; (3) direct awards to foreign governments or public international organizations; (4) benefits to an individual as a personal entitlement; or (5) Federal employment. 5. Implementation (a) Good jobs model employer standards The Secretary of Labor shall promulgate regulations implementing the Good Jobs Model Employer Standards of section 3(a) so as to effect the policy and purposes of this Act within 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act. The Secretary of Labor shall amend these regulations as necessary so that they continue to effect the policy and purposes of this Act. (b) Procurement policy The Administrator of General Services, the Secretary of Defense, and the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, in coordination with the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, shall amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation within 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act to effect the policy and purposes of this Act, and subsequently as necessary to continue to effect the policy and purposes of this Act. (c) Debarment or suspension (1) An organization which acquires any form of financial or nonfinancial benefit or a contract from an executive agency through the operation of the procedure described in section 4 shall be placed on the Excluded Parties List enacted by Executive Orders 12549 and 12689 for a period of at least 2 years if it fails to remain a model employer for the duration of the benefit. (2) An organization which violates a Good Job Model Employer clause in a contract or agreement required by section 4(c) shall be placed on the Excluded Parties List enacted by Executive Orders 12549 and 12689 for a period of 3 years. (3) Parties which are suspended multiple times may be debarred permanently. 6. Severability If any provision of this Act, or applying such provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be invalid, the remainder of this Act and the application of the provisions of such to any person or circumstance shall not be affected thereby.