Climate Resiliency Service Corps Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5176 To amend the National and Community Service Act of 1990 to establish a climate resiliency service corps to help communities withstand and respond to changes in the Earth’s climate with respect to natural disas- ters, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOVEMBER 19, 2019 Ms. JUDY CHU of California (for herself, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. CISNEROS, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. NEGUSE, and Mr. GRIJALVA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To amend the National and Community Service Act of 1990 to establish a climate resiliency service corps to help communities withstand and respond to changes in the Earth’s climate with respect to natural disasters, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Climate Resiliency 4 Service Corps Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:23 Nov 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5176.IH H5176 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 5176 IH SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1 Congress finds the following: 2 (1) Every region of the United States is con- 3 fronting the effects of climate change and related 4 natural disasters, including extreme heat and 5 droughts, heavy rains and flooding, hurricanes and 6 tornadoes, acidification of the oceans and sea level 7 rise, wildfires, and mudslides, among other effects. 8 (2) These changes affect the health, agriculture, 9 food supply, infrastructure, energy supply, water 10 quality and water supply, and have the potential to 11 reduce the standard of living and quality of life in 12 the United States. 13 (3) The Fourth National Climate Assessment 14 estimates that low-income communities will be dis- 15 proportionately impacted by climate change through 16 higher rates of adverse health conditions, greater ex- 17 posure to environmental hazards, and more severe 18 impacts and longer recovery from natural disasters. 19 (4) The Fourth National Climate Assessment 20 estimates that— 21 (A) climate change will shrink the Amer- 22 ican economy by up to 10 percent by the year 23 2100 and will result in losses up to 24 $141,000,000,000 from heat-related deaths, 25 $118,000,000,000 from sea level rise, and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:23 Nov 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5176.IH H5176 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 5176 IH $32,000,000,000 from infrastructure damage; 1 and 2 (B) proactive adaptation initiatives yield 3 benefits in excess of their costs in both the near 4 term and long term. 5 (5) The frequency and severity of natural disas- 6 ters taking place each year is steadily and signifi- 7 cantly increasing. In 1970, there were 78 registered 8 natural disasters. In 2017, there were 335 natural 9 disasters, impacting approximately 96,000,000 peo- 10 ple and costing the United States more than 11 $306,000,000,000. 12 (6) Service and Conservation Corps, which are 13 descended from the Civilian Conservation Corps of 14 the 1930s, are trained for and have experience with 15 the four stages of disaster: mitigation, preparedness, 16 response, and recovery. 17 SEC. 3. CLIMATE RESILIENCY SERVICE CORPS. 18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 122(a) of the National 19 and Community Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12572) 20 is amended— 21 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (4) and (5) as 22 paragraphs (5) and (6), respectively; and 23 (2) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol- 24 lowing new paragraph: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:23 Nov 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5176.IH H5176 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 5176 IH ‘‘(4) CLIMATE RESILIENCY SERVICE CORPS.— 1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The recipient may 2 carry out national service projects through a 3 Climate Resiliency Service Corps that improves 4 community adaptation, mitigation, prepared- 5 ness, response, and recovery from natural dis- 6 aster and other trends related to climate change 7 through activities such as those described in 8 subparagraph (B) and improves performance on 9 the indicators described in subparagraph (C). 10 ‘‘(B) ACTIVITIES.— 11 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—A Climate Resil- 12 iency Service Corps described in this para- 13 graph may carry out activities, including— 14 ‘‘(I) mitigating the effects of dis- 15 asters and other trends related to cli- 16 mate change, including— 17 ‘‘(aa) assessing community 18 resilience; 19 ‘‘(bb) collecting, monitoring, 20 and analyzing data related to cli- 21 mate change and disasters; 22 ‘‘(cc) developing a plan to 23 improve community resilience 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:23 Nov 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5176.IH H5176 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 5176 IH through resilient infrastructure; 1 and 2 ‘‘(dd) building and main- 3 taining resilient infrastructure, 4 including— 5 ‘‘(AA) preserving, pro- 6 tecting, and restoring habi- 7 tat; 8 ‘‘(BB) stabilizing shore- 9 lines; 10 ‘‘(CC) removing inva- 11 sive species and planting na- 12 tive species of trees, plants 13 and groundcover; 14 ‘‘(DD) constructing bio- 15 swales and water bars; 16 ‘‘(EE) improving drain- 17 age systems through use of 18 permeable surfaces and rain 19 gardens; 20 ‘‘(FF) removing haz- 21 ardous fuels; 22 ‘‘(GG) conducting pre- 23 scribed burns; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:23 Nov 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5176.IH H5176 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 5176 IH ‘‘(HH) establishing de- 1 fensible space; 2 ‘‘(II) retrofitting build- 3 ings; and 4 ‘‘(JJ) planting urban 5 forestry, trees, and land- 6 scapes; 7 ‘‘(II) preparing communities for 8 disaster, including— 9 ‘‘(aa) organizing community- 10 based resiliency coalitions and 11 working groups; 12 ‘‘(bb) providing disaster pre- 13 paredness or community emer- 14 gency response team training to 15 community-based organizations 16 and residents; and 17 ‘‘(cc) providing education on 18 climate change, disaster, and re- 19 