[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 602 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 602

     Commending the cooperative business model and the businesses, 
employees, and practitioners nationally and internationally who use it 
for their contributions to the economy and social impacts they make on 
                           their communities.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 26, 2019

  Mr. Pocan (for himself, Mr. Gosar, and Ms. Velazquez) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                                Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
     Commending the cooperative business model and the businesses, 
employees, and practitioners nationally and internationally who use it 
for their contributions to the economy and social impacts they make on 
                           their communities.

Whereas cooperatives are member-owned businesses, owned and governed by the 
        people that use the business, create its products, or manage its 
        operations, and operate under the 7 agreed upon principles of--

    (1) voluntary open membership;

    (2) democratic control;

    (3) owner economic participation;

    (4) autonomy and independence;

    (5) education, training, and information;

    (6) cooperation among cooperatives; and

    (7) concern for community;

Whereas cooperative entrepreneurs are often categorized into 4 variations of the 
        business model--consumer, producer, purchasing, and worker 
        cooperatives--and can be found in almost every economic sector in the 
        United States, throughout all 50 States and territories, and every 
        congressional district in the United States;
Whereas internationally the principles of cooperation and the cooperative 
        business model help smallholder farmers organize themselves and gain 
        access to local and global markets, training, improved inputs, and 
        aggregated sales and marketing;
Whereas this provides farmers ownership over their economic decisions, a focus 
        on learning, and a broader understanding of environmental and social 
        concerns;
Whereas cooperatives help farmers increase incomes and become more resilient to 
        shocks and stresses by working together to plan and prepare for the 
        future;
Whereas cooperative values stress self-help, diversity, and inclusion of 
        vulnerable groups to ensure access to women and youth;
Whereas annual Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and 
        Related Agencies appropriation bills fund the sole domestic program 
        dedicated to cooperative development to improve the economic condition 
        of rural areas within the United States Department of Agriculture Rural 
        Business-Cooperative Services under the Rural Cooperative Development 
        Grant program, and grantee organizations use funding to provide 
        technical assistance to cooperatively owned businesses;
Whereas the Global Food Security Act identified cooperatives among key 
        stakeholders who are actors engaged in efforts to advance global food 
        security programs;
Whereas annual Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and 
        Related Agencies and State and Foreign Operations appropriation bills 
        fund titles and programs within the United States Agency for 
        International Development and the Department of Agriculture under 
        Development Assistance, Feed the Future, Food for Peace Title II, and 
        the Cooperative Development Program, and grantee organizations use 
        funding to advance international development using cooperative 
        principles and the cooperative model;
Whereas Federal legislation authorized a cooperative research program with 
        academic institutions to conduct research on the effects of all types of 
        cooperatives on the national economy as part of the 2008 farm bill;
Whereas an Interagency Working Group on Cooperative Development was established 
        in the Agricultural Act of 2014 and authorizes the Secretary of 
        Agriculture to coordinate and chair an interagency working group to 
        foster cooperative development and ensure coordination with Federal 
        agencies and national and local cooperative organizations that have 
        cooperative programs and interests, and has organized four meetings thus 
        far;
Whereas a bipartisan Congressional Cooperative Business Caucus unites Members of 
        Congress in a cause to create a better informed electorate and a more 
        educated public on the important role that cooperatives play in the 
        national and international economy, to promote the cooperative business 
        model because it ensures consumers have access to high-quality goods and 
        services at competitive prices and costs that better the lives of 
        individuals, families, and their communities, and to address and correct 
        awareness challenges among the public and within the Government on what 
        a co-op looks like, who are co-ops, where are co-ops, and why do people 
        choose them;
Whereas, the Census Bureau, as part of its 2017 Economic Census, included a 
        question in its survey of all businesses asking if the business is 
        organized as a cooperative which will yield both quantitative and 
        qualitative data on the effects and importance of cooperatives across 
        the American economy;
Whereas the University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives completed a research 
        study in 2009, entitled, ``Research on the Economic Impacts of 
        Cooperatives'', wherein they built a comprehensive list of all United 
        States cooperatives, gathered economic data from cooperatives, analyzed 
        the direct and indirect economic impacts of cooperatives, and developed 
        approaches for measuring the unique economic and social impacts of 
        cooperatives;
Whereas, in 2017, the University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives found that 
        there were 64,017 cooperatives in the United States operating in the 
        commercial sales, marketing and production, financial services, social 
        and public services, and utilities sectors;
Whereas in the utility services sector, utility cooperatives are tasked with the 
        delivery of public services such as electricity, water, 
        telecommunications, and broadband, mainly throughout the rural United 
        States, where investor-owned utility companies typically do not operate 
        due to low profitability;
Whereas in the financial services sector, cooperatives including credit unions, 
        farm credit banks, and financing organizations that lend to cooperatives 
        ensure that all revenue is funneled back into the business to lower 
        interest rates and provide other benefits to its member-owners;
Whereas in the insurance sector, the first cooperative was a mutual insurance 
        company founded in 1752 by Benjamin Franklin;
Whereas with no stockholders, policyholders vote in board elections and profits 
        earned are cycled back into cost saving programs or returned as dividend 
        payments;
Whereas in purchasing and shared-service cooperatives, independent and franchise 
        businesses who rely on them thrive;
Whereas in the agriculture sector, cooperatives account for a significant 
        portion of the economic activity in the United States agriculture and 
        food markets;
Whereas these producer cooperatives collectively help farmers buy required 
        supplies and services to operate their individual farms and help more 
        efficiently market their raw or processed products more than if they 
        performed these duties individually;
Whereas food cooperatives range in size from small, local buying clubs to 
        multistore regional giants that go head-to-head with national chain 
        stores;
Whereas in the housing sector, housing cooperatives and resident-owned 
        communities are an alternative to conventional rental apartments, mobile 
        home parks, and condominiums;
Whereas a housing cooperative owns the building or land and empowers each 
        resident with ownership and responsibility;
Whereas housing cooperatives have roots dating to the late 1800s and today are 
        mostly concentrated in major cities like New York City, Chicago, and the 
        District of Columbia, and increasingly are becoming an alternative for 
        students at colleges throughout the United States;
Whereas cooperatives allow residents of mobile home parks to collectively 
        purchase the land they live on, providing stability and the opportunity 
        to self-govern;
Whereas, as of 2018, at least 220 mobile home communities have converted to a 
        resident-owned model;
Whereas in worker cooperatives, members both perform the work and govern the 
        business;
Whereas in recent years, many businesses are choosing to structure this way so 
        that workers have greater control over the business in which they work 
        and own;
Whereas many sole proprietor, partnership, or family businesses are converting 
        to worker-owned cooperatives when faced with a potential closure or 
        buyout;
Whereas cooperatives have the potential to ease the impending problem of baby 
        boomer small business owners retiring by transitioning employee-owned or 
        consumer-owned cooperatives rather than closing the business when the 
        owner retires;
Whereas cooperatives are a proven strategy in helping people build a more 
        inclusive economy that is more equitable, participatory, growing, 
        sustainable, and stable; and
Whereas the national apex organization representing people and organizations 
        that use the cooperative business model to build a better world, the 
        National Cooperative Business Association CLUSA International, 
        celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2016: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) commends the cooperative business model for its 
        contributions to the Nation's and the world's economy, the jobs 
        it creates, and its social impacts on the communities in which 
        they operate;
            (2) expresses its confidence in and support for 
        cooperatives toward continuing their successes;
            (3) will seek to enact legislation ensuring that 
        cooperatives won't be adversely affected;
            (4) will be mindful in crafting legislation affecting other 
        business models so that the legislation does not adversely 
        affect the cooperative business model's competitive position; 
        and
            (5) will seek to enact legislation studying, supporting, 
        encouraging, and promoting the use of the cooperative business 
        model across all policy areas that can be an additional 
        alternative toward helping solve a number of the Nation's and 
        the world's policy issues and concerns.
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