To direct the heads of certain Federal agencies to develop and support worker-owned cooperative businesses, and for other purposes.
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
The bill creates federal agency programs and initiatives to support worker-owned cooperative businesses, including capital access, regulatory review, research, education, outreach, and technical assistance, establishes United States Council on Worker Cooperatives under Secretary of Labor to coordinate federal strategy for worker-owned cooperative businesses with annual reporting and 10-year sunset, and provides expansion of SBA intermediary lending pilot program to include cooperatives as eligible intermediaries with tripled authorization ($60M) and extended timeline through 2036. It relies on compliance mandates, definition changes, reporting requirements, and grants. The main policy areas are Labor & Employment, Finance, and Labor.
Who Benefits and How
Worker-owned cooperative businesses would be affected, Cooperative lending intermediaries would be affected, and Small businesses seeking cooperative conversion would be affected.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Small Business Administration would be affected, Department of Labor would be affected, and Internal Revenue Service would be affected.
Key Provisions
- Creates federal agency programs and initiatives to support worker-owned cooperative businesses, including capital access, regulatory review, research, education, outreach, and technical assistance.
- Establishes United States Council on Worker Cooperatives under Secretary of Labor to coordinate federal strategy for worker-owned cooperative businesses with annual reporting and 10-year sunset.
- Provides expansion of SBA intermediary lending pilot program to include cooperatives as eligible intermediaries with tripled authorization ($60M) and extended timeline through 2036.
- Requires amendment to CDFI Fund evaluation criteria to include provision of education and facilitation services for worker-owned cooperative business establishment and management.
- Defines definitions establishing scope of the Act: covered agency (6 named federal agencies) and worker-owned cooperative business (state-law organized majority employee-owned entity or IRC 1042(c) eligible).
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
The bill creates federal agency programs and initiatives to support worker-owned cooperative businesses, including capital access, regulatory review, research, education, outreach, and technical assistance, establishes United States Council on Worker Cooperatives under Secretary of Labor to coordinate federal strategy for worker-owned cooperative businesses with annual reporting and 10-year sunset, and provides expansion of SBA intermediary lending pilot program to include cooperatives as eligible intermediaries with tripled authorization ($60M) and extended timeline through 2036.
Key Policy Areas
Labor & Employment, Finance, Labor
Primary Purpose
The bill creates federal agency programs and initiatives to support worker-owned cooperative businesses, including capital access, regulatory review, research, education, outreach, and technical assistance, establishes United States Council on Worker Cooperatives under Secretary of Labor to coordinate federal strategy for worker-owned cooperative businesses with annual reporting and 10-year sunset, and provides expansion of SBA intermediary lending pilot program to include cooperatives as eligible intermediaries with tripled authorization ($60M) and extended timeline through 2036.
Policy Domains
main
Identified Gains
- Worker-owned cooperative businesses
- Cooperative lending intermediaries
- Small businesses seeking cooperative conversion
- Prospective cooperative founders
- Employees seeking cooperative ownership
Identified Costs
- Small Business Administration
- Department of Labor
- Internal Revenue Service
- Department of the Treasury
- Department of Commerce
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Khanna introduced the following bill; which was referred to …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
CDFI Fund (Treasury), Congress, Department of Agriculture
Positive-direction: Congress
Negative-direction: CDFI Fund (Treasury), Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Department of Labor, Department of the Treasury, Domestic Policy Council, Internal Revenue Service, National Economic Council, Small Business Administration
Businesses organized as cooperatives under state law, ESOP companies meeting IRC 1042(c), Worker-owned cooperative businesses
Cooperative development advocates, Cooperative development organizations
Community Development Financial Institutions, Cooperative lending intermediaries
Prospective cooperative founders, Small businesses seeking cooperative conversion
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
Note: {'description': 'The bill defines worker-owned cooperatives broadly (majority employee-owned OR IRC 1042(c) eligible) but does not specify how agencies should handle entities that meet one criterion but not the other, potentially creating different treatment standards across agencies.'}
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology