II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1216 To amend Public Law 91–378 to authorize activities relating to Civilian Conservation Centers, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 19, 2023 Mr. MERKLEY (for himself, Mr. DAINES, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. ROUNDS, and Mr. KING) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry A BILL To amend Public Law 91–378 to authorize activities relating to Civilian Conservation Centers, 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 ‘‘Civilian Conservation 4 Center Enhancement Act of 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CENTERS. 6 Public Law 91–378 (16 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) is 7 amended by adding at the end the following: 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Apr 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1216.IS S1216 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1216 IS ‘‘TITLE III—CIVILIAN 1 CONSERVATION CENTERS 2 ‘‘SEC. 301. DEFINITIONS. 3 ‘‘In this title: 4 ‘‘(1) CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CENTER.—The 5 term ‘Civilian Conservation Center’ means any resi- 6 dential workforce development or training facility for 7 underserved youth operated by the Department of 8 the Interior or the Department of Agriculture. 9 ‘‘(2) COVERED GRADUATE.—The term ‘covered 10 graduate’ means an individual who successfully com- 11 pleted a training program at a Civilian Conservation 12 Center. 13 ‘‘(3) COVERED STUDENT.—The term ‘covered 14 student’ means an individual who is enrolled in a 15 training program at a Civilian Conservation Center. 16 ‘‘(4) SECRETARIES.—The term ‘Secretaries’ 17 means— 18 ‘‘(A) the Secretary of Agriculture; and 19 ‘‘(B) the Secretary of the Interior. 20 ‘‘SEC. 302. CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CENTERS WILDFIRE 21 AND CONSERVATION TRAINING PROGRAM. 22 ‘‘(a) SPECIALIZED TRAINING PROGRAMS.—The Sec- 23 retaries, in coordination with the Secretary of Labor, shall 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Apr 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1216.IS S1216 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1216 IS offer at Civilian Conservation Centers specialized training 1 programs focused on— 2 ‘‘(1) forestry and rangeland management; 3 ‘‘(2) wildland firefighting; or 4 ‘‘(3) any other topic relating to the mission of 5 the Forest Service or the Department of the Interior 6 or the public interest. 7 ‘‘(b) PRIORITIZATION.—The Secretaries shall 8 prioritize offering specialized training programs under 9 subsection (a) at facilities described in section 147(d) of 10 the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 11 3197(d)). 12 ‘‘SEC. 303. WILDLAND FIREFIGHTING WORKFORCE DEVEL- 13 OPMENT PILOT. 14 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 15 ‘‘(1) EXPERIMENT, RESEARCH, OR DEMONSTRA- 16 TION PILOTS.—The Secretary of Agriculture, in co- 17 ordination with the Secretary of Labor, may carry 18 out experimental, research, or demonstration pilots 19 to provide career and technical education curricula 20 and course offerings to advance the missions of the 21 Department of Agriculture at Civilian Conservation 22 Centers operated by the Department of Agriculture, 23 including facilities described in section 147(d) of the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Apr 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1216.IS S1216 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1216 IS Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 1 U.S.C. 3197(d)). 2 ‘‘(2) CURRICULA AND COURSES.—Curricula and 3 courses described in paragraph (1) include— 4 ‘‘(A) incident management and emergency 5 response logistics; 6 ‘‘(B) disaster response; 7 ‘‘(C) forest products measurement; 8 ‘‘(D) timber sale administration and prepa- 9 ration; 10 ‘‘(E) heavy equipment operation; 11 ‘‘(F) equipment and mechanical services; 12 ‘‘(G) industrial electrical; 13 ‘‘(H) machining; 14 ‘‘(I) mill operations; 15 ‘‘(J) forest restoration; 16 ‘‘(K) habitat and water quality monitoring; 17 ‘‘(L) watershed and habitat enhancement; 18 ‘‘(M) range management; 19 ‘‘(N) recreation access improvement; 20 ‘‘(O) volunteers and visitors enhancement; 21 and 22 ‘‘(P) historic preservation. 23 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying out subsection 24 (a), the Secretary of Agriculture shall— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Apr 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1216.IS S1216 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1216 IS ‘‘(1) identify workforce needs in public land 1 agencies, forest, conservation, and recreation indus- 2 tries, and rural communities, after consulting with 3 State governments and agencies, Federal emergency 4 management and public land agencies, local commu- 5 nities, institutions of higher education, and Indian 6 Tribes; 7 ‘‘(2) develop marketing, recruitment, and reten- 8 tion materials for the curricula and courses offerings 9 provided under subsection (a); and 10 ‘‘(3) provide specialized staff necessary to teach 11 curricula and courses offerings provided under sub- 12 section (a), to the extent practicable. 