United States S 328: Startup Act

Bill Text

II
116TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION S. 328
To jump-start economic recovery through the formation and growth of new
businesses, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY 4, 2019
Mr. MORAN (for himself, Mr. WARNER, Mr. BLUNT, and Ms. KLOBUCHAR)
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To jump-start economic recovery through the formation and
growth of new businesses, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4
‘‘Startup Act’’. 5
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 6
this Act is as follows: 7
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Conditional permanent resident status for immigrants with an advanced
degree in a STEM field.
Sec. 4. Immigrant entrepreneurs.
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Sec. 5. Elimination of the per country numerical limitation for employment-
based visas.
Sec. 6. Accelerated commercialization of taxpayer-funded research.
Sec. 7. Regional innovation program.
Sec. 8. Economic impact of significant Federal agency rules.
Sec. 9. Biennial State startup business report.
Sec. 10. New business formation report.
Sec. 11. Rescission of unspent Federal funds.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1
Congress makes the following findings: 2
(1) Achieving economic recovery will require the 3
formation and growth of new companies. 4
(2) Between 1980 and 2005, companies that 5
were less than 5 years old accounted for nearly all 6
net job creation in the United States. 7
(3) New firms in the United States create an 8
average of 3,000,000 jobs per year. 9
(4) To get Americans back to work, entre-10
preneurs must be free to innovate, create new com-11
panies, and hire employees. 12
SEC. 3. CONDITIONAL PERMANENT RESIDENT STATUS FOR 13
IMMIGRANTS WITH AN ADVANCED DEGREE 14
IN A STEM FIELD. 15
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 2 of title II of the Immi-16
gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1181 et seq.) is 17
amended by inserting after section 216A the following: 18
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‘‘SEC. 216B. CONDITIONAL PERMANENT RESIDENT STATUS 1
FOR ALIENS WITH AN ADVANCED DEGREE IN 2
A STEM FIELD. 3
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other pro-4
vision of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security 5
may— 6
‘‘(1) adjust the status of not more than 50,000 7
aliens who have earned a master’s degree or a doc-8
torate degree at an institution of higher education in 9
a STEM field to that of an alien conditionally ad-10
mitted for permanent residence; and 11
‘‘(2) authorize each alien granted an adjust-12
ment of status under paragraph (1) to remain in the 13
United States— 14
‘‘(A) for up to 1 year after the expiration 15
of the alien’s student visa under section 16
101(a)(15)(F)(i) if the alien is diligently 17
searching for an opportunity to become actively 18
engaged in a STEM field; and 19
‘‘(B) indefinitely if the alien remains ac-20
tively engaged in a STEM field. 21
‘‘(b) APPLICATION FOR CONDITIONAL PERMANENT 22
RESIDENT STATUS.—Every alien applying for conditional 23
permanent resident status under this section shall submit 24
an application to the Secretary of Homeland Security be-25
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fore the expiration of the alien’s student visa in such form 1
and manner as the Secretary shall prescribe by regulation. 2
‘‘(c) INELIGIBILITY FOR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AS-3
SISTANCE.—An alien granted conditional permanent resi-4
dent status under this section shall not be eligible, while 5
in such status, for— 6
‘‘(1) any unemployment compensation (as de-7
fined in section 85(b) of the Internal Revenue Code 8
of 1986); or 9
‘‘(2) any Federal means-tested public benefit 10
(as that term is used in section 403 of the Personal 11
Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation 12
Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1613)). 13
‘‘(d) EFFECT ON NATURALIZATION RESIDENCY RE-14
QUIREMENT.—An alien granted conditional permanent 15
resident status under this section shall be deemed to have 16
been lawfully admitted for permanent residence for pur-17
poses of meeting the 5-year residency requirement under 18
section 316(a)(1). 19
‘‘(e) REMOVAL OF CONDITION.—The Secretary of 20
Homeland Security shall remove the conditional basis of 21
an alien’s conditional permanent resident status under 22
this section on the date that is 5 years after the date such 23
status was granted if the alien maintained his or her eligi-24
bility for such status during the ent