Honoring Organizations Nationally for Ethics, Sustainability, and Trust Act or the HONEST Enterprise Act
This bill establishes the Compassionate Capitalist Award to be presented to organizations that substantially benefit the well-being of their employees, stakeholders, and communities with respect to the areas of environmental stewardship, governance, social responsibility, and worker empowerment.
The bill also establishes the Compassionate Capitalist Award Fund in the Department of the Treasury—composed of application fees charged to submit an application for the award and any gifts that the Department of Commerce may solicit for this purpose—to carry out the bill's provisions.
[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4156 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 4156
To establish the Compassionate Capitalist Award to recognize
organizations that substantially benefit the well-being of their
employees, stakeholders, and communities, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 24, 2021
Mr. Phillips (for himself, Ms. McCollum, Mr. Case, and Mr. Evans)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To establish the Compassionate Capitalist Award to recognize
organizations that substantially benefit the well-being of their
employees, stakeholders, and communities, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Honoring Organizations Nationally
for Ethics, Sustainability, and Trust Act'' or the ``HONEST Enterprise
Act''.
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE COMPASSIONATE CAPITALIST AWARD.
(a) In General.--There is established the Compassionate Capitalist
Award (in this section referred to as the ``award''), which shall be
evidenced by a certificate and a medal that--
(1) bear the inscription the ``Compassionate Capitalist
Award''; and
(2) incorporate such design and materials, and bear such
additional inscriptions, as the Secretary of Commerce (in this
section referred to as the ``Secretary'') determines
appropriate.
(b) Presentation of Award.--The President or the Secretary shall
annually present, with such ceremonies as the President or Secretary
determines appropriate, the award to organizations nominated under
subsection (d) that the Secretary determines are deserving of
recognition for substantially benefitting the well-being of their
employees, stakeholders, and communities with respect to the following
areas:
(1) Environmental stewardship.--The degree to which an
organization has in place practices to manage the environmental
impact of its operations, supply chain, and distribution
channels, including with respect to air, water, land,
biodiversity, and climate effects.
(2) Governance.--The mission, ethics, and transparency of
an organization, including, if applicable, the organization's
corporate leadership structure and executive compensation.
(3) Social responsibility.--The degree to which an
organization contributes to the communities in which it
operates and obtains resources from, including the
organization's practices with respect to diversity, equity,
inclusion, civic engagement, charitable giving, and refraining
from doing business with exploitative countries.
(4) Worker empowerment.--The degree to which an
organization contributes to the financial security, workplace
safety, healthcare coverage, wellness, engagement,
satisfaction, and career development of employees, and the
degree to which an organization provides a fair and living
wage.
(c) Eligible Organizations.--
(1) In general.--The President or the Secretary shall
present the award to at least one organization each year in
each of the following categories:
(A) Small businesses (at least 10 and fewer than 50
employees).
(B) Midsized businesses (at least 50 and fewer than
250 employees).
(C) Large businesses (at least 250 employees and
fewer than 1,000 employees).
(D) Very large businesses (at least 1,000
employees).
(2) Total number of awards.--Not more than 18 awards may be
awarded each year.
(3) Exception.--Notwithstanding paragraph (1), no award
shall be awarded in a given category if the Secretary
determines that no organization qualifies for the award with
respect to such category.
(d) Establishment of Board of Directors.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary shall establish a board of
directors to nominate organizations for the award and assist
with administration of the award.
(2) Composition.--The board shall be composed of the
following:
(A) The Assistant Secretary of Commerce for
Economic Development, who shall serve as chairperson of
the board.
(B) The Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division
of the Department of Labor, who shall serve as vice
chairperson of the board.
(C) At least 6 individuals appointed by the
Secretary of Commerce, who shall include--
(i) 2 individuals representing independent
nonprofit entities that have demonstrated
leadership and excellence in the field of
standard setting and measurement with respect
to stakeholder impact;
(ii) 2 individuals representing corporate
business entities that have demonstrated a
history of service to society; and
(iii) 2 individuals representing organized
labor entities or worker advocacy
organizations.
(3) Diversity.--In making appointments to the board, the
Secretary shall take actions to ensure the diversity of the
membership with respect to race, ethnicity, and gender.
(4) Evaluation tool.--The board shall seek to enter into
agreements with appropriate entities to obtain an online
evaluation tool that meets the requirements of subsection (e)
to assist the board in making nominations under paragraph (1).
(5) Additional verification.--The board shall take actions
to verify the accuracy of the facts presented by organizations
seeking nomination for the award, including by soliciting
employee feedback.
(6) Annual report.--The board shall annually submit to the
Secretary a report that includes--
(A) nominations for the award; and
(B) an assessment of the process for presenting
awards under this section, including recommendations
for improving such process.
(e) Evaluation Tool Requirements and Analysis.--
(1) In general.--The evaluation tool described in
subsection (d)(4) shall--
(A) with respect to producing the numerical scores
described in subparagraph (B), use standards specific
to the category of business an organization qualifies
as under subsection (c)(1) that are developed in
consultation with such organizations;
(B) provide for each organization considered for an
award a numerical score with respect to each of the
areas specified in subsection (b); and
(C) provide for each organization considered for an
award a total numerical score.
(2) Analysis of results.--The board shall seek to enter
into an agreement with an office of the Department of Commerce,
or a contractor with the appropriate expertise, for such office
or contractor to conduct analyses of the numerical scores
described in paragraph (1) and report the results of such
analyses in a standardized format to assist the board in making
nominations under subsection (d)(1).
(f) Award Eligibility Requirements.--
(1) Application.--An organization may be considered for an
award upon submitting to the Secretary an application in such
form, at such time, and containing such information as the
Secretary determines appropriate, including information
necessary for purposes of the evaluation tool described in
subsection (d)(4).
(2) Application fees.--The Secretary may charge a fee to
submit an application under paragraph (1) and shall deposit any
such fees into the account of the revolving fund established
under subsection (j).
(3) Prior recipient qualification.--An organization that
has previously received the award is eligible to receive an
additional award if at least 5 years have elapsed from the date
such organization previously received the award.
(4) Donor ineligibility.--An organization that makes a gift
described in subsection (i) is ineligible to receive an award
after the date of such gift.
(g) Modification of Areas.--The Secretary may, on the basis of
recommendations made by the board and developed in consultation with
the Climate and ESG Task Force in the Division of Enforcement of the
Securities and Exchange Commission, make modifications to the areas
specified in subsection (b), which shall be effective 30 days after the
date on which the Secretary submits a detailed description of such
modifications to Congress.
(h) Information Transfer.--The Secretary shall issue to each
organization that applies for the award--
(1) the results of the evaluation with respect to such
organization; and
(2) information with respect to the organizations to whom
the award was presented and the practices that the Secretary
used as a basis to present such award to such organizations.
(i) Solicitation of Gifts.--The Secretary may solicit and accept
gifts from public and private entities to carry out this section and
shall deposit any such gifts into the account of the revolving fund
established under subsection (j).
(j) Revolving Fund.--
(1) Establishment.--There is established in the Treasury a
revolving fund to be known as the ``Compassionate Capitalist
Award Fund'' (in this subsection referred to as the ``Fund'')
to carry out this section.
(2) Contents of fund.--The Fund under this subsection shall
consist of the following amounts:
(A) Amounts deposited by the Secretary under
subsection (f)(2).
(B) Amounts deposited by the Secretary under
subsection (i).
(C) Such other amounts as may be appropriated under
law.
(3) Use of amounts.--Amounts in the account of the Fund
under this subsection shall be available to the Secretary,
without further appropriation, to carry out this section.
(k) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of
this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the President and Congress a
report on the progress made with respect to the award and any
recommendations relating to the process of presenting such award.
(l) Public Availability of Award Information.--Not later than 1
year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall
establish and maintain a publicly available Government website that
includes, with respect to the awarding of awards each year, information
concerning--
(1) the organizations nominated for an award under
subsection (d)(1);
(2) the process by which organizations nominated for an
award are evaluated; and
(3) the performance metrics which can be used to determine
best practices for each category of business described in
subsection (c)(1) in each area specified in subsection (b).
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce.
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