silience at community-based or- 20 ganizations and schools; 21 ‘‘(III) responding to disasters, in- 22 cluding— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:23 Nov 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5176.IH H5176 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 5176 IH ‘‘(aa) establishing and man- 1 aging volunteers, distribution 2 centers, and shelters; 3 ‘‘(bb) supporting disaster re- 4 sponse activities and centers, in- 5 cluding fire camps; 6 ‘‘(cc) clearing fallen trees 7 and branches; 8 ‘‘(dd) boarding up windows 9 and doors and tarping roofs; and 10 ‘‘(ee) mucking and gutting 11 homes and buildings; 12 ‘‘(IV) recovering from disasters, 13 including— 14 ‘‘(aa) clearing debris; 15 ‘‘(bb) repairing and rebuild- 16 ing homes and buildings; 17 ‘‘(cc) replanting native trees 18 and plants; 19 ‘‘(dd) restoring habitat: and 20 ‘‘(ee) stabilizing shoreline 21 and hillsides; 22 ‘‘(V) addressing other unmet cli- 23 mate change needs as the Corporation 24 may designate. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:23 Nov 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5176.IH H5176 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 5176 IH ‘‘(ii) PARTICIPATION.—In addition to 1 the requirements for participants under 2 section 137, in carrying out national serv- 3 ice projects under this paragraph, the re- 4 cipient shall, to the extent practicable— 5 ‘‘(I) select as participants indi- 6 viduals who are at least 16 but not 7 more than 25 years of age (including 8 out of-school youth and other dis- 9 advantaged youth (such as individuals 10 who are aging out of foster care, indi- 11 viduals who have limited English pro- 12 ficiency, homeless individuals, and in- 13 dividuals with disabilities)), and vet- 14 erans who have not reached the age of 15 36, at the time of beginning the term 16 of service; and 17 ‘‘(II) provide each participant 18 with team-based, highly structured, 19 and adult-supervised work experience, 20 education, career guidance, and coun- 21 seling, and employment training, sup- 22 port services, and mentoring. 23 ‘‘(C) CLIMATE RESILIENCY SERVICE CORPS 24 INDICATORS.—The indicators for a Climate Re- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:23 Nov 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5176.IH H5176 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 5176 IH siliency Service Corps program described in this 1 paragraph are— 2 ‘‘(i) the number of acres, miles, 3 homes, buildings or infrastructure projects 4 built, improved, or treated for improved re- 5 silience and adaptation; 6 ‘‘(ii) the number of individuals edu- 7 cated about and prepared for disasters and 8 other trends related to climate change; 9 ‘‘(iii) the number of individuals as- 10 sisted, including those rescued, evacuated, 11 or provided shelter; 12 ‘‘(iv) the number of tons of debris col- 13 lected; 14 ‘‘(v) the number of homes or buildings 15 treated, including those boarded up, 16 tarped, mucked, or gutted during disaster 17 response; 18 ‘‘(vi) the number of acres, homes, or 19 buildings restored during disaster recovery; 20 ‘‘(vii) the number of trees and plants 21 planted; 22 ‘‘(viii) the number of infrastructure 23 projects undertaken to improve resilience 24 against future natural disasters; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:23 Nov 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5176.IH H5176 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •HR 5176 IH ‘‘(ix) the number of economically dis- 1 advantaged individuals with access to job 2 training and other skill enhancement; 3 ‘‘(x) the number of economically dis- 4 advantaged individuals with access to in- 5 formation about job placement services; 6 ‘‘(xi) the number of individuals receiv- 7 ing education or training in environ- 8 mentally conscious practices; 9 ‘‘(xii) any additional indicator relating 10 to natural disaster and other trends that 11 the Corporation establishes, in consultation 12 (as appropriate), with the Secretaries of 13 the Departments of the Interior, Agri- 14 culture, Commerce, and Defense, the Di- 15 rector of the Federal Emergency Manage- 16 ment Agency, and the Administrator of the 17 Environmental Protection Agency; and 18 ‘‘(xiii) any additional local indicator 19 applicable to a particular recipient and on 20 which an improvement in performance is 21 needed related to climate change.’’. 22 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 122 of the 23 National and Community Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:23 Nov 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5176.IH H5176 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •HR 5176 IH 12572), as amended by subsection (a), is further amend- 1 ed— 2 (1) in paragraph (b)(3), by striking ‘‘or (5)’’ 3 and inserting ‘‘(5), or (6)’’; and 4 (2) in paragraph (c)(1), by striking ‘‘(5)’’ and 5 inserting ‘‘(6)’’. 6 SEC. 4. CLIMATE RESILIENCY AMERICORPS VISTA. 7 Section 103(a) of the Domestic Volunteer Service Act 8 of 1973 (42 U.S.C. 4953(a)) is amended— 9 (1) in paragraph (12), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 10 end; 11 (2) in paragraph (13), by striking the period at 12 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 13 (3) after subsection (13), by adding the fol- 14 lowing: 15 ‘‘(14) in addressing the capacity of low-income 16 communities to implement projects that increase re- 17 silience to shocks and stressors resulting from cli- 18 mate change.’’. 19 SEC. 5. NONCOMPETITIVE HIRING AUTHORITY. 20 A qualified corpsmember under section 122 of the 21 National and Community Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 22 12572) shall be eligible for appointment in the competitive 23 service in the same manner as a Peace Corps volunteer 24 as prescribed in Executive Order 11103 (22 U.S.C. 2504 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:23 Nov 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5176.IH H5176 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •HR 5176 IH note, relating to Providing for the Appointment of Former 1 Peace Corps Volunteers to the Civilian Career Services). 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:23 Nov 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5176.IH H5176 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS