Pandemic Response and Opportunity Through National Service Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6702 To amend the national service laws to prioritize national service programs and projects that are directly related to the response to and recovery from the COVID–19 public health emergency, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 5, 2020 Mr. PRICE of North Carolina (for himself, Ms. MATSUI, Ms. HOULAHAN, Mr. BERA, Ms. SCHRIER, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Ms. DEGETTE, Mrs. TRAHAN, Mr. CICILLINE, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Mr. PANETTA, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Ms. SCANLON, Mr. TONKO, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. KING of New York, and Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor, and in addition to the Com- mittee 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 A BILL To amend the national service laws to prioritize national service programs and projects that are directly related to the response to and recovery from the COVID–19 public health emergency, 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 May 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6702.IH H6702 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6702 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Pandemic Response 2 and Opportunity Through National Service Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 4 Congress finds the following: 5 (1) The United States has a strong history of 6 citizen response to national calls to service in order 7 to help the Nation recover in times of crisis. 8 (2) More than 80 years ago, the Nation rose to 9 the challenge of the Great Depression with the cre- 10 ation of citizen service programs like the Civilian 11 Conservation Corps (referred to in this section as 12 the ‘‘CCC’’) and the Works Progress Administration 13 (referred to in this section as the ‘‘WPA’’). 14 (3) Millions of participants benefitted from paid 15 employment and opportunities to develop their skills 16 while constructing national parks and public lands 17 infrastructure and producing cultural works still en- 18 joyed today. 19 (4) Following decades of evolution, incor- 20 porating policies of both political parties, today’s na- 21 tional service programs carry on the legacy of the 22 CCC and WPA. 23 (5) Founded in 1990, the Corporation for Na- 24 tional and Community Service today coordinates na- 25 tional service by individuals in the United States 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 May 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6702.IH H6702 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6702 IH across every State and territory, partnering with 1 State-level commissions and supporting locally driv- 2 en services in partnership with nongovernmental or- 3 ganizations and State governments. 4 (6) National service programs provide public 5 health, education, employment training, and nutri- 6 tion services for which the Nation has a critical need 7 in the current crisis. 8 (7) The signature programs of the Corporation 9 for National and Community Service, which are the 10 AmeriCorps State and National, AmeriCorps Na- 11 tional Civilian Community Corps, AmeriCorps 12 VISTA, and National Senior Service Corps pro- 13 grams, can and should be expanded to meet current 14 needs. 15 (8) The novel coronavirus pandemic has in- 16 fected and killed individuals in every State and terri- 17 tory, causing more than 1,000,000 cases and 65,000 18 deaths so far. 19 (9) In response, States, tribal governments, and 20 cities across the country have closed down busi- 21 nesses, schools, and public events, leading to a dra- 22 matic drop in economic activity and a sharp pro- 23 jected decline in the United States economy. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 May 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6702.IH H6702 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6702 IH (10) More than 30,000,000 applications for un- 1 employment benefits have been filed in recent weeks, 2 with weekly filings repeatedly exceeding historic 3 record levels. 4 (11) More than 1 in every 10 adults in the 5 United States has applied for unemployment insur- 6 ance since the crisis began. 7 (12) Public health leaders agree that to safely 8 reopen the Nation and revive its economy, a massive 9 effort to test millions of individuals in the United 10 States and to trace contacts of those who are or may 11 be infected is needed. 12 (13) To recover, the Nation also needs mean- 13 ingful employment opportunities, as well as a signifi- 14 cant expansion of the human capital working to ad- 15 dress community needs around public health, behav- 16 ioral health, hunger, education, and conservation. 17 (14) As the Nation works to respond to and re- 18 cover from the current twin challenges of a public 19 health pandemic and an economic crisis, national 20 service presents a unique opportunity for flexible, lo- 21 cally driven responses to meet State and local public 22 health, employment, and recovery needs. 23 SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 24 The purposes of this Act are— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 May 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6702.IH H6702 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6702 IH (1) to provide for 750,000 participants, over 3 1 years, in national service programs, such as the 2 Public Land Corps (also known as the 21st Century 3 Conservation Service Corps) programs and other 4 AmeriCorps programs, that will provide services in 5 response to the pandemic and economic crisis, in- 6 cluding to help satisfy the projected need for as 7 many as 300,000 additional public health workers; 8 (2) to ensure that participant allowances cover 9 the reasonable cost of participation and provide par- 10 ticipants with economic and educational opportunity; 11 (3) to stabilize such national service programs 12 during economic crisis; and 13 (4) to support opportunities for all individuals 14 in the United States to engage in service. 15 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 16 (a) NCSA.—Section 101 of the National and Com- 17 munity Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12511) is amend- 18 ed— 19 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (13) through 20 (35) and paragraphs (36) through (49) as para- 21 graphs (14) through (36) and (38) through (51), re- 22 spectively; 23 (2) by inserting after paragraph (12) the fol- 24 lowing: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 May 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6702.IH H6702 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6702 IH ‘‘(13) COVID–19 DEFINITIONS.— 1 ‘‘(A) COVID–19 EMERGENCY RESPONSE 2 AND RECOVERY PERIOD.—The term ‘COVID– 3 19 emergency response and recovery period’ 4 means the period beginning on the first day of 5 the COVID–19 public health emergency and 6 ending at the end of fiscal year 2023. 7 ‘‘(B) COVID–19 PUBLIC HEALTH EMER- 8 GENCY.—The term ‘COVID–19 public health 9 emergency’ means the public health emergency 10 declared by the Secretary of Health and 11 Human Services under section 319 of the Pub- 12 lic Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d) on 13 January 31, 2020, with respect to COVID– 14 19.’’; and 15 (3) by inserting after paragraph (36), as so re- 16 designated, the following: 17 ‘‘(37) PUBLIC LAND CORPS.—The term ‘Public 18 Lands Corps’ means the Corps established in section 19 204 of the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993 (16 20 U.S.C. 1723).’’. 21 (b) DVSA.—Section 421 of the Domestic Volunteer 22 Service Act of 1973 (42 U.S.C. 5061) is amended— 23 (1) in paragraph (19), by striking ‘‘and’’ after 24 the semicolon; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 May 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6702.IH H6702 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 6702 IH (2) in paragraph (20), by striking the period at 1 the end and inserting a semicolon; and 2 (3) by adding at the end the following: 3 ‘‘(21)(A) the term ‘COVID–19 emergency re- 4 sponse and recovery period’ means the period begin- 5 ning on the first day of the COVID–19 public health 6 emergency and ending at the end of fiscal year 7 2023; and 8 ‘‘(B) the term ‘COVID–19 public health emer- 9 gency’ means the public health emergency declared 10 by the Secretary of Health and Human Services 11 under section 319 of the Public Health Service Act 12 (42 U.S.C. 247d) on January 31, 2020, with respect 13 to COVID–19; and 14 ‘‘(22) the term ‘Public Lands Corps’ means the 15 Corps established in section 204 of the Public Lands 16 Corps Act of 1993 (16 U.S.C. 1723).’’. 17 SEC. 5. PRIORITIZING RESPONSE SERVICES. 18 (a) AMERICORPS STATE AND NATIONAL.— 19 (1) NATIONAL SERVICE PRIORITIES.—Section 20 122(f) of the National and Community Service Act 21 of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12572(f)) is amended— 22 (A) in paragraph (1)— 23 (i) in subparagraph (A), by adding at 24 the end the following: ‘‘For fiscal years 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 May 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6702.IH H6702 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 6702 IH 2020 through 2023, the Corporation shall 1 include, in the national service priorities, 2 the priorities described in paragraph (5).’’; 3 and 4 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by adding at 5 the end the following: ‘‘For fiscal years 6 2020 through 2023, each State shall in- 7 clude, in the State priorities, the priorities 8 described in section (5).’’; and 9 (B) by adding at the end the following: 10 ‘‘(5) EMERGENCY PRIORITIES.