I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4824 

To reauthorize the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011, to provide assistance 

to small businesses owned by veterans, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 23, 2019 

Mr. COHEN (for himself, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. NORTON, Ms. JACKSON LEE, 

and Ms. MOORE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on 

Oversight and Reform, Armed Services, Science, Space, and Technology, 

and the Judiciary, 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 reauthorize the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011, to 

provide assistance to small businesses owned by veterans, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Putting Our Veterans Back to Work Act of 2019’’. 

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

7 this Act is as follows: 


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Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

TITLE I—RENEWING OUR VOW TO HIRE HEROES 

Sec. 101. Reauthorization of veterans retraining assistance program. 

Sec. 102. Extension of additional rehabilitation programs for persons who have 

exhausted rights to unemployment benefits under State law. 

Sec. 103. Reauthorization of collaborative veterans’ training, mentoring, and 

placement program. 

TITLE II—BUILDING ON OUR VOW TO HIRE HEROES 

Sec. 201. Unified employment portal for veterans. 

Sec. 202. Grants to hire veterans as first responders. 

Sec. 203. Contracting preference for offerors employing veterans. 

1 TITLE I—RENEWING OUR VOW 

2 TO HIRE HEROES 

3 SEC. 101. REAUTHORIZATION OF VETERANS RETRAINING 

4 ASSISTANCE PROGRAM. 

5 (a) EXTENSION.—Subsection (k) of section 211 of 

6 the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011 (Public Law 112– 

7 56; 38 U.S.C. 4100 note) is amended by striking ‘‘March 

8 31, 2014’’ and inserting ‘‘December 31, 2021’’. 

9 (b) NUMBER OF ELIGIBLE VETERANS.—Subsection 

10 (a)(2) of such section is amended— 

11 (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

12 the end; 

13 (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period 

14 at the end and inserting a semicolon; and 

15 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub16 paragraphs: 

17 ‘‘(C) 50,000 during fiscal year 2020; 

18 ‘‘(D) 50,000 during fiscal year 2021; 

19 ‘‘(E) 50,000 during fiscal year 2022; and 


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1 ‘‘(F) 50,000 during the period beginning 

2 October 1, 2022, and ending December 31, 

3 2023.’’. 

4 (c) CLARIFICATION OF LIMITATION ON AGGREGATE

5 AMOUNT OF ASSISTANCE.—Subsection (b) of such section 

6 is amended by striking ‘‘up to 12 months of retraining 

7 assistance provided by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs’’ 

8 and inserting ‘‘an aggregate of not more than 12 months 

9 of retraining assistance provided by the Secretary of Vet10 erans Affairs under this section’’. 

11 (d) UPDATED REPORT.—Subsection (i) of such sec12 tion is amended by adding at the end the following new 

13 paragraph: 

14 ‘‘(3) UPDATE.—Not later than December 31, 

15 2022, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in collabo16 ration with the Secretary of Labor, shall submit to 

17 the appropriate committees of Congress an update 

18 to the report described in paragraph (1).’’. 

19 (e) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Subsection 

20 (e)(1)(G) of such section is amended by striking ‘‘by not 

21 later than October 1, 2013,’’. 


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1 SEC. 102. EXTENSION OF ADDITIONAL REHABILITATION 

2 PROGRAMS FOR PERSONS WHO HAVE EX3 HAUSTED RIGHTS TO UNEMPLOYMENT BENE4 FITS UNDER STATE LAW. 

5 Section 3102(b)(4) of title 38, United States Code, 

6 is amended by striking ‘‘March 31, 2014’’ and inserting 

7 ‘‘March 31, 2022’’. 

8 SEC. 103. REAUTHORIZATION OF COLLABORATIVE VET9 ERANS’ TRAINING, MENTORING, AND PLACE10 MENT PROGRAM. 

11 Subsection (e) of section 4104A of title 38, United 

12 States Code, is amended to read as follows: 

13 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

14 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

15 amounts as follows: 

16 ‘‘(1) $4,500,000 for the period consisting of fis17 cal years 2020 and 2021. 

18 ‘‘(2) $4,500,000 for the period consisting of fis19 cal years 2022 and 2023.’’. 

20 TITLE II—BUILDING ON OUR 

21 VOW TO HIRE HEROES 

22 SEC. 201. UNIFIED EMPLOYMENT PORTAL FOR VETERANS. 

23 Section 4105 of title 38, United States Code, is 

24 amended by adding at the end the following: 

25 ‘‘(c)(1) The Secretary shall develop a single, unified 

26 Federal web-based employment portal, for use by veterans, 


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1 containing information regarding all Federal programs 

2 and activities concerning employment, unemployment, and 

3 training to the extent the programs and activities affect 

4 veterans. 

