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Code · BILL · 116th Congress · H.R. 8745 (Introduced in House) — To strengthen American economic resiliency and equitably expand economic opportunity by launching a national competit... · Sec. 3

Sec. 3. Innovation Center Selection Committee

1,354 words·~6 min read·/bill/116/hr/8745/ih/section-3

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There is established the Innovation Center Selection Committee, which shall— establish the global competitive edge of the United States in the 21st century across a range of innovation sectors critical to national and economic security; enable 9 metropolitan statistical areas in the United States to become innovation centers for global innovation leadership and models for inclusive growth, equal opportunity, and rising living standards for disadvantaged populations; inspire, within metropolitan statistical areas in the United States across the country, new and constructive collaboration among local, State, and Federal government entities, academia, and private industry by issuing a call for innovation center proposals with clear, ambitious objectives; carry out a transparent, competitive, fair, and rigorous process for selecting innovation centers; ensure the transparent, efficient and effective use of taxpayer funds; and empirically evaluate the effectiveness of innovation centers through release of publicly available reports and data.
The Committee shall be composed of the following voting members: The Secretary of Commerce, who shall serve as chairperson of the Committee. The Administrator of the Small Business Administration. The Deputy Secretary for Housing and Urban Development. The Director of the Community Development Financial Institution Fund. The Director of the National Science Foundation. The Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The Director of the National Economic Council.
The Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development. The Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training. The Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. The Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. The Under Secretary for Science of the Department of Energy. The Director of the National Institutes of Health. The Under Secretary for Science and Technology of the Department of Homeland Security. The Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
The Committee shall have 8 nonvoting members, of which, from among leaders of labor organizations or research institutions, or leaders from private industry or professional societies— 2 shall be appointed by the majority leader of the Senate; 2 shall be appointed by the minority leader of the Senate; 2 shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives; and 2 shall be appointed by the minority leader of the House of Representatives. The nonvoting members appointed under subparagraph (A)— shall serve for a term of 5 years; and may be reappointed to subsequent terms.
A vacancy in the nonvoting membership of the Committee shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointment, but the individual appointed to fill the vacancy shall serve only for the unexpired portion of the term for which the individual's predecessor was appointed. The nonvoting members of the Committee shall be appointed under this paragraph not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act. Not later than 30 days after the date on which all members of the Committee are appointed, the Committee shall hold its first meeting.
A nonvoting member of the Committee appointed under subsection (b)(2) shall be allowed travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, at rates authorized for employees of agencies under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 5, United States Code, while away from their homes or regular places of business in the performance of services for the Committee. The Committee may appoint a staff director and other personnel as necessary to carry out the duties of the Committee.
The Department of Commerce, the Department of Labor, the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Small Business Administration, and the Department of Transportation shall provide necessary staffing support to the Committee, as determined by the Committee. The Committee shall select 9 eligible areas to serve as innovation centers and receive the Federal innovation supports described in section 4.
Not later than 3 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Committee shall issue a request for applications from eligible entities. Each eligible area desiring to be selected as an innovation center shall submit to the Committee an application through a proposal committee created by the eligible area, which shall include representation from each State located in the eligible area and each municipal government representing not less than 200,000 individuals located in the eligible area.
In selecting innovation centers under this section, the Committee shall evaluate each applicant based on— the performance of the applicant in— STEM spending per capita; the number of patents per 100,000 residents; the share of the population with a Bachelor of Arts degree or a higher degree; and the number of STEM university degrees per capita; a plan to use data-driven strategies to promote innovation-based, advanced sector takeoff, focused on local interplay of university, Federal research institution, and industry core competencies; a plan to increase innovation readiness, including expanding research and technology development facilities and developing the local STEM workforce, including through partnerships with entities with demonstrated success of administering apprenticeship and other workforce development models; a plan to build or improve areas that attract and support workers and firms; a plan to foster racial equity and inclusive growth, including by leveraging minority serving institutions, preventing gentrification, combatting segregation, promoting the inclusion of underrepresented residents, and ensuring affordable housing options; a plan to invest the financial resources of the applicant; a plan to partner with local workforce development boards to scale up training to meet new workforce demands; a plan to incorporate and bring growth and opportunity to a broad geographic area beyond the limits of the metropolitan statistical area, including rural areas, through improved transportation, high speed internet access, other investments, and partnerships; and the relative potential for the selection of the innovation center to reverse a decline, or accelerate growth, in innovation sector jobs.
In selecting innovation centers under this section, the Committee shall ensure a broad geographic representation of the United States. The Committee may conduct site visits to eligible areas that are finalists for selection as an innovation center. The Committee shall, by secret ballot, vote to select the 9 innovation centers not later than 12 months after the date of enactment of this Act. Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Committee shall establish evaluation and renewal criteria to measure— the progress of an innovation center toward becoming a center for technology innovation; the effectiveness of an innovation center in translating innovation sector growth into broadly shared economic opportunity within the innovation center; and the ethical and efficient use of Federal funds.
Beginning in the third full year following the date of enactment of this Act, and not less frequently than once every 3 years thereafter, the Committee shall submit to Congress and each agency represented on the Committee, and make publicly available, a report on the progress of each innovation center in meeting the objectives described in paragraph (3). During the third year in which an innovation center is in existence, the Committee shall conduct an evaluation based on established benchmarks for achieving the objectives described in paragraph
(3)to determine whether the designation as an innovation center shall be renewed for 3 additional years. An innovation center that fails to meet a majority of the benchmarks established under clause
(i)shall not be renewed as an innovation center. An innovation center shall be designated as such for a period of 3 years, and the Committee may renew the designation for not more than 2 additional 3-year terms. Not later than 1 year after the date on which all innovation centers have exhausted their designations and renewals as an innovation center, the Committee shall submit to Congress and each agency represented on the Committee, and make publicly available, a final cumulative report on the efficacy of the program. There is authorized to be appropriated to the Committee for travel and administrative expenses related to carrying out the duties of the Committee— $5,000,000 for each of the first 2 fiscal years beginning after the date of enactment of this Act; and $1,000,000 for each of the 8 fiscal years following the 2 fiscal years described in paragraph (1).
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