—For fiscal years 11 2020 through 2023, the priorities established under 12 paragraph (1) for national service programs shall 13 provide that the Corporation and the States, as ap- 14 propriate, shall give priority to entities submitting 15 applications— 16 ‘‘(A) that propose activities directly related 17 to the response to and recovery from the 18 COVID–19 public health emergency, such as 19 the provision of— 20 ‘‘(i) public health services, including 21 contact tracing and support for isolation 22 and quarantine activities; 23 ‘‘(ii) emergency logistics; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 May 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6702.IH H6702 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 6702 IH ‘‘(iii) work that furthers the capacity 1 of State (including territorial), tribal, and 2 local health departments and the rec- 3 ommendations of the Director of the Cen- 4 ters for Disease Control and Prevention; 5 ‘‘(iv) workforce investment activities 6 and reemployment services; 7 ‘‘(v) education, including enrichment 8 and adult education and literacy activities; 9 ‘‘(vi) jobs for youth in preserving and 10 restoring nature; and 11 ‘‘(vii) services to address food insecu- 12 rity; 13 ‘‘(B) who— 14 ‘‘(i) are current (as of the date of the 15 application submission) or former recipi- 16 ents of financial assistance under the pro- 17 gram for which the application is sub- 18 mitted; and 19 ‘‘(ii) are able to provide services di- 20 rectly related to the response and recovery 21 described in subparagraph (A); 22 ‘‘(C) to the maximum extent practicable, if 23 the entities are proposing programs that serve, 24 or proposing to give priority for positions to ap- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 May 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6702.IH H6702 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 6702 IH plicants from, underserved populations, such as 1 economically disadvantaged individuals, minor- 2 ity individuals, individuals who have had con- 3 tact with the juvenile justice system, Indians, 4 veterans, and individuals whose abilities are not 5 typical, such as individuals with intellectual or 6 developmental disabilities; and 7 ‘‘(D) that propose to give priority for posi- 8 tions to applicants who— 9 ‘‘(i) were serving outside of the 10 United States in the Peace Corps, the J. 11 William Fulbright Educational Exchange 12 Program referenced in section 112 of the 13 Mutual Educational and Cultural Ex- 14 change Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2460), or 15 the program under this subtitle, subtitle E, 16 or part A of title I of the Domestic Volun- 17 teer Service Act of 1973 (42 U.S.C. 4951 18 et seq.); but 19 ‘‘(ii) ended their terms of service 20 early, or returned to the United States be- 21 fore the end of their terms of service, due 22 to the COVID–19 public health emer- 23 gency.’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 May 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6702.IH H6702 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 6702 IH (b) AMERICORPS NCCC.—Section 157 of the Na- 1 tional and Community Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 2 12617) is amended— 3 (1) in subsection (b)(1), by adding at the end 4 the following: 5 ‘‘(C) SURGE CAPACITY AND PRIORITY 6 PROJECTS.— 7 ‘‘(i) SURGE CAPACITY PROJECTS.— 8 The Corporation and the Director of the 9 Centers for Disease Control and Preven- 10 tion shall develop, and the Corporation 11 shall approve, a proposal for public health 12 surge capacity projects. In carrying out the 13 projects, the Corporation and the Director 14 shall develop and deploy public health 15 surge capacity teams. 16 ‘‘(ii) PRIORITY PROJECTS.—For fiscal 17 years 2020 through 2023, the Corporation 18 shall give priority to entities submitting 19 applications for projects under this subtitle 20 in the same manner as the Corporation 21 gives priority to entities submitting appli- 22 cations for national service programs 23 under section 122(f)(5).’’; and 24 (2) in subsection (c)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 May 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6702.IH H6702 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 6702 IH (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘The 1 campus’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as provided in 2 paragraph (3), the campus’’; and 3 (B) by adding at the end the following: 4 ‘‘(3) SURGE CAPACITY AND PRIORITY 5 PROJECTS.—The Corporation shall assign the 6 projects described in clauses (i) and (ii) of sub- 7 section (b)(1)(C) to specified Corps campuses.’’. 8 (c) AMERICORPS VISTA.—Section 109 of the Do- 9 mestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973 (42 U.S.C. 4960) 10 is amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘For fiscal 11 years 2020 through 2023, the Corporation shall give pri- 12 ority to entities submitting applications for projects or 13 programs under this part in the same manner as the Cor- 14 poration gives priority to entities submitting applications 15 for national service programs under section 122(f)(5) of 16 the National and Community Service Act of 1990 (42 17 U.S.C. 12572(f)(5)).’’. 18 SEC. 6. STRENGTHENING OPPORTUN [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]