ECONOMICS Act

Ensuring Continued Operations and No Other Major Incidents, Closures, or Slowdowns Act or the ECONOMICS Act

This bill amends the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947 to direct the President to appoint a board of inquiry within 10 days after any of the following events occur:

• the U.S. Census Bureau reports that the monthly Import or Export Vessel Value decreased by 20% or more in any one month from the previous month in any one of the four metric identification regions into which each U.S. maritime port shall be classified;
• a slow-down or a threatened or actual strike or lock-out takes place at four or more port facilities in any one of the four metric identification regions; or
• a slow-down or a threatened or an actual strike or lock-out occurs in which the total number of employees actively involved at the affected port facilities in any one of the four metric identification regions, is 6,000 or greater.

The Department of Transportation shall classify the nation's maritime ports as belonging to one of these four metric identification regions: (1) West Coast, (2) East Coast, (3) Gulf Coast, and (4) Great Lakes.

A board of inquiry must report to the President within 10 days after its appointment on whether the slow-down or threatened or actual strike or lock-out contributed to the occurrence of the event.

The Bureau of Transportation Statistics shall collect the following data relating to activity at port facilities in the United States: (1) the average number of lifts per hour of containers by crane, (2) the average cargo container dwell time, (3) the average truck times at ports, and (4) the average rail time at ports.

The Bureau shall report to Congress recommendations on whether such conditions exist requiring the appointment of such a board.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov