To provide certain requirements for labeling textile fiber products and for duty-free and quota-free treatment of products of, and to implement minimum wage and immigration requirements in, the Northern Mariana Islands, and for other purposes.

July 26, 2001

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California (for himself, Mr. SPRATT, Mr. BONIOR, Ms. MCKINNEY, Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island, Mr. FRANK, Mr. KUCINICH, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. HILLIARD, Mr. CAPUANO, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. FILNER, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. STARK, Mr. FROST, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon, Mr. INSLEE, Mr. LUTHER, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. HINCHEY, Mrs. CLAYTON, Ms. LEE, Mr. UDALL of New Mexico, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mrs. MINK of Hawaii, Mr. BARRETT of Wisconsin, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. EVANS, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. OWENS, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. KLECZKA, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. MASCARA, Mr. RAHALL, Mr. TRAFICANT, Mr. ALLEN, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. MCDERMOTT, and Mr. VISCLOSKY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

To provide certain requirements for labeling textile fiber products and for duty-free and quota-free treatment of products of, and to implement minimum wage and immigration requirements in, the Northern Mariana Islands, 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 `United States-Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Human Dignity Act'.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:

(1) Between 1955 and 1975, the people of the Northern Mariana Islands, through their duly elected representatives, expressed on numerous occasions formally and informally to the United States and to the United Nations their strong desire to become a part of the United States.

(2) In 1975 the legislature of the Northern Mariana Islands unanimously endorsed the Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United States of America, and the Covenant was put before the voters of the Northern Mariana Islands on June 17, 1975, with 95 percent of eligible voters casting ballots and 78.8 percent voting to approve the Covenant.

(3) To allay any concerns of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands that United States immigration laws would allow mass immigration into the small island communities, article V of the Covenant which established a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands provided the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands with a partial exemption from the Immigration and Nationality Act until the United Nations trusteeship over the Islands ended in 1986.

(4) The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands then instituted a largely unrestricted immigration policy, resulting in a population explosion of over 250 percent in 15 years, so that in 1999, 80,000 people live in the Northern Mariana Islands of which only 40 percent are United States residents and 60 percent are foreign contract workers.

(5) The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands has used its immigration policy to recruit a large, low-cost foreign workforce of desperately poor individuals with virtually no voice to demand safe living and working conditions or better wage and benefit options.

(6) In 1999, more than 85 percent of all private sector jobs in the Northern Mariana Islands were held by temporary contract workers from foreign countries while nearly 50 percent of all employed United States citizens in the Northern Mariana Islands work for the local government.

(7) The recruitment of this large, low-cost foreign workforce has led to a consistent unemployment rate of 10 percent among United States citizens in the Northern Mariana Islands compared to less than 5 percent in the United States as a whole.

(8) 35 percent of locally born United States citizens live below the poverty rate, despite this high poverty rate every 2.6 local households employ at least 1 foreign contracted live-in maid.

(9) More than $1,025,000,000 worth of garments made by alien contract workers using mostly foreign-made fabric entered the United States in 2000, quota- and duty-free, at a cost to the United States treasury of more than $200,000,000.

(10) On February 4, 1999, the Senate of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands passed legislation to allow up to an additional 2,400 contract workers to be brought into the Northern Mariana Islands.

(11) Article V of section 503 of the Covenant which established a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands provided the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands with a temporary exemption from the minimum wage provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 in order to assist the growth of the Islands' economy.

(12) The economy of the Northern Mariana Islands has grown significantly and, in 2000, the garment industry alone sent over $1,025,000,000 worth of garments to the United States mainland; yet the current minimum wage in the Northern Mariana Islands is as low as $3.05 per hour.

(13) The legislature of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands reversed a law that would have provided for small, incremental increases in the minimum wage in the Northern Mariana Islands until that wage reached the federally mandated wage.

(14) All workers on United States soil should be paid a living wage.