13 ‘‘SEC. 304. WILDLAND FIREFIGHTING WORKFORCE EN- 14 HANCEMENT. 15 ‘‘(a) RECRUITMENT GOALS AND INVESTMENTS.— 16 ‘‘(1) RECRUITMENT GOAL.—The Secretaries— 17 ‘‘(A) shall each set goals of— 18 ‘‘(i) hiring 300 covered graduates an- 19 nually to contribute to wildland firefighting 20 or other critical workforce needs within the 21 respective Department of each of the Sec- 22 retaries; 23 ‘‘(ii) a certain percentage of covered 24 graduates annually attaining employment 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Apr 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1216.IS S1216 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1216 IS within the wildland firefighting, natural re- 1 sources, forestry, or a related field; and 2 ‘‘(iii) a certain percentage of covered 3 graduates annually attaining employment; 4 and 5 ‘‘(B) may make investments to support the 6 recruitment, training, hiring, and retention of 7 covered graduates. 8 ‘‘(2) SIGNING BONUS.—The Secretaries may 9 provide for a signing bonus to enable the successful 10 employment and transition of covered graduates, in- 11 cluding for the purpose of securing housing in rural 12 and remote communities. 13 ‘‘(b) DIRECT HIRE AUTHORITY.—For fiscal year 14 2023 and each fiscal year thereafter, the Secretaries may 15 appoint, without regard to the provisions of subchapter I 16 of chapter 33 of title 5, United States Code, other than 17 sections 3303 and 3328 of that title, a covered graduate 18 directly to a position for which the covered graduate meets 19 Office of Personnel Management qualification standards. 20 ‘‘(c) PATHWAYS TO EMPLOYMENT.—The Secretaries 21 shall ensure that appropriate career pathways are devel- 22 oped for covered graduates of relevant Civilian Conserva- 23 tion Center training programs. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Apr 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1216.IS S1216 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1216 IS ‘‘(d) DISADVANTAGED YOUTH EMPLOYMENT.—Not- 1 withstanding any other provision of law, the Secretaries 2 may employ covered students at regular rates of pay for 3 necessary hours of work. 4 ‘‘(e) USE OF COVERED STUDENTS FOR CONTRACTS, 5 AGREEMENTS, AND GRANTS.—To the maximum extent 6 practicable, the Secretary of Agriculture shall encourage 7 the use of covered students to fulfill obligations under con- 8 tracts, agreements, and grants relevant to the training ad- 9 ministered by the Forest Service at a unit of the National 10 Forest System where a Civilian Conservation Center is lo- 11 cated. 12 ‘‘SEC. 305. WILDLAND FIREFIGHTING HOUSING PILOT PRO- 13 GRAM. 14 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretaries shall establish 15 a pilot program to employ covered students to improve and 16 expand the housing stock owned by the Federal Govern- 17 ment for the purpose of housing wildland firefighters, vol- 18 unteers, partner crewmembers, interns, and other agency 19 employees. 20 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying out the pilot pro- 21 gram under subsection (a), the Secretaries shall— 22 ‘‘(1) identify properties currently owned by the 23 Federal Government that would be appropriate 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Apr 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1216.IS S1216 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1216 IS housing for wildland firefighters, volunteers, partner 1 crewmembers, interns, and other agency employees; 2 ‘‘(2) identify areas where the construction of 3 new housing described in paragraph (1) would be 4 appropriate and sustainable; and 5 ‘‘(3) submit to Congress a prioritized list of 6 projects for renovation with a plan for how the Sec- 7 retaries will employ covered students to repair, ren- 8 ovate, and remediate the properties identified under 9 paragraph (1). 10 ‘‘SEC. 306. REPORT. 11 ‘‘Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 12 of this title, the Secretaries shall submit to the Committee 13 on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate and 14 the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representa- 15 tives a report— 16 ‘‘(1) describing underutilized capacity at Civil- 17 ian Conservation Centers, based on an assessment 18 conducted by the Secretaries; and 19 ‘‘(2) identifying the investments, improvements, 20 and efficiencies necessary to utilize the full capacity 21 of Civilian Conservation Centers.’’. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Apr 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1216.IS S1216 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS