21st Century Conservation Corps for Our Health and Our Jobs Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7264 To make supplemental appropriations for the Departments of Agriculture, the Interior, Homeland Security, Labor, and Commerce for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2020, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 18, 2020 Mr. NEGUSE (for himself, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Ms. HAALAND, and Mr. KILMER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Appropriations, and in addition to the Committee on the Budget, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic- tion of the committee concerned A BILL To make supplemental appropriations for the Departments of Agriculture, the Interior, Homeland Security, Labor, and Commerce for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2020, 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 ‘‘21st Century Con- 4 servation Corps for Our Health and Our Jobs Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Jul 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7264.IH H7264 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7264 IH SEC. 2. SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE DE- 1 PARTMENTS OF AGRICULTURE, THE INTE- 2 RIOR, HOMELAND SECURITY, LABOR, AND 3 COMMERCE. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The following amounts are appro- 5 priated, out of any amounts in the Treasury not otherwise 6 appropriated, for the fiscal year ending September 30, 7 2020, and for other purposes: 8 (1) FOREST SERVICE SUPPLEMENTAL APPRO- 9 PRIATIONS.—For additional amounts for the Forest 10 Service— 11 (A) $3,975,000,000 for ‘‘National Forest 12 System’’, to remain available through Sep- 13 tember 30, 2023, of which— 14 (i) $3,500,000,000, to remain avail- 15 able through September 30, 2023, shall be 16 used for hazardous fuels management ac- 17 tivities, subject to the conditions that the 18 Secretary of Agriculture, acting through 19 the Chief of the Forest Service (referred to 20 in this subsection as the ‘‘Secretary’’), 21 shall— 22 (I) prioritize hazardous fuels re- 23 duction projects using those amounts 24 for projects— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Jul 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7264.IH H7264 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7264 IH (aa) for which any applica- 1 ble processes under the National 2 Environmental Policy Act of 3 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) 4 have been completed or in the 5 process of being completed; 6 (bb) that are noncommer- 7 cial; 8 (cc) focus on small diameter 9 trees, thinning, strategic fuel 10 breaks, and fire use to modify 11 fire behavior, as measured by the 12 projected reduction of uncharac- 13 teristically severe wildfire effects 14 for the forest type (such as ad- 15 verse soil impacts, tree mortality 16 or other impacts); 17 (dd) maximizes the retention 18 of large trees, as appropriate for 19 the forest type, to the extent that 20 the trees promote fire-resilient 21 stands; 22 (ee) does not include the es- 23 tablishment of permanent roads; 24 and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Jul 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7264.IH H7264 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7264 IH (ff) would commit funding 1 to decommission all temporary 2 roads constructed to carry out 3 the project; 4 (II) not harvest vegetation from 5 old growth stands, unless the old 6 growth stand is part of a science- 7 based ecological restoration project 8 authorized by the Secretary that 9 meets applicable protection and old 10 growth enhancement objectives, as de- 11 termined by the Secretary; 12 (III) complete and submit to the 13 Committee on Energy and Natural 14 Resources of the Senate and the Com- 15 mittee on Natural Resources of the 16 House of Representatives an annual 17 report describing the number of acres 18 of land on which projects carried out 19 using those amounts effectively miti- 20 gated wildfire risk; and 21 (IV) not harvest vegetation with- 22 in Inventoried Roadless Areas; 23 (ii) $150,000,000, to remain available 24 through September 30, 2023, shall be de- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Jul 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7264.IH H7264 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7264 IH posited in the Collaborative Forest Land- 1 scape Restoration Fund for ecological res- 2 toration treatments, as authorized by sec- 3 tion 4003(f) of the Omnibus Public Land 4 Management Act of 2009 (16 U.S.C. 5 7303(f)): Provided, That the Secretary 6 may expend such funds on any proposal 7 that has received or been approved for 8 funding through the Collaborative Forest 9 Landscape Restoration Fund and will be 10 implemented through the collaborative 11 process described in section 4003(b)(2) of 12 that Act (16 U.S.C. 7303(b)(2)); 13 (iii) $300,000,000, to remain available 14 through September 30, 2023, shall be used 15 for vegetation and watershed management, 16 as determined by watershed-scale analyt- 17 ical assessments; and 18 (iv) $25,000,000, to remain available 19 through September 30, 2021, for ‘‘Recre- 20 ation, Heritage, and Wilderness’’, which 21 shall be used for the Every Kid Outdoors 22 program authorized by section 9001 of the 23 John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Man- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Jul 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7264.IH H7264 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 7264 IH agement, and Recreation Act (Public Law 1 116–9); 2 (B) $6,000,000,000 for ‘‘Capital Improve- 3 ment and Maintenance’’, to remain available 4 through September 30, 2023, subject to the 5 conditions that— 6 (i) the Secretary shall prioritize the 7 use of those amounts to carry out author- 8 ized activities to— 9 (I) provide stewardship for exist- 10 ing system roads and trails; 11 (II) improve water quality; 12 (III) improve, maintain, or re- 13 store infrastructure for the passage of 14 fish and wildlife; 15 (IV) decommission unneeded 16 roads; 17 (V) improve visitor services; and 18 (VI) improve recreational and 19 educational access, opportunities and 20 other services to underserved commu- 21 nities; 22 (ii) $300,000,000 shall be used for 23 the Forest Service Legacy Roads and 24 Trails Remediation Program established by 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Jul 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7264.IH H7264 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 7264 IH section 8 of Public Law 88–657 (as added 1 by section 4); 2 (C) $600,000,000 for ‘‘State and Private 3 Forestry’’, of which— 4 (i) $100,000,000, to remain available 5 through September 30, 2023, shall be used 6 for competitive grants under the land- 7 scape-scale restoration program established 8 under section 13A of the Cooperative For- 9 estry Assistance Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 10 2109a), of which $50,000,000 shall be 11 used to enter into contracts with Indian 12 tribes pursuant to the Indian Self-Deter- 13 mination and Education Assistance Act 14 (25 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.); 15 (ii) $100,000,000 shall be used for 16 the Forest Legacy Program, to remain 17 available until expended; 18 (iii) $100,000,000, to remain available 19 through September 30, 2023, shall be used 20 for the urban and community forestry pro- 21 gram; 22 (iv) $100,000,000, to remain available 23 through September 30, 2023, shall be used 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Jul 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7264.IH H7264 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 7264 IH for the community forest and open space 1 conservation program; and 2 (v) $200,000,000, to remain available 3 through September 30, 2023, shall be used 4 for State fire assistance (National Fire Ca- 5 pacity); 6 (D) $30,000,000 for the Water Source 7 Protection Program; and 8 (E) $100,000,000 for the purchase of per- 9 sonal protective equipment and other prepared- 10 ness and response expenses relating to COVID– 11 19, to remain available through September 30, 12 2023: Provided, That the Administrator of the 13 Federal Emergency Management Agency shall 14 consider allocating personal protective equip- 15 ment and appropriate testing for COVID–19 to 16 Federal and cooperating wildland firefighters 17 and law enforcement personnel from Federal 18 land management agencies. 19 (2) NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION 20 SERVICE.—For an additional amount for the Nat- 21 ural Resources Conservation Service, 22 $5,500,000,000 for ‘‘Conservation Operations’’, to 23 remain available through September 30, 2023, which 24 shall be used to fund alternative funding arrange- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Jul 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7264.IH H7264 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 7264 IH ments under section 1271C(d) of the Food Security 1 Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3871c(d)), the eligible part- 2 ner (as defined in section 1271A of that Act (16 3 U.S.C. 3871a)) with respect to which demonstrates 4 quantifiable and cost-efficient sediment and nutrient 5 reductions, and near-term job creation, subject to 6 the conditions that— 7 (A) the amounts shall be used— 8 (i) to fund high-impact resiliency 9 projects to restore watersheds, the eligible 10 partner (as so defined) with respect to 11 which demonstrates— 12 (I) quantifiable reductions to 13 nonpoint source pollution; or 14 (II) quantified water savings that 15 functionally benefit native fish and 16 wildlife species; and 17 (ii) to provide $200,000,000 in tech- 18 nical assessment funding to eligible part- 19 ners (as so defined) to analyze and quan- 20 tify the sediment and nutrient benefits in 21 advance of projects carried out using those 22 amounts, on a State-by-State and water- 23 shed-by-watershed basis, by December 31, 24 2022; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Jul 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7264.IH H7264 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 7264 IH (B) with respect to a project funded using 1 amounts made available under this paragraph— 2 (i) the project shall be approved on an 3 expedited basis; 4 (ii) the project shall receive 100 per- 5 cent Federal financial assistance, with eli- 6 gible partners (as so defined) managing 7 the projects receiving a 20-percent admin- 8 istrative rate; and 9 (iii) of the amount provided for the 10 project, not more than 15 percent shall be 11 used by the Secretary to provide technical 12 assistance and measure project results. 13 (3) COMMUNITY WOOD ENERGY AND WOOD IN- 14 NOVATION PROGRAM.—$100,000,000 for the Sec- 15 retary for competitive grants under the Community 16 Wood Energy and Wood Innovation Program estab- 17 lished under section 9013 of the Farm Security and 18 Rural Investment Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C. 8113), to 19 remain available through September 30, 2023: Pro- 20 vided, That the Secretary may award the grants not- 21 withstanding section 9013(g)(2) of the Farm Secu- 22 rity and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C. 23 8113(g)(2)). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Jul 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7264.IH H7264 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 7264 IH (4) DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR SUPPLE- 1 MENTAL APPROPRIATIONS.—For additional 2 amounts— 3 (A) for the Bureau of Land Manage- 4 ment— 5 (i) $2,025,000,000 for ‘‘Management 6 of Lands and Resources’’, to remain avail- 7 able until September 30, 2023, which shall 8 be used for hazardous fuels management 9 activities, subject to the conditions that the 10 Secretary of the Interior, acting through 11 the Director of the Bureau of Land Man- 12 agement, shall— 13 (I) prioritize hazardous fuels re- 14 duction projects using those amounts 15 for projects— 16 (aa) for which any applica- 17 ble processes under the National 18 Environmental Policy Act of 19 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) 20 have been completed or in the 21 process of being completed; 22 (bb) that are noncommer- 23 cial; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Jul 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7264.IH H7264 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 7264 IH (cc) focus on small diameter 1 trees, thinning, strategic fuel 2 breaks, and fire use to modify 3 fire behavior, as measured by the 4 projected reduction of uncharac- 5 teristically severe wildfire effects 6 for the forest type (such as ad- 7 verse soil impacts, tree mortality, 8 or other impacts); 9 (dd) maximizes the retention 10 of large trees, as appropriate for 11 the forest type, to the extent that 12 the trees promote fire-resilient 13 stands; 14 (ee) does not include the es- 15 tablishment of permanent roads; 16 and 17 (ff) would commit funding 18 to decommission all temporary 19 roads constructed to carry out 20 the project; 21 (II) not harvest vegetation from 22 old growth stands, unless the old 23 growth stand is part of a science- 24 based ecological restoration project 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Jul 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7264.IH H7264 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 7264 IH authorized by the Secretary that 1 meets applicable protection and old 2 growth enhancement objectives, as de- 3 termined by the Secretary; and 4 (III) complete and submit to the 5 Committee on Energy and Natural 6 Resources of the Senate and the Com- 7 mittee on Natural Resources of the 8 House of Representatives an annual 9 report describing the number of acres 10 of land on which projects carried out 11 using those amounts effectively miti- 12 gated wildfire risk; and 13 (ii) $25,000,000, to remain available 14 until September 30, 2021, shall be used 15 for the Every Kid Outdoors program au- 16 thorized by section 9001 of the John D. 17 Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, 18 and Recreation Act (Public Law 116–9); 19 (B) for the United States Fish and Wild- 20 life Service, to remain available until September 21 30, 2021— 22 (i) $300,000,000 for ‘‘Resource Man- 23 agement’’, of which— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Jul 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7264.IH H7264 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 14 •HR 7264 IH (I) $150,000,000 shall be used 1 for the partners for fish and wildlife 2 program; and 3 (II) $150,000,000 shall be used 4 for migratory bird management under 5 the North American waterfowl joint 6 ventures program; and 7 (ii) $15,000,000 for ‘‘National Wild- 8 life Refuge System’’, which shall be used 9 for the Every Kid Outdoors program au- 10 thorized by section 9001 of the John D. 11 Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, [Text truncated for display. 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