Findings and purpose

(a) Findings Congress finds that— (1) bankruptcy law provides a number of venue options for filing bankruptcy under chapter 11 of title 11, United States Code, including, with respect to the entity filing bankruptcy— (A) any district in which the place of incorporation of the entity is located; (B) any district in which the principal place of business or principal assets of the entity are located; and (C) any district in which an affiliate of the entity has filed a pending case under title 11, United States Code; (2) the wide range of permissible bankruptcy venue options has led to an increase in companies filing for bankruptcy outside of their home States—the district in which the principal place of business or principal assets of the company is located; (3) the practice described in paragraph (2) is known as forum shopping; (4) forum shopping has resulted in a concentration of bankruptcy cases in a limited number of districts; (5) forum shopping— (A) prevents small businesses, employees, retirees, creditors, and other important stakeholders from fully participating in bankruptcy cases that have tremendous impacts on their lives, communities, and local economies; and (B) deprives district courts of the United States of the opportunity to contribute to the development of bankruptcy law in the jurisdictions of those district courts; and (6) reducing forum shopping in the bankruptcy system will strengthen the integrity of, and build public confidence and ensure fairness in, the bankruptcy system. (b) Purpose The purpose of this Act is to prevent the practice of forum shopping in cases filed under chapter 11 of title 11, United States Code.