(15) Garments made in the Northern Mariana Islands may carry a `Made in USA' label, deceiving consumers as to the conditions under which the garments have been made and competing directly with garments made on the United States mainland by workers paid a living wage, working in a safe environment.

(16) `Sweatshop' conditions exist in the Northern Mariana Islands, where employers--

(A) provide unsafe and unhealthy working and living environments;

(B) use bonded and indentured foreign laborers;

(C) do not pay wages required under the Fair Labor Standards Act; and

(D) refuse to recognize the legal rights of workers to form labor unions without fear of retaliation.

(17) The Government of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands has repeatedly refused to raise the wage and living standards for workers, or to aggressively prosecute labor and human rights abuses.

(18) United States Customs agents and Customs agents of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands are not permitted under current law to open and inspect cargo containers entering the Northern Mariana Islands without the owner of the container present.

SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS.

The Joint Resolution entitled `Joint Resolution to approve the `Covenant To Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United States of America', and for other purposes' approved March 24, 1976 (48 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.), is amended by adding at the end the following new sections:

`SEC. 7. LABELING OF TEXTILE FIBER AND OTHER PRODUCTS.

`(a) IN GENERAL- No product, including textile fiber products, shall have a stamp, tag, label, or other means of identification or substitute therefor on or affixed to the product stating `Made in USA' or otherwise stating or implying that the product was made or assembled in the United States unless--

`(1) each individual providing direct labor in production of such product was paid a wage equal to or greater than the wage set by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.);

`(2) the product was produced or manufactured in compliance with all Federal laws relating to labor rights and working conditions, including, but not limited to, the National Labor Relations Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938;

`(3) the factory or other business concern producing or manufacturing the product does not employ individuals under conditions of indentured servitude.

`(b) RESULT OF NONCOMPLIANCE REGARDING TEXTILE FIBER PRODUCTS- A textile fiber product, which is stamped, tagged, labeled, or otherwise identified in violation of subsection (a) shall be deemed to be misbranded for purposes of the Textile Fiber Products Identification Act (15 U.S.C. 70 et seq.).

`(c) DEFINITIONS- For purposes of the section:

`(1) DIRECT LABOR- The term `direct labor' includes any work provided to prepare, assemble, process, package, or transport a textile fiber product, but does not include supervisory, management, security, or administrative work.

`(2) INDENTURED SERVITUDE- The term `indentured servitude' includes all labor for which an alien worker is in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands solely by virtue of an employment contract with a specific and sole employer or `master' who is in control of the duration of the stay of the indentured alien worker in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. If the worker displeases the employer/master, the contract is terminated and the employee must leave the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

`SEC. 8. MINIMUM WAGE.

`Section 503(c) of the foregoing Covenant shall be construed and applied as if it read as follows:

`(c) The minimum wage provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.), shall apply to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, except that--

`(1) until the beginning of the day that is 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the minimum wage applicable to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands shall be $3.55 per hour;

`(2) on the day that is 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and every six months thereafter, the minimum wage applicable to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands shall be $1.00 per hour more than the minimum wage that was applicable to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands for the preceding 6-month period until the minimum wage applicable to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands is equal to the minimum wage rate set forth in section 6(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938; and

`(3) after the minimum wage applicable to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands is

equal to the minimum wage rate set forth in section 6(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, pursuant to paragraph (2), the minimum wage applicable to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands shall increase as necessary to remain equal to the minimum wage rate set forth in section 6(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.'

`SEC. 9. CONDITIONS FOR DUTY-FREE AND QUOTA-FREE TREATMENT.

`(a) CONDITIONS- No product of the Northern Mariana Islands may enter the customs territory of the United States duty-free or not subject to quota as the product of an insular possession, unless--

`(1) each individual providing direct labor in production of the product was paid a wage equal to or greater than the wage set by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.);

`(2) the product was produced or manufactured in compliance with all Federal laws relating to labor rights and working conditions, including, but not limited to, the National Labor Relations Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938;

`(3) the factory or other business concern producing or manufacturing the product does not employ individuals under conditions of indentured servitude; and

`(4) the Commissioner of Customs has certified that the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands is taking adequate measures--

`(A) to prevent unlawful transshipment of goods that is carried out by rerouting, false declaration concerning country or place of origin, falsification of documents, evasion of United States rules of origin, or any other means; and

`(B) to prevent being used as a transit point for the shipment of goods in violation of the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing referred to in section 101(d)(4) of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act or any other applicable trade agreement.