5 ‘‘(2) The Secretary shall work with representatives 

6 from the Department of Defense, the Department of Vet7 erans Affairs, the Small Business Administration, and 

8 other Federal agencies and organizations concerned with 

9 veterans’ issues, to determine an appropriate platform and 

10 implementing agency for the portal. The Secretary shall 

11 enter into an agreement with the other Federal agencies 

12 for the implementation of the portal.’’. 

13 SEC. 202. GRANTS TO HIRE VETERANS AS FIRST RESPOND14 ERS. 

15 (a) GRANTS FOR FIREFIGHTERS.—The Secretary of 

16 Homeland Security shall award grants under section 34 

17 of the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 

18 (15 U.S.C. 2229a) to hire veterans as firefighters. 

19 (b) GRANTS FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS.— 

20 The Attorney General shall award grants under part Q 

21 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets 

22 Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10381 et seq.) to hire veterans 

23 as law enforcement officers. 

24 (c) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this sec25 tion to hire veterans, the Secretary of Homeland Security 


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1 and the Attorney General shall give priority to the hiring 

2 of veterans who served on active duty in the Armed Forces 

3 on or after September 11, 2001. 

4 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

5 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

6 $250,000,000. 

7 SEC. 203. CONTRACTING PREFERENCE FOR OFFERORS EM8 PLOYING VETERANS. 

9 (a) CIVILIAN CONTRACTS.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 33 of title 41, 

11 United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

12 end the following new section: 

13 ‘‘§ 3313. Contracting preference for offerors employ14 ing veterans 

15 ‘‘(a) PREFERENCE.—With respect to the procure16 ment of goods and services using competitive procedures 

17 by executive agencies, where such procurement is valued 

18 at $25,000,000 or higher, the Administrator shall estab19 lish a preference, and criteria for applying such pref20 erence, for a covered offeror. 

21 ‘‘(b) CONGRESSIONAL REPORT.—Prior to estab22 lishing the preference described in subsection (a), the Ad23 ministrator shall provide a report to Congress that in24 cludes— 


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1 ‘‘(1) a plan for implementing such preference, 

2 including penalties for an offeror that willfully and 

3 intentionally misrepresents the veteran status of the 

4 employees of the offeror in a bid submitted under 

5 subsection (a); and 

6 ‘‘(2) the process for assessing and verifying of7 feror compliance with regulations relating to equal 

8 opportunity for veterans requirements. 

9 ‘‘(c) COVERED OFFEROR DEFINED.—In this section, 

10 the term ‘covered offeror’ means an offeror for which 5 

11 percent of the full-time employees of such offeror are vet12 erans.’’. 

13 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec14 tions at the beginning of such chapter is amended 

15 by adding after the item relating to section 3312 the 

16 following new item: 

‘‘3313. Contracting preference for offerors employing veterans.’’. 

17 (b) DEFENSE CONTRACTS.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 137 of title 10, 

19 United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

20 end the following new section: 

21 ‘‘§ 2339b. Contracting preference for offerors employ22 ing veterans 

23 ‘‘(a) PREFERENCE.—With respect to the procure24 ment of goods and services using competitive procedures 

25 by executive agencies, where such procurement is valued 


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1 at $25,000,000 or higher, the Administrator shall estab2 lish a preference, and criteria for applying such pref3 erence, for a covered offeror. 

4 ‘‘(b) CONGRESSIONAL REPORT.—Prior to estab5 lishing the preference described in subsection (a), the Sec6 retary of Defense shall provide a report to Congress that 

7 includes— 

8 ‘‘(1) a plan for implementing such preference, 

9 including penalties for an offeror that willfully and 

10 intentionally misrepresents the veteran status of the 

11 employees of the offeror in a bid submitted under 

12 subsection (a); and 

13 ‘‘(2) the process for assessing and verifying of14 feror compliance with regulations relating to equal 

15 opportunity for veterans requirements. 

16 ‘‘(c) COVERED OFFEROR DEFINED.—In this section, 

17 the term ‘covered offeror’ means an offeror for which 5 

18 percent of the full-time employees of such offeror are vet19 erans.’’. 

20 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec21 tions at the beginning of such chapter is amended 

22 by adding after the item relating to section 2339a 

23 the following new item: 

‘‘2339b. Contracting preference for offerors employing veterans.’’. 


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1 (c) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments made by sub2 sections (a) and (b) shall apply to contracts entered into 

3 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

4 (d) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 180 days after 

5 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal Acquisi6 tion Regulation shall be amended to carry out the require7 ments of section 3313 of title 41, United States Code, and 

8 section 2339b of title 10, United States Code, as added 

9 by subsections (a) and (b), respectively. 

Æ 


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