S.Amdt. 1629

SA 1629. Ms. LANDRIEU (for herself and Mr. Kirk) submitted an
amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 1183 submitted by Mr.
Leahy (for himself and Mr. Hatch) to the bill S. 744, to provide for
comprehensive immigration reform and for other purposes; which was
ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

In title IV of the amendment, insert after section 4224 the
following:

SEC. 4225. SMALL BUSINESS EXPRESS LANE.

Section 212(n) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8
U.S.C. 1182(n)), as amended by section 4231, is amended by
adding at the end the following:
``(8)(A) The Secretary shall establish a small business
express lane for the H-1B visa application process, under
which the Secretary--
``(i) may waive the fee for premium processing under
section 286(u) for a business that--
``(I) is considered a small business with not more than 25
employees;
``(II) is not considered an H-1B dependent employer; and
``(III) reports a business income on the tax filings for
the previous year of not more than $250,000; and
``(ii) shall, to the extent practicable, create or modify
an online interface capable of providing real time feedback
and error mitigation technology that can be used by small
businesses and other employers with the purpose of increasing
employer access in streamlining the H-1B visa application
process.
``(B) The total amount of fees waived during a fiscal year
by the Secretary under subparagraph (A)(i) shall be added to
the projected cost for the service in the following fiscal
year and a revised fee shall be established based on the
projected cost.
``(C) The Secretary shall, to the extent practicable,
create an online interface and mobile application that can be
used by small businesses and other employers with the purpose
of increasing employer access in streamlining the H-1B visa
application process.
``(D)(i) The Secretary, in coordination with the
Administrator of the Small Business Administration, shall set
a goal of not less than 30 percent of H-1B visas being
awarded to small businesses.
``(ii) Of the goal amount described in clause (i)--
``(I) 1/3 of the goal shall be reserved for businesses with
not more than 25 employees; and
``(II) 2/3 of the goal may be used by businesses with not
more than 500 employees.
``(iii) The goal described in clause (i) may be modified by
the Secretary, in consultation with the Administrator of the
Small Business Administration, based on any feedback provided
by the Office of Advocacy of the Small Business
Administration.
``(E) The Bureau of Immigration and Labor Market Research
shall submit a report, on an annual basis, to the Committee
on the Judiciary of the Senate, the Small Business and
Entrepreneurship Committee of the Senate, the Committee on
the Judiciary of the House of Representatives, and the Small
Business and Entrepreneurship Committee of the House of
Representatives that contains--
``(i) the total number of H-1B visa applications broken
down by business size category and expressed as a percentage
of the total--
``(I) 0-25 employees;
``(II) 26-50 employees;
``(III) 50-100 employees;
``(IV) 100-500 employees; or
``(V) more than 500 employees;
``(ii) the total number of H-1B visa applications broken
down by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)
Code and expressed as a percentage of the total; and
``(iii) the percentage and number of--
``(I) small businesses to apply for H-1B visas;
``(II) small businesses awarded H-1B visas;
``(III) small businesses that used the premium processing
service;
``(IV) all businesses that used the premium processing
service and were awarded H-1B visas; and
``(V) all businesses that did not use the premium
processing service and were awarded H-1B visas; and
``(iv) a longitudinal and graphical view of the small
business percentages described in subparagraph (D) and this
subparagraph.
``(F) Beginning 4 years after the date of enactment of the
Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration
Modernization Act, and every 4 years thereafter, as part of
the report submitted under subparagraph (E), the Bureau of
Immigration and Labor Market Research shall include
description of the impact of the application process on the
on small business, which shall take into consideration--
``(i) the cost to apply for the visas;
``(ii) the impact of the fee waiver under subparagraph
(A)(i) on small businesses; and
``(iii) recommendations for streamlining the application
process, including recommended modifications and updates to
the online user interface and mobile application.''.
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