`(b) PENALTIES AGAINST EXPORTERS- If the President determines, based on sufficient evidence, that an exporter has willfully falsified information regarding the country of origin, manufacture, processing, or assembly of a product of the Northern Mariana Islands for which duty-free or quota-free treatment is claimed, then the President shall deny to such exporter, and any successors of such exporter, for a period of 2 years, duty-free and quota-free treatment for such product.

`(c) DEFINITION- For purposes of this section:

`(1) DIRECT LABOR- The term `direct labor' includes any work provided to prepare, assemble, process, package, or transport a product, but does not include supervisory, management, security, or administrative work.

`(2) INDENTURED SERVITUDE- The term `indentured servitude' includes all labor for which an alien worker is in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands solely by virtue of an employment contract with a specific and sole employer or `master' who is in control of the duration of the stay of the indentured alien worker in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. If the worker displeases the employer/master, the contract is terminated and the employee must leave the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

`SEC. 10. APPLICABILITY OF IMMIGRATION LAWS.

`Section 506 of the foregoing Covenant shall be construed and applied as if it included at the end the following subsection:

`(e)(1) The provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act shall apply to the Northern Mariana Islands as if the Northern Mariana Islands were a State (as defined in section 101(a)(36) of such Act), and a part of the United States (as defined in section 101(a)(38) of such Act). Such Act shall supersede and replace all laws, provisions, or programs of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands relating to the admission and removal of aliens from the Northern Mariana Islands.

`(2)(A) The Attorney General may adjust the status of an alien described in subparagraph (B) to that of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence if the alien--

`(i) applies for such adjustment;

`(ii) is physically present in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands on the date such application is filed;

`(iii) is admissible to the United States as an immigrant;

`(iv) during the 5-year period preceding such application, has been and still is a person of good moral character;

`(v) has not accepted or continued in unauthorized employment in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands prior to filing such application, is not in unlawful immigration status on the date of filing such application, and has not failed

(other than through no fault of the alien or for technical reasons) to maintain continuously a lawful status since entry into the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands; and

`(vi) establishes to the satisfaction of the Attorney General that the denial of such application would result in exceptional and extremely unusual hardship to the alien.

`(B) The benefits provided by subparagraph (A) shall apply to any alien who--

`(i) during the 4-year period preceding the date of the enactment of the United States-Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Human Dignity Act, was continuously authorized by the Government of the Northern Mariana Islands (pursuant to the immigration laws of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands) to enter into and remain temporarily in the Northern Mariana Islands in order to perform temporary service or labor in the Northern Mariana Islands; or

`(ii) is the alien spouse or minor child of an alien described in clause (i).

`(C) When an alien is granted the status of having been lawfully admitted for permanent residence pursuant to this paragraph, the Secretary of State shall not be required to reduce the number of immigrant visas authorized to be issued under the Immigration and Nationality Act and the Attorney General shall not be required to charge the alien any fee.

`(D) The definitions contained in the Immigration and Nationality Act shall apply in the administration of this paragraph. Nothing contained in this paragraph shall be held to repeal, amend, alter, modify, effect, or restrict the powers, duties, functions, or authority of the Attorney General in the administration and enforcement of such Act or any other law relating to immigration, nationality, or naturalization. The fact that an alien may be eligible to be granted the status of having been lawfully admitted for permanent residence under this paragraph shall not preclude the alien from seeking such status under any other provision of law for which the alien may be eligible.

`(3)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), paragraphs (1) and (2) shall take effect after the expiration of the 3-month period beginning on the date of the enactment of the United States-Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Human Dignity Act.

`(B) With respect to an alien who, on the day preceding the date of the enactment of the United States-Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Human Dignity Act, is authorized by the Government of the Northern Mariana Islands (pursuant to the immigration laws of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands) to enter into and remain temporarily in the Northern Mariana Islands in order to perform temporary service or labor in the Northern Mariana Islands (and any relatives of the alien if such relatives were authorized to accompany or follow to join the alien)--

`(i) paragraph (1) shall apply to the alien beginning after the earlier of--

`(I) the date on which such authorization expires (such authorization not being subject to extension or renewal by the Government of the Northern Mariana Islands after the expiration of the 3-month period beginning on the date of the enactment of the United States-Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Human Dignity Act);

`(II) the date that is 2 years after the date of the enactment of the United States-Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Human Dignity Act; or

`(III) the date on which the status of the alien is adjusted to that of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence under paragraph (2); and

`(ii) if otherwise eligible, the alien may apply for adjustment of status under paragraph (2) beginning on the effective date of such paragraph.

`(4) When deploying personnel to enforce the provisions of this subsection, the Attorney General shall coordinate with, and act in conjunction with, State and local law enforcement agencies to ensure that such deployment does not degrade or compromise the law enforcement capabilities and functions currently performed by immigration officers.'.'.

SEC. 4. AUTHORITY OF CUSTOMS SERVICE TO BOARD SHIPS.

Section 467 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1467) is amended by striking `or the Virgin Islands,' each place it appears and inserting `, the Virgin Islands, or the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,'.

SEC. 5. RATE OF WAGES FOR LABORERS AND MECHANICS.

No Federal assistance of any kind, including funds made available through Acts of appropriation, may be used for or in relation to any project for construction, alteration, or repair (including painting and decorating) of public buildings or public works within the geographical limits of the Northern Mariana Islands and which requires or involves the employment of mechanics or laborers shall unless the project is subject to a contract that contains the following:

(1) A provision requiring that the minimum wages to be paid the laborers and mechanics working on or in relation to the project shall be at a rate set by the Secretary of Labor that is not less than the minimum wage set forth in section 6 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206).

(2) A provision requiring the contractor or his subcontractor to pay all mechanics and laborers employed directly upon the site of the work, unconditionally and not less often than once a week, and without subsequent deduction or rebate on any account, the full amounts accrued at time of payment, computed at wage rates not less than those stated in the contract, regardless of any contractual relationship which may be alleged to exist between the contractor or subcontractor and such laborers and mechanics.

(3) A provision requiring that the scale of wages to be paid shall be posted by the contractor in a prominent and easily accessible place at the site of the work in English and the predominant language of each worker.

(4) A provision requiring that there shall be withheld from the contractor so much of accrued payments as may be considered necessary by the contracting officer to pay to laborers and mechanics employed by the contractor or any subcontractor on the work the difference between the rates of wages required by the contract to be paid laborers and mechanics on the work and the rates of wages received by such laborers and mechanics and not refunded to the contractor, subcontractors, or their agents.

SEC. 6. STUDY; REPORT.

(a) STUDY- The Secretary of the Interior shall conduct a study of the extent of human rights violations and labor rights violations in the Northern Mariana Islands, including the use of forced or indentured labor, and any efforts being taken by the Government of the United States or the Government of the Northern Mariana Island to address or prohibit such violations.

(b) REPORT- Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall transmit to the Committee on Resources of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate a report on the results of the study required by subsection (a).

(c) CONSULTATION- Appropriate local government officials, law enforcement agencies, and nongovernmental organizations active in instituting and protecting human and labor rights may be consulted when conducting the study and preparing the report required by this section.

SEC. 7. EFFECT ON OTHER LAW.

The provisions of the amendments made by this Act shall be in addition to, but shall not otherwise modify, the requirements of the Textile Fiber Products Identification Act (15 U.S.C. 70 et seq